ppc64le support in 9.3 branch?

Started by Tom Lanealmost 8 years ago10 messages
#1Tom Lane
tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us

So I see somebody at 2ndQ has set up a bunch of ppc64le buildfarm
members, which I applaud. But they're all failing on the 9.3 branch,
because we lack support for that architecture in that branch.

Does anyone have the stomach for trying to add such support? The minimum
requirement would be to back-patch 9.4's config.guess and config.sub,
because that's where the builds are falling over right now. I wouldn't be
too afraid of that, but what is not clear is what portability issues might
be lurking beyond that. I could not find any specific mention of ppc64
in the git changelogs, but that doesn't mean there weren't any other 9.4
fixes that might need to be back-ported.

It's hard to justify putting in very much effort to add new-platform
support in a branch that's scheduled to die in six months, so I'm not
sure what to do. Should we just tell 2ndQ not to bother running those
animals on 9.3? Or should we make at least a bit of effort towards
making it work?

The compromise I'm inclined to offer is to see what happens if we
back-patch 9.4's config.guess and config.sub. If that makes these
animals go green, and doesn't break any others, we'll call it good.
Otherwise, we revert that change and say we're not putting any
additional effort into it.

regards, tom lane

#2Andres Freund
andres@anarazel.de
In reply to: Tom Lane (#1)
Re: ppc64le support in 9.3 branch?

Hi,

On 2018-03-23 14:54:46 -0400, Tom Lane wrote:

So I see somebody at 2ndQ has set up a bunch of ppc64le buildfarm
members, which I applaud. But they're all failing on the 9.3 branch,
because we lack support for that architecture in that branch.

Does anyone have the stomach for trying to add such support? The minimum
requirement would be to back-patch 9.4's config.guess and config.sub,
because that's where the builds are falling over right now. I wouldn't be
too afraid of that, but what is not clear is what portability issues might
be lurking beyond that. I could not find any specific mention of ppc64
in the git changelogs, but that doesn't mean there weren't any other 9.4
fixes that might need to be back-ported.

It's hard to justify putting in very much effort to add new-platform
support in a branch that's scheduled to die in six months, so I'm not
sure what to do. Should we just tell 2ndQ not to bother running those
animals on 9.3? Or should we make at least a bit of effort towards
making it work?

The compromise I'm inclined to offer is to see what happens if we
back-patch 9.4's config.guess and config.sub. If that makes these
animals go green, and doesn't break any others, we'll call it good.
Otherwise, we revert that change and say we're not putting any
additional effort into it.

I'm inclined to just ask them to stop running the animals on that
branch. There are no pre-existing users on 9.3 ppc64le, and new
customers hopefully won't move to 9.3. ISTM backpatching is riskier than
just changing a bunch of buildfarm configurations.

Greetings,

Andres Freund

#3Magnus Hagander
magnus@hagander.net
In reply to: Andres Freund (#2)
Re: ppc64le support in 9.3 branch?

On Fri, Mar 23, 2018 at 7:58 PM, Andres Freund <andres@anarazel.de> wrote:

Hi,

On 2018-03-23 14:54:46 -0400, Tom Lane wrote:

So I see somebody at 2ndQ has set up a bunch of ppc64le buildfarm
members, which I applaud. But they're all failing on the 9.3 branch,
because we lack support for that architecture in that branch.

Does anyone have the stomach for trying to add such support? The minimum
requirement would be to back-patch 9.4's config.guess and config.sub,
because that's where the builds are falling over right now. I wouldn't

be

too afraid of that, but what is not clear is what portability issues

might

be lurking beyond that. I could not find any specific mention of ppc64
in the git changelogs, but that doesn't mean there weren't any other 9.4
fixes that might need to be back-ported.

It's hard to justify putting in very much effort to add new-platform
support in a branch that's scheduled to die in six months, so I'm not
sure what to do. Should we just tell 2ndQ not to bother running those
animals on 9.3? Or should we make at least a bit of effort towards
making it work?

The compromise I'm inclined to offer is to see what happens if we
back-patch 9.4's config.guess and config.sub. If that makes these
animals go green, and doesn't break any others, we'll call it good.
Otherwise, we revert that change and say we're not putting any
additional effort into it.

I'm inclined to just ask them to stop running the animals on that
branch. There are no pre-existing users on 9.3 ppc64le, and new
customers hopefully won't move to 9.3. ISTM backpatching is riskier than
just changing a bunch of buildfarm configurations.

+1 for dropping it.

--
Magnus Hagander
Me: https://www.hagander.net/ <http://www.hagander.net/&gt;
Work: https://www.redpill-linpro.com/ <http://www.redpill-linpro.com/&gt;

#4Michael Paquier
michael@paquier.xyz
In reply to: Magnus Hagander (#3)
Re: ppc64le support in 9.3 branch?

On Fri, Mar 23, 2018 at 08:01:53PM +0100, Magnus Hagander wrote:

On Fri, Mar 23, 2018 at 7:58 PM, Andres Freund <andres@anarazel.de> wrote:

I'm inclined to just ask them to stop running the animals on that
branch. There are no pre-existing users on 9.3 ppc64le, and new
customers hopefully won't move to 9.3. ISTM backpatching is riskier than
just changing a bunch of buildfarm configurations.

