Re: Current state of the Linux kernel on SPARC

Are Michael's 6.12.38 kernel fixes added into kernel 6.16.3-1? Just 
tried the latest 08/21/2025 ports ISO on an Oracle S7-2 system.

https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/ports/snapshots/2025-08-21/

*Note: The bare-metal install with lxde is fine. However, receive the 
following panic/error after first reboot (when initial install is 
finished).  Due to this, I will hold off on T5140 and IBM Power 7/8 
Debian installs (unless someone requests I try them).

Loading Linux 6.16.3+deb14-sparc64-smp ...
Loading initial ramdisk ...

[    1.026613] ds-1: ds_conn_reset() from ldc_rx
[    2.674023] Kernel panic - not syncing: corrupted stack end detected 
inside scheduler
[    2.689447] CPU: 14 UID: 0 PID: 288 Comm: (udev-worker) Tainted: G    
     W           6.16.3+deb14-sparc64-smp #1 NONE Debian 6.16.3-1
[    2.713919] Tainted: [W]=WARN
[    2.719812] Call Trace:
[    2.724672] [<0000000000437408>] dump_stack+0x8/0x18
[    2.734573] [<0000000000429540>] panic+0xf4/0x398
[    2.743944] [<0000000000f80964>] switch_to_pc+0x918/0x934
[    2.754710] [<0000000000f8099c>] schedule+0x1c/0x180
[    2.913102] Press Stop-A (L1-A) from sun keyboard or send break
[    2.913102] twice on console to return to the boot prom
[    2.935109] ---[ end Kernel panic - not syncing: corrupted stack end 
detected inside scheduler ]---

On 8/26/25 3:52 PM, Tony Rodriguez wrote:
> I was actually part of the Oracle team that helped port Oracle Linux 6 
> (OL6) to sparc64 (for T5120, T5140, T3, T4, T5).  OL6 also supported 
> creating/managing ldoms as well, much like Solaris. Although I don't 
> currently work for Oracle, I still have an interest in helping with 
> various architectures (including sparc64, power be/le, arm64, x86, 
> etc).  I would definitely enjoy working on this again in a full-time 
> capacity, if given an opportunity to do so.
>
> Regarding sparc64, I have T5120, T5140, and Oracle S7-2 systems.  Last 
> time I checked, many months ago Gentoo and Debian both worked on 
> Oracle S7-2.
>
> Regarding Gentoo:
>
> During the initial bare-metal install on S7-2, it worked but couldn't 
> use my ConnectX4-LX NIC.  I was blocked from continuing the install.  
> Asked the Gentoo sparc team to enable support for ConnectX-4 LX and 
> ConnextX-5 based Network Cards.  They also updated their ISO images to 
> reflect it.  I confirmed it worked.
>
> Regarding Debian:
>
> It worked on S7-2, but can't say it was 100% stable (especially after 
> updating packages). The initial bare-metal install was okay, but not 
> very stable after updates (panics, etc).   When I have time, I will 
> try the latest debian ports ISO to see if things are better 
> (stability/update wise) on sparc64 (for S7-2 and T5140) and IBM Power7/8.
>
> PS - Managed to get XRDP to build/install on Solaris 11.4 for remote 
> desktop.   Also, just a heads-up, Solaris 11.4 (CBE 11.4.81) doesn't 
> install bare-metal on Oracle S7-2.  It is a bug, hopefully the next 
> CBE release will resolve that issue. 
>  https://www.oracle.com/solaris/solaris11/downloads/solaris-downloads.html 
>   Was planning to use CBE 11.4.81 to create ldoms, I had to use an 
> earlier version of Solaris 11.4 ISO to work around the bare-metal 
> installation problem.
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Tony Rodriguez
>
>
> On 8/26/25 10:49 AM, Dennis Clarke wrote:
>> On 8/24/25 17:09, John Paul Adrian Glaubitz wrote:
>>> Hello,
>>>
>>> since there has been a lot of recent activity around the Linux 
>>> kernel on SPARC
>>> and there are also a lot of issues to be dealt with and unmerged 
>>> patches, I have
>>> decided to summarize the current state of the Linux kernel on SPARC 
>>> to bring
>>> anyone interested up to date.
>>>
>>
>>
>>     Thank you very much for this detailed update. I have had a SPARC
>> server ( or two or seven ) running somewhere but the problems are, how
>> may I say it? The problems are always numerous. It is just a real pain
>> to keep one of those running much of anything anymore. Your detailed
>> update gives me the notion that a decently fast machine may exist that
>> will run Linux in a reasonable fashion. Maybe. This could just be yet
>> another total waste of time and money. That is the nature of Linux on
>> SPARC these days.
>>
>>     Having said all of that I wonder if anyone has run Linux on the more
>> recently built ORACLE S7-2 type servers? I think the people at Oracle
>> may have released a variant of ORACLE Linux ( read that as Red Hat ) for
>> SPARC just for this machine. However the code changes required for that
>> to work may be locked away on Larry's island. Who knows.
>>
>>     So has anyone managed to get Linux running on the S7-2 type unit?
>>
>>