Re: glibc regression on alpha with 2.34+

On 20.11.22 10:03, Michael Cree wrote:
> On Sun, Nov 13, 2022 at 12:45:17AM +0100, John Paul Adrian Glaubitz wrot=
e:
>> I just noticed that there is a regression in glibc on alpha with versio=
n 2.34 or later.
>>
>> Looking at the build logs for Debian's 2.34-8 [1], 2.35-4 [2] and 2.36-=
4 [3], it's obvious
>> there is something wrong given the many "Segmentation Fault" errors.
>>
>> I had hoped I could fix this issue by passing "--disable-default-pie" l=
ike we already did
>> on sparc64, but it seems it's not the same bug [4]. At least, this part=
icular workaround
>> does not help.
>
> Interestingly the vast number of the failing tests pass if one builds
> with a compiler that raises the baseline to EV67.  This has been
> proposed a number of times in the past for the Debian distribution.
> I think it is time we did it.  One of our last EV56 users has recently
> bowed out due to hardware failure and I am only running EV67 hardware.

I still have the following pre EV67 machines available and in working orde=
r:

* AXPpci 33 (LCA4)
* AlphaStation 200 (EV4) / 255 (EV45) / 500 (EV56)
* PWS 500au (EV56)
* AlphaServer 800 (EV56)

...and can provide testing on them. All of them eventually ran Debian
GNU/Linux Sid with up to Linux 5.x.x IIRC and I will also try them with
6.0.x. And I believe the majority of still exsiting, still working Alpha
systems are pre EV67 systems.

Given the fact that EV6[...] and EV7[...] based systems are nowadays
very expensive for hobby use (I don't want to say unobtainium), I expect
that dropping support for pre EV67 will kill off most of the user base
for Debian on Alpha (and also Gentoo I assume).

Phrasing it differently:

Who needs a port that only runs on the buildds and a handful of
(hobbyist) machines around the world (like ppc64le ;-))?

My two cents.

All the best,
Frank