Re: [PORTS] RedHat6.0 & Alpha

> Yea, it has been like that with the Linux/Alpha port for some
> time, including other packages then pgsql alone. :( As for the other Alpha
> stakeholders, I have yet to hear from any of them at all in this
> disscussion and for a while in any discussion concerning pgsql and
> Linux/Alpha. Of course, every now and then, some Linux/Alpha user comes
> along and asks why we haven't moved anywhere with pgsql in the last so
> long, and gets mad with any answer I try and give them. My conclusion
> about Linux/Alpha is that lots of people want the power of the alpha
> processor, but don't want to help out and get rid of some of the lingering
> sharp edges. They want it to work right out of the box! That leaves things
> to a few of us die hards to get everything working, and most of them
> focus on more fundamental things, like gcc and glibc, and the applications
> end up getting the short end of the stick. Ok, I will get off my soap box
> here, back to the trenches....

Yes, this is our impression too. We get lots of head-shaking, but not
lots of roll-up-their sleves help.

> First of all, today's snapshot with Uncle G's patches compiles and
> runs on Linux/Intel and Solaris/Sparc as well as they do without the
> patches on the same snapshot for the most part. Though the patches seem to
> break the random regression test on Linux/Intel. Also, today's snapshot
> (clean) will not compile on Solaris/Sparc, as there is an extra #endif in
> ./src/backend/port/isinf.c that gcc on Solaris pukes on. :(

Fixed now. That was me. That file was a mess before.

> So, this snapshot is in suspect, and it looks like the alpha
> patches are as well, at least as far as other platforms go.
> My vote would be go back and do a 'alpha' patch off of 6.5.1, and
> distribute that to the distribution people to get pgsql running on
> Linux/Alpha in the short time. Then, four months or so down the road when
> the next release target comes up, we plan to have a version of pgsql that
> will run on both Alpha and other platforms. That means Uncle G's patches
> need to be checked for what they do to the other platforms.

Agreed.

> This would get us a Alpha ready version of pgsql now (there has
> been enough delay as it is, we really don't want to wait any more), not
> put us out on the limb with a possibly unstable release of pgsql, and
> gives us time to get the alpha patches properly tested and integrated into
> the main source tree.
> As I see it, these are the following things that need to be added
> to 6.5.1 to make it alpha ready:
>
> * Uncle G's Alpha patches { which I have }.
> * Makefile conditionals for Linux/Alpha { which I can find with
> only moderate trouble }.
> * Bruce's alignment patches { which I do not have }.

I just changed many DOUBLEALIGN's to MAXALIGN. It was a cosmetic fix,
as far as I could tell. Are they different on Alpha?

>
> Bruce, if you could get me your alignment patches, then I will try and
> apply the above to 6.5.1, and make a patch that bring 6.5.1 up to alpha
> ready state. Then we give that patch to debian and RH developers, tell
> them to only apply it to thier alpha builds, and that we will have a
> universal source tree for all platforms (including alpha) in a few months.
> This is simular to what was done (might even still be done) for
> the Linux kernel itself. To compile a 2.0.x kernel for Linux/Alpha, one
> got the clean source, a set of alpha patches for the same rev level, and
> applied them to the clean source to generate an alpha ready kernel source
> tree.
> Is this a viable idea, or just another horrible kludge?

Sounds good.

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