Re: (native build & other issues - Was: xvfb not built on vax...)

[David Brownlee <abs%NetBSD.org@localhost>]

On Wed, 4 Feb 2009, Johnny Billquist wrote:

> Antti Kantee wrote:
>
> > Just do it.  No point in having kludges in the tree to make native
> > build "fast" on the vax or wasting time even thinking about it.
>
> Ooo. Thank you for that kind though. Yes. Doing native builds on a VAX is not 
> something we should even consider.
>
> The fact that native builds don't even work, and that this isn't even 
> detectable by doing cross-builds is not something we care about either.
>
> In fact, why even bother with the VAX?
>
> I really like the way some people who work on NetBSD think... NOT!

        (Note: trimmed non port-vax lists from reply)

    Speed of NetBSD/vax build:

        Some NetBSD users do not care about how long a vax takes
        to build NetBSD - why is that surprising? I think you'll
        find quite a few users on port-vax who really don't care
        about x86, or arm, or 3d graphics support for example.

        I was trying to help NetBSD be more consistant across
        platforms; I asked about the change and listened to
        replies rather than just going ahead and doing it.

        I would expect most people building NetBSD/vax for a headless
        system are going to skip building x11 altogether.

        There are quite a few 'MK*' and 'USE_*' variables that can
        be set to disable various features in a build which can
        speed up the build and the resultant system - such as
        USE_INET6 USE_HESIOD USE_LDAP USE_PAM & USE_YP to name just
        a few (full list in /usr/share/mk/bsd.README).

    Native NetBSD/vax build broken:

        Some people do care about native build being broken, and
        some have the ability to work out what is wrong and fix
        it, and some have the time. When someone with all three
        steps forward you can be sure their fix will be committed.

        As I understand ther are two issues:
        a) Some vax models seem to 'go to sleep' under load
        b) Groff chokes building certain .ps files - I thought Brad had
           tracked that down to a hypot issue, what ever happened with
           that?

    Do *you* care about NetBSD/vax?:

        I think one of the problems is things come up on the list,
        and then everything tails off again for a while until
        someone mentions it again and it all goes round again.

        We have send-pr, but people seem to have issues tracking those.

        Could I suggest we need a central location to record the
        current state of NetBSD/vax, what people have found and/or
        are working on?

        Can people please take a look at http://wiki.netbsd.se/vax

        If you have even a little time and any interest in NetBSD/vax,
        take a couple of minutes to add something to that page, be
        it something you really want changed, some extra details
        on a problem, or some trick you've found to get it installed.


--
                David/absolute       -- www.NetBSD.org: No hype required --