Re: Old debian-mac-*-netinst.iso images

On 15/03/2025 19:31, Andrew M.A. Cater wrote:
> We currently still build debian-mac-12.10.0-i386-netinst.iso and
> debian-mac-12.10.0-amd64-netinst.iso images.
> 
> These are for an *old* Intel-based Mac Mini that had issues with
> image booting from certain disk layouts. From the wiki
> https://wiki.debian.org/MacMiniIntel#Macmini_2.2C1 - this was a long
> time ago.
> 
> Most of these machines will be long since gone.

Some time ago someone donated me 2 old Mac Minis, a 1.66 from 2006 [1] 
and a 4.1 from 2010 [2], for use with Debian.
Technically they are still working, and I've not found the time yet to 
properly set them up. Even the oldest one has a 64-bit processor.

  In the same way that
> we stopped producing specific 32 bit UEFI images and rolled those
> into the 64 bit installer - removing the need for those multi-arch
> images - can we now afford to do the same for these images?

In live-build there is some code mentioning 32-bit UEFI, but I haven't 
tested that.

> *Most* modern Intel-based Macs will boot from the standard AMD64
> install media though some may then have other firmware issues
> e.g. T2 chip and touch bar.
> 
> Users have occasionally been confused and downloaded the wrong image.
> 
> I noticed the images were still there in the release testing for
> 12.10 today.
> 
> Thoughts?

If the netinst and live images are able to properly detect the hardware 
they are running on (including firmware bugs etc), I think it would be 
nice to remove the mac-specific images.
Also given that i386 images are not generated any more for trixie, IMO 
at least the i386-mac images can be removed for trixie. If there are not 
bug reports for bookworm, I don't see a need to remove them for bookworm 
already.

My 2 cents,
Roland Clobus

[1] https://everymac.com/systems/apple/mac_mini/specs/mac_mini_cd_1.66.html
[2] 
https://everymac.com/systems/apple/mac_mini/specs/mac-mini-core-2-duo-2.4-mid-2010-specs.html

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