To: debian-sparc@lists.debian.org
Subject: Debian sparc32 on Ultra status report
From: Steve Dunham <dunham@cse.msu.edu>
Date: 14 Dec 1998 15:01:45 -0500


FYI:  (I'm not even sure if anyone cares, but...)

My two class projects were finished last week, so I had some more time
to look into my attempt to install Debian sparc on an Ultra5.

You'll recall that I managed to get the sparc32 Debian on an Ultra5 by
using a kernel and modutils from "UltraPenguin".  The needed bits were
posted to my web site.


This weekend I continued the project by building XF86_Mach64.  I
downloaded XFree 3.3.3 and applied the "sparc" and "ffb" patches from
the UltraPenguin package.  (Apparently the latest UltraPenguin
includes the _register_frame_info bug as a compatibility feature with
RedHat... go figure.)  Aside from having to fix a few rejected patches
and construct a XF86Config file, it worked flawlessly.


I've also built a binutils that works with both sparc32 and sparc64
(it seems the trick was to compile binutils with egcs - if compiled
with gcc it won't link 32-bit code - the UP spec file said something
about a bug involving "long long" in gcc 2.7.x.)  In conjunction with
an "alien"ed copy of egcs64 from UltraPenguin, I successfully built a
64-bit kernel under Debian (cvs 2.1.130).


Right now I'm building some of the missing general packages (like a
recent icewm, gtk, etc), so I can switch to the Ultra5 as my primary
machine and pass the intel machine to a coworker.  Afterwards, I will
start work on packaging the Ultra stuff up.  (Modutils, binutils,
egcs64, X servers, tilo, and kernel.)

By the time sparc32 Debian is released with slink, or very soon
thereafter, I should have an unofficial addon ready to make everything
work on the Ultras which is as easy to install as the sparc32
distribution.  (I'm aiming towards something that works on both, like
UltraPenguin.)  Eventually, I'd like to get the patched binutils and
modutils into the official sparc distribution.


I just wanted to let people know that it is possible, and that I'm
within a few weeks of posting packages and a few simple instructions
on how to install Debian on an UltraSparc.


I would be interested in knowing if anyone else is interested in this
or is running Debian on an UltraSparc.  (It's my impression that the
debian-ultrasparc project is aiming towards a 64-bit userland, which
is a ways off.)


Steve
dunham@cse.msu.edu


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