ia64 removal (was: Re: lockref scalability on x86-64 vs cpu_relax)

[Sedat Dilek]

On Sat, Jan 14, 2023 at 12:43 AM Ard Biesheuvel <ardb at kernel.org> wrote:
>
> On Fri, 13 Jan 2023 at 22:06, John Paul Adrian Glaubitz
> <glaubitz at physik.fu-berlin.de> wrote:
> >
> > Hello Ard!
> >
> > > Can I take that as an ack on [0]? The EFI subsystem has evolved
> > > substantially over the years, and there is really no way to do any
> > > IA64 testing beyond build testing, so from that perspective, dropping
> > > it entirely would be welcomed.
> >
> > ia64 is regularly tested in Debian and Gentoo [1][2].
> >
> > Debian's ia64 porterbox yttrium runs a recent kernel without issues:
> >
> > root at yttrium:~# uname -a
> > Linux yttrium 5.19.0-2-mckinley #1 SMP Debian 5.19.11-1 (2022-09-24) ia64 GNU/Linux
> > root at yttrium:~#
> >
> > root at yttrium:~# journalctl -b|head -n10
> > Nov 14 14:46:10 yttrium kernel: Linux version 5.19.0-2-mckinley (debian-kernel at lists.debian.org) (gcc-11 (Debian 11.3.0-6) 11.3.0, GNU ld (GNU Binutils for Debian) 2.39) #1 SMP Debian 5.19.11-1 (2022-09-24)
> > Nov 14 14:46:10 yttrium kernel: efi: EFI v2.10 by HP
> > Nov 14 14:46:10 yttrium kernel: efi: SALsystab=0xdfdd63a18 ESI=0xdfdd63f18 ACPI 2.0=0x3d3c4014 HCDP=0xdffff8798 SMBIOS=0x3d368000
> > Nov 14 14:46:10 yttrium kernel: PCDP: v3 at 0xdffff8798
> > Nov 14 14:46:10 yttrium kernel: earlycon: uart8250 at I/O port 0x4000 (options '115200n8')
> > Nov 14 14:46:10 yttrium kernel: printk: bootconsole [uart8250] enabled
> > Nov 14 14:46:10 yttrium kernel: ACPI: Early table checksum verification disabled
> > Nov 14 14:46:10 yttrium kernel: ACPI: RSDP 0x000000003D3C4014 000024 (v02 HP    )
> > Nov 14 14:46:10 yttrium kernel: ACPI: XSDT 0x000000003D3C4580 000124 (v01 HP     RX2800-2 00000001      01000013)
> > Nov 14 14:46:10 yttrium kernel: ACPI: FACP 0x000000003D3BE000 0000F4 (v03 HP     RX2800-2 00000001 HP   00000001)
> > root at yttrium:~#
> >
> > Same applies to the buildds:
> >
> > root at lifshitz:~# uname -a
> > Linux lifshitz 6.0.0-4-mckinley #1 SMP Debian 6.0.8-1 (2022-11-11) ia64 GNU/Linux
> > root at lifshitz:~#
> >
> > root at lenz:~# uname -a
> > Linux lenz 6.0.0-4-mckinley #1 SMP Debian 6.0.8-1 (2022-11-11) ia64 GNU/Linux
> > root at lenz:~#
> >
> > EFI works fine as well using the latest version of GRUB2.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Adrian
> >
> > > [1] https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/ports/snapshots/
> > > [2] https://mirror.yandex.ru/gentoo-distfiles//releases/ia64/autobuilds/
>
> Thanks for reporting back. I (mis)read the debian ports page [3],
> which mentions Debian 7 as the highest Debian version that supports
> IA64, and so I assumed that support had been dropped from Debian.
>
> However, if only a handful of people want to keep this port alive for
> reasons of nostalgia, it is obviously obsolete, and we should ask
> ourselves whether it is reasonable to expect Linux contributors to
> keep spending time on this.
>
> Does the Debian ia64 port have any users? Or is the system that builds
> the packages the only one that consumes them?
>
>
> [3] https://www.debian.org/ports/ia64/

I have no IA64 hardware or be a user of it or have any strong feelings
to keep this arch in the Linux-kernel.

But I am a Debianist (Debian/unstable AMD64 user).

Best is to ask the Debian release-team or (if there exist) maintainers
or responsibles for the IA64 port - which is an ***unofficial*** port.

What I found... on <cdimage.debian.org>:

https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/ > Ports

https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/ports/current/

https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/ports/current-debian-installer/ia64/debian-installer-images_20211020_ia64.tar.gz
^^ Last modified: 2021-10-20 22:52

https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/ports/current/debian-11.0.0-ia64-NETINST-1.iso
^^ Last modofied: 2022-03-28 14:18

With a net-install image you should be able to setup and explore the
IA64 Debian cosmos.

Example #1: binutils packages

Checking available binutils package for Debian/unstable IA64 (version:
2.39.90.20230110-1):

https://packages.debian.org/sid/binutils <--- Clearly states IA64 as
"unofficial port"
https://packages.debian.org/sid/ia64/binutils/filelist

Example #2: linux-image packages

Cannot say what this means...

https://packages.debian.org/search?arch=amd64&keywords=linux-image
(AMD64 - matches)

https://packages.debian.org/search?arch=ia64&keywords=linux-image
(IA64 - no matches)

https://packages.debian.org/search?arch=ia64&keywords=linux (IA64 -
matches - but no linux-image which ships normally a bootable
Linux-kernel)

As stated I have no expertise in Debian whatever release for IA64 arch.

Hope that helps.

-Sedat-