+1 for dropping it.

+1.  If something like that were to happen for 10 or 9.6 knowing that
they still have four years to go, that could be debated, but just for 6
months there is little benefit.
--
Michael
#5Andrew Dunstan
andrew.dunstan@2ndquadrant.com
In reply to: Michael Paquier (#4)
Re: ppc64le support in 9.3 branch?

On Mon, Mar 26, 2018 at 4:50 PM, Michael Paquier <michael@paquier.xyz> wrote:

On Fri, Mar 23, 2018 at 08:01:53PM +0100, Magnus Hagander wrote:

On Fri, Mar 23, 2018 at 7:58 PM, Andres Freund <andres@anarazel.de> wrote:

I'm inclined to just ask them to stop running the animals on that
branch. There are no pre-existing users on 9.3 ppc64le, and new
customers hopefully won't move to 9.3. ISTM backpatching is riskier than
just changing a bunch of buildfarm configurations.

+1 for dropping it.

+1. If something like that were to happen for 10 or 9.6 knowing that
they still have four years to go, that could be debated, but just for 6
months there is little benefit.

I am in discussions with Mark, he's going to disable the animals from
building 9.3. (by setting branches_to_build to 'HEAD_PLUS_LATEST4'
instead of 'ALL').

cheers

andrew

--
Andrew Dunstan https://www.2ndQuadrant.com
PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Remote DBA, Training & Services

#6Alvaro Herrera
alvherre@alvh.no-ip.org
In reply to: Andrew Dunstan (#5)
Re: ppc64le support in 9.3 branch?

Andrew Dunstan wrote:

I am in discussions with Mark, he's going to disable the animals from
building 9.3. (by setting branches_to_build to 'HEAD_PLUS_LATEST4'
instead of 'ALL').

So once we desupport 9.3, they'll stop building 9.4? :-)

--
�lvaro Herrera https://www.2ndQuadrant.com/
PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Remote DBA, Training & Services

#7Andrew Dunstan
andrew.dunstan@2ndquadrant.com
In reply to: Alvaro Herrera (#6)
Re: ppc64le support in 9.3 branch?

On Tue, Mar 27, 2018 at 10:57 AM, Alvaro Herrera
<alvherre@alvh.no-ip.org> wrote:

Andrew Dunstan wrote:

I am in discussions with Mark, he's going to disable the animals from
building 9.3. (by setting branches_to_build to 'HEAD_PLUS_LATEST4'
instead of 'ALL').

So once we desupport 9.3, they'll stop building 9.4? :-)

Then we'll set it back to ALL :-)

cheers

andrew

--
Andrew Dunstan https://www.2ndQuadrant.com
PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Remote DBA, Training & Services

#8Mark Wong
mark@2ndQuadrant.com
In reply to: Andrew Dunstan (#7)
Re: ppc64le support in 9.3 branch?

On Tue, Mar 27, 2018 at 11:09:37AM +1030, Andrew Dunstan wrote:

On Tue, Mar 27, 2018 at 10:57 AM, Alvaro Herrera
<alvherre@alvh.no-ip.org> wrote:

Andrew Dunstan wrote:

I am in discussions with Mark, he's going to disable the animals from
building 9.3. (by setting branches_to_build to 'HEAD_PLUS_LATEST4'
instead of 'ALL').

So once we desupport 9.3, they'll stop building 9.4? :-)

Then we'll set it back to ALL :-)

I'll put it on my calendar. :)

Regards,
Mark

--
Mark Wong http://www.2ndQuadrant.com/
PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, RemoteDBA, Training & Services

#9Christoph Berg
myon@debian.org
In reply to: Tom Lane (#1)
Re: ppc64le support in 9.3 branch?

Re: Tom Lane 2018-03-23 <1219.1521831286@sss.pgh.pa.us>

The compromise I'm inclined to offer is to see what happens if we
back-patch 9.4's config.guess and config.sub. If that makes these
animals go green, and doesn't break any others, we'll call it good.
Otherwise, we revert that change and say we're not putting any
additional effort into it.

Fwiw, apt.postgresql.org has been building+regression testing 9.3 on
ppc64el on various Debian+Ubuntu releases for more than a year now.
The only requirement is updating config.guess/sub.

Christoph

#10Tom Lane
tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us
In reply to: Christoph Berg (#9)
Re: ppc64le support in 9.3 branch?

Christoph Berg <myon@debian.org> writes:

Re: Tom Lane 2018-03-23 <1219.1521831286@sss.pgh.pa.us>

The compromise I'm inclined to offer is to see what happens if we
back-patch 9.4's config.guess and config.sub. If that makes these
animals go green, and doesn't break any others, we'll call it good.
Otherwise, we revert that change and say we're not putting any
additional effort into it.

Fwiw, apt.postgresql.org has been building+regression testing 9.3 on
ppc64el on various Debian+Ubuntu releases for more than a year now.
The only requirement is updating config.guess/sub.

FWIW, I'm still in favor of that back-patch. But I was outvoted
before, and I dunno if this new info will change anyone's mind.

regards, tom lane