PS3 - return to custom flavour or stick with powerpc64-smp?

[Dan Munckton]

Hi Kernel Team

The powerpc64-smp multi-platform kernel doesn't work out of the box on
PlayStation 3 despite merging of the cell patches into 2.6.24 upstream.

I now know we're definitely going to need to change certain config
options and apply patches that are either specific to the PS3 or direct
from cell/PS3 kernel team (Geoff Levand et al) [0].

IMO it looks like we'd be better going back to a custom kernel flavour
especially for PS3. That way we avoid potentially upsetting the
stability of the other powerpc kernels and it would allow us some
freedom to optimise for our specialised environment.

It may be possible in future to return to the power64-smp kernel, I
don't know yet, I've asked Geoff for his opinion on it [1].

So -->

* Does anyone have any objections or opinions on this?

* What are the knock-on effects on general Ubuntu kernel maintenance?

* The current plan [2] is to try and get an installable Hardy on PS3 for
8.04.1. I'm sure I can put together the custom flavour in time but would
it be accepted or are we going to have to focus on the Ibex?

* Would any of the current custom flavour maintainers (lpia, openvz, rt,
xen) be prepared to share their experiences of the
benefits/disadvantages/gotchas of this approach?

* What are the knock-on affects of this on other packages. E.g. I
presume the linux-cell meta-packages would need to be changed, possibly
the installer, most probably the ps3 CD build scripts (wherever they
are?).


Cheers

Dan

[0]
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/220524/comments/10
[1] http://ozlabs.org/pipermail/cbe-oss-dev/2008-May/004748.html
[2] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuPS3/HardySchedule