>>>>> On Tue, 20 Jun 2000 13:27:26 -0600, "Jeff V. Merkey" <jmerkey@timpanogas.com> said:
Jeff> When I reported this problem, it was done so in good faith and
Jeff> to determine the current state of IA64 from those who know.
Jeff> What I've discovered is that it is far from completed, and
Jeff> that the IA64 posts at www.kernel.org are not up to date or
Jeff> current, at least not to a point where your average joe could
Jeff> one-stop-shop at www.kernel.org and get something that already
Jeff> has the patches applied.
The kernel _should_ build fine with the stuff at kernel.org. The
important thing is to check and apply the latest (matching) patch in
linux/kernel/ports/ia64. Whenever I make a patch available, I put it
in that directory (did so again just a minute ago).
Unfortunately, there was one silly typo (a missing #include
<linux/init.h>) in the previous (000609) patch that caused the build
to fail for the simulator---my apologies for that. Errors
unfortunately do happen.
Jeff> This is probably OK at present since Intel is not shipping
Jeff> these systems in any appreciable quantity.
Yes, no effort has been made to make the kernel build (or even
configuration) particularly easy for the common user. It's probably
time to start thinking about that. Any volunteers? Just having help
descriptions for the configuration options would be a very good start.
Jeff> When they roll these systems out, however, then what's up at
Jeff> www.kernel.org should be buildable without needing to surf all
Jeff> over the net looking for patches.
Certainly.
Jeff> Intel is proactively running around telling Linux App and
Jeff> Kernel developers that this stuff is available and working,
Jeff> and posting downloads on their website.
It is, but the assumption is more or less that you'll start with a
distribution such as TurboLinux, Red Hat, SuSE, Caldera, etc., so
you'll get a working system to begin with. Perhaps we should have
provided kernel source as part of the IA-64 Linux Developer's Kit, but
since that kit is primarily geared towards application developers, we
decided that folks that want to do kernel development will have no
trouble getting and building the kernel sources.
Jeff> I am simply concerned that the current IA64 code base at
Jeff> www.kernel.org is not being kept uptodate and that this will
Jeff> hurt Intel's IA64 Linux program since folks may download
Jeff> what's at www.kernel.org and come away with the impression
Jeff> that it's more incomplete than it is.
That's certainly not the intention. I am sending Linus periodic
update but given that he has been on vacation, not much has happened
since test1 came out. Yeah, I'm aware of the AC series but for
whatever reason, I decided not to track it---color me lazy.
Jeff> At any rate, IMHO the changes for IA64 should be merged with
Jeff> the tree at www.kernel.org when it's completed simply to avoid
Jeff> having several IA64 versions lying around, some of which do
Jeff> not compile.
Yes, but honestly it's virtually impossible to do this perfectly
unless and until Linus switches over to IA-64 as his main development
platform. And guess what that would do to the x86 tree...
Jeff> Intel Docs on Intel's website say:
Jeff> ".... IA64 has been supported on Linux since version 2.3.35,
Jeff> and can be downloaded from www.kernel.org...."
Jeff> It does not mention the big ugly patch at www.ia64linux.org.
You don't need any patch from ia64linux.org. Everything you need is
right there in kernel.org:/pub/linux/kernel/{v2.4,ports/ia64}.
--david
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