Hello,
i wonder, is there a farm of beefy 68k machines somewhere that are started a few weeks before a possible release to compile the packages? Or are they crosscompiled like the system?
We run binary package builds as best we can since even running continuously for three months for each pkgsrc branch would most likely not finish. Packages are uploaded once every week or two, so the number just continuously grows.
The primary build machine currently used is an Amiga 1200 with a 60 MHz m68060 and 256 megs of memory.
http://lilith.ziaspace.com/ Those pictures were taken so long ago that they're pre-digital :)Another machine which is used for pkgsrc testing and building is a Quadra 610 which has a NewerTech QuadDoubler with a 50 MHz m68040. It currently has 68 megs, but when I have some time I hope to get some code into the kernel that allows it to support 128 meg SIMMs giving 260 megs total.
I'm discussing the possible benefits and implementation of a stack of cheap, yet powerful 68k boxes to compile packages faster. Imagine a stack of LC475/Q605 with 68040 at 40 MHz and 132 MB Ram, netbooting NetBSD from a fast server and running distcc to compile packages. :)
You and I think alike - I even built a small set of shelves for up to ten of these, but by the time I had several going, I realized there were a lot of stability issues. I've been re-capping each of my Q605s, one at a time, and will be working on adding them one at a time.
This one just got recapped and will be running NetBSD 6 when the motherboard comes back:
http://www.ziaspace.com/~john/boobookitty/When time allows I'd like to play with distcc, but the initial multi-computer support will be nothing more fancy than a single machine farming out package building work, one package at a time, to each separate machine for building. Since some build machines will be elsewhere on the planet, it'll have to manage moving the files around via scp, too.
John