Removing 32-bit powerpc architecture from future Ubuntu releases

[Ben Collins]

> On Dec 21, 2016, at 7:10 PM, Steve Langasek <steve.langasek at ubuntu.com> wrote:
> 
> Dear developers,
> 
> Given the recent announcement that the powerpc architecture would be dropped
> from the upcoming Debian release[1], there has been a good deal of
> discussion about the future of this architecture in Ubuntu as well,
> including a session at last month's Ubuntu Online Summit[2] and several
> discussions during Technical Board meetings.
> 
> Unlike the ppc64el architecture, there is no longer upstream support for the
> 32-bit, big-endian powerpc architecture; so its continuation in Ubuntu would
> be dependent on identifying a community of contributors willing to invest in
> keeping this port in working order, to carry it forward without it
> negatively impacting Ubuntu development as a whole.
> 
> We thank the Linux PowerPC community for their support of Ubuntu over the
> years.  However, efforts since UOS to identify participants for such
> community support going forward have led to the inevitable conclusion that
> the powerpc port in Ubuntu has reached the end of its useful lifespan.
> 
> The Technical Board has therefore determined that the powerpc port should
> not be included in the Ubuntu 17.04 (zesty) release.  In support of this,
> powerpc will be dropped as an architecture in zesty as of Feature Freeze[3].
> 
> The powerpc architecture will continue to be supported as part of existing
> stable releases.  Since powerpc is included in Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, security
> updates for existing packages can be expected until April 2021.  We believe
> this should provide users of Ubuntu powerpc adequate time to plan a
> migration off of this architecture.

I’m completely surprised that the TB did not reach out to an Ubuntu Core
Dev who is also the owner of the Ubuntu PowerPC architecture team, who has
made hundreds of upload to make the ppc32 port buildable, and who handles
the Ubuntu PowerPC kernel flavours before making this decision.

Especially when this person also works for a company who, in fact, builds
ppc32 and ppc64be hardware that utilizes Ubuntu as the sole distribution for
their OS.

I’m a bit disappointed by this decision, especially when you did not, in
any way, reach out to one of the most prominent participants in the Ubuntu
PowerPC community. So no, you did not reach out to the “community” to
identify “participants” because you definitely did not contact me.


--
Cyphre  : http://www.cyphre.com/
Ubuntu  : http://www.ubuntu.com/
My Blog : http://ben-collins.blogspot.com/