On Mon Jun 09, 2003 at 08:13:00PM +0200, Stefan van der Eijk wrote:

> >You don't need to post to PPC and X86_64.  Mandrake builds for and 
> >supportes
> >the following archs:  x86, ia64, x86_64, and PPC.
> >
> >I think you guys are missing the point that some of these archs are being
> >developed and supported.
> >
> Note: "some" is the key word in the sentence above.

Of course it is.  That's why I used it.

> IA64: Last package uploaded:
>    -rw-r--r--    1 mandrake rpm        171556 Feb 28 09:54 
> ispell-3.1.20-16mdk.ia64.rpm
> 'nough said.

Internal building?  There is a Corporate Server for ia64 in the works.

Just because "cooker" itself isn't being built, publically available, for
cooker does not mean no work for it is being done.  Since I'm not directly
involved in the ports, I don't know if they are building/testing cooker
internally, but I believe they are.

The reason ia64 and x86_64 may not be on public mirrors is the same reason
Stew mentions below.  It's not worth the bandwidth to put cooker/ia64 or
cooker/x86_64 on mirrors when a handful of people will test.  What's the
point of taking up mirror space when 5 people have the capability/desire to
test it?

You forget that ia64 and x86_64 are far from "mainstream" yet.

'nuff said.

> PPC: Stews comments reflect a different picture:
> 
> "I've let Olivier take over cooker PPC build because our official release
> schedule for PPC (*subject to change/review of the business needs*) is 
> every
> other release. My experience in 3 PPC releases is that very few people
> actually use PPC cooker, unless there are ISOs. So aside from personal
> curiosity that things build or not, it hardly seems worth the
> bandwidth/machine time to build cooker for PPC now, when the next release
> is 9 months out, if the business decides it's worth pursuing at all. While
> interest in all these ports is very nice, if MandrakeSoft doesn't bless
> them and negotiate space on the mirrors for them, then you're going to
> have to end up hosting them from some other server. Rebuilding packages
> for other arches is fairly straightforward, but in my opinion what makes
> the distribution "Mandrake" is the integration of the installer and drak
> tools to behave appropriately for the architecture."
> 
> Seems like Stew isn't developping ppc at the moment. From what I read 
> above, by the time release date for ppc is near (and management _wants_ 
> the product) he'll start a development sprint...

No, they don't paint a different picture.  It paints a very accurate and
sensivle picture.  If there is no one on cooker-ppc, or few people, who are
interested in developing/testing cooker/PPC, why use the bandwidth?  It's
the same issue as x86_64 and ia64.  This doesn't mean there isn't internal
interest in it at all... but why use/waste bandwidth for a dozen people who
may be half-heartedly using it?  Compiling just for the sake of compiling is
silly... Stew has other responsibilities beyond just the PPC port.

And, as he indicated, and has happened with previous versions, once 9.2/x86
is done and cooker is re-opened, work on PPC will begin again.  That is what
has happened in the past.  It also has, I might add, worked well.

That being said, we are attempting to rectify the questions around PPC once
and for all, but this is a mangement call and takes time.

> *
> *comments like:*
>    "subject to change/review of the business needs"
> *and
> *    "**if the business decides it's worth pursuing at all*"
> don't sound like there is a whole lot of commitment behind the PPC 
> product from management, or am I wrong? I hope I am.

No.  It just means that Stew doesn't have concrete answers regarding the
future of PPC.  I don't have these answers either.  I *am* trying to get
them, once and for all.  As soon as this is known, rest assured, the list
will know.

> x86_64 is (is it?) being developed somewhere out of sight...

http://www.mandrakesoft.com/company/press/pr?n=/pr/products/2418

This shows that Corporate Server, a more accurate target for this platform,
has been released.  Making a 9.1 for x86_64 at this time just doesn't make
sense because Mandrake Linux is a desktop distro.  So the resources were put
into the corporate product for a corporate (currently) architecture.  Once
x86_64 and/or ia64 become more mainstream (read: consumer availability and
pricing), there will likely be regular Mandrake Linux distribs for that
architecture.

In fact, read this:

http://www.mandrakesoft.com/company/community/mandrakesoftnews/news?n=/mandrakesoft/news/2414
"Mandrake Linux 9.0 for AMD 64-bit technology is available. 2003-03-13"

Reading the cooker list is not sufficient for getting all the info.  Press
releases are often helpful as well.

-- 
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Online Security Resource Book; http://linsec.ca/
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