[lubuntu-users] [lubuntu-devel] State of PPC

[Bryan Quigley]

Sorry for the late notice - there is a live discussion scheduled for
this Wednesday on this topic for any flavors that want to further the
discussion.

http://summit.ubuntu.com/uos-16 11/meeting/22714/architecture-discussions/

On Fri, Jul 22, 2016 at 4:59 PM, Walter Lapchynski <wxl at ubuntu.com> wrote:
> As you can see from the page on [PPC][1], the architecture has only
> community support from Ubuntu. Lubuntu has been trying as much as we can to
> support this, but the fact of the matter is that we have no developers on
> our team that can actually help with PPC bugs.
>
> The best you can hope for is that kernel developers (mostly, the issue is
> with drivers) might have some interest in fixing bugs. However, with only
> community support, that's unlikely. Most of the focus on PPC has been on the
> server side of things, where graphics just don't come into play.
>
> My estimation of things is that Lubuntu on PPC mostly works, given a few
> caveats. All we need to do to release PPC is for all of the test cases to be
> completed successfully (regardless of whether or not there are bugs) and
> that marked on the QA tracker for the final testing of each milestone. If we
> don't have that done, Canonical will not let us release it.
>
> PPC was what brought me originally to Lubuntu, so there's a special place
> for it in my heart. Having an OS make that old hardware work was very
> refreshing and introduced me to the real power and mission of Lubuntu.
>
> However, I haven't ran PPC in a long, long time. That being said, I'm not of
> much help. We rely on the community of users to help out. When I don't see
> testing happening in the community, it makes me think that I'm not the only
> one that's neglected their PPC machines.
>
> The reality of the situation is that there has been much talk throughout the
> Ubuntu community over the past few years about getting rid of i386. If that
> happens, I can't imagine that Canonical keeping PPC. With that in mind, I
> think the end of PPC Lubuntu is coming regardless of what our feelings are.
>
> Furthermore, the Lubuntu Team is a small one and we often lack the capacity
> to do the things that we need to do. PPC is just stretching us even thinner,
> and into an area few of us really have the experience, knowledge, resources,
> or time to deal with.
>
> That said, I'm inclined to suggest we start the process of removing PPC. We
> managed to release an LTS, which is the only version we even bother with PPC
> on. All we would need to do is ensure that all the point releases for Trusty
> and Xenial get published. That would put us out until about August 2018.
>
> I think ultimately this will be better for the team. Most importantly,
> though, I think it will be better for the PPC users that I fear we can't
> really support and who we often leave with a frustrated experience.
>
> What do you think?
>
> [1]: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PowerPC
> --
> @wxl | http://polka.bike
> Lubuntu Release Manager & Head of QA
> Ubuntu PPC Point of Contact
> Ubuntu Oregon LoCo Team Leader
> Ubuntu Membership Board & LoCo Council Member
> Eugene Unix & GNU/Linux User Group Co-Organizer
>
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