[Cbe-oss-dev] Debian for PS3?

[Aurélien GÉRÔME]

Hi,

On Thu, Feb 21, 2008 at 07:09:23PM +0100, Geert Uytterhoeven wrote:
> Although it's been possible to install Debian on PS3 since a long time (cfr.
> http://www.keshi.org/moin/PS3/Debian/Live, or you could just use plain
> debootstrap), there's no official support for PS3 in Debian yet.
> 
> So I downloaded debian-testing-powerpc-netinst.iso (dated 2008-02-20), booted
> it using a self-compiled kernel and /install/powerpc/initrd.gz from the ISO
> image, and installed Debian on the PS3's hard disk without any glitches!

Yes, it is probably more or less working, as Colin Watson committed
some Ubuntu PS3 patches in d-i. One person in the installer team is
not willing to accept any patches from me though, but as he is no
longer in charge, whatever he is saying can probably be ignored.

> Hence what's missing?
> 
>   - PS3 kernel support
> 
>       o Although there's now full PS3 support in plain 2.6.24 (except for
> 	wireless), the 2.6.24 kernel images in sid have PS3 support turned off.
> 	Enabling PS3 support should be a matter of changing the existing
> 	powerpc64 config, or adding a new one.
>       o A modular kernel may need updates to some scripts to make sure all
>         required modules are loaded?
>       o The kernel in debian-testing-powerpc-netinst.iso is still 2.6.22, but
> 	as I had to compile my own kernel anyway, this doesn't matter much.

The kernel team decided that 2.6.24 will enter Lenny, it is globally
less buggy than 2.6.22 anyway. I have been given green traffic light
in the kernel team to do whatever is needed to get PS3 support working.

>   - PS3 Boot loader support
> 
>       o There's no PS3 bootloader (otheros.bld) in Debian, which means you have
> 	to use e.g. the one from the PS3 Linux Distributor's Starter Kit.  To
> 	include an otheros.bld, e.g. kboot should be packaged, including the
> 	infrastructure to build an otheros.bld.
>       o Apart from this, there's no support in the installer for setting up
> 	/etc/kboot.conf.
> 
>   - PS3 utility packages:
>       o ps3-utils (new package; an older version is already packaged by Ubuntu
> 	as ps3pf-utils)

I intend to package those inside the Debootloaders project with
Arthur Loiret (he is CC'ed). We still need to file the official ITP
bugs though.

Ubuntu already did work on that field, but the quality of their
packages is not suitable for Debian, to my mind. We deserve better,
so we will have to do better. :]

>   - Generic Cell support packages:
>       o New packages (already packaged by Ubuntu):
> 	  . ppu-binutils
> 	  . ppu-g++
> 	  . ppu-gcc
> 	  . ppu-gdb
> 	  . ppu-gfortran
> 	  . ppu-gnat
> 	  . spu-binutils
> 	  . spu-g++
> 	  . spu-gcc
> 	  . spu-gdb
> 	  . spu-gfortran
> 	  . spu-newlib
> 	  . spu-tools
> 	  . cell-gcc-testsuite
> 	  . cell-programming-primer
> 	  . cell-sdsk
> 	  . libspe2
> 	  . libspe2-dev
> 	  . libspe2-doc
>       o Updated packages (already present in Ubuntu):
> 	  . spufs support in initscripts (mountkernfs.sh)

Arthur is involved in the compiler field (gdc and llvm), and I
remember discussing those SPU patches with him, so he will probably
be interested in packaging them.

Cheers,
-- 
 .''`.   Aurélien GÉRÔME
: :'  :
`. `'`   Debian Maintainer
  `-     Unix Sys & Net Admin
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