Hello!

I just uploaded updated installation images 2019-07-04 for the
following Debian Ports architectures:

* alpha
* hppa
* ia64
* m68k
* powerpc
* ppc64
* sh4
* sparc64

I uploaded both CD images [1] as well as netboot images [2].

Please test those images and report back over the mailing list for
the corresponding architecture.

Known issues:

* alpha
- There have been reports about missing firmware for storage devices.
The firmware required for these devices is located in the
"firmware-linux" and "firmware-linux-nonfree" packages but we currently
don't have a floppy driver in debian-installer to load additional
firmware.
Unfortunately, I have not yet figured out how to enable firmware
packages in debian-cd for Debian Ports.
* hppa
- No known issues and changes. However, PA-RISC (and all other architectures
below) machines can be affectedb by missing firmware as well (see alpha)
depending on the hardware.
* ia64
- The kernel might be unstable during install
(try passing "hardened_usercopy=off" at the boot prompt,
e.g. "install hardened_usercopy=off").
- If the machine locks up during boot with a radeon GPU,
try passing "modprobe_blacklist=radeon nomodeset".
- The kernel crashes on certain machines like the RX2800
due to a regression in the ia64 kernel code. We have not found
a suitable solution for this problem yet but it is being worked
on, see: https://marc.info/?l=linux-ia64&m=156144480821712&w=2
* m68k
- The drivers for IDE hardware have to be loaded manually, e.g.:
+ modprobe pata_gayle
+ modprobe pata_falcon
There is a pending set of kernel patches now sent upstream which
will fix that problem for the Atari Falcon IDE controller,
see: https://marc.info/?l=linux-m68k&m=156201856805750&w=2
and: https://marc.info/?l=linux-m68k&m=156201856905754&w=2
I'm actually not sure whether the pata_gayle driver needs
these patches as well for enabling automatic module loading.
- There is no automatic installation of the bootloader yet,
users have to boot the kernel and initrd manually after
installation. This is because different m68k platforms
use different bootloaders. But it might be feasible to
come up with a solution to install amiboot and ataboot
automatically.
* powerpc/ppc64
- Installing GRUB is currently broken on PowerMacs due to
a limitation in the grub-ofpathname utility. This is
being worked on.
- Unfortunately, upgrading the GRUB package will currently
render PowerMacs unbootable. See this thread for more:
https://lists.debian.org/debian-powerpc/2019/04/msg00165.html
- On some machines, the fans might produce a lot of noise,
this can be addressed by manually the windfarm kernel
modules:
+ modprobe windfarm_core
* sh4
- There is no CD image, installation has to be performed
using the debian-installer images.
- Currently supported targets are Renesas SH-7785LCR and
SH-7751R, the latter should be identical to qemu-sh4.
- There have been some improvements for debian-installer for
sh4. It now uses the latest kernel instead of being stuck
to 2.6.32. Furthermore, there was also one bug in the sh4
kernel that was fixed, see:
https://salsa.debian.org/kernel-team/linux/merge_requests/152
- More work on the sh4 kernel is necessary to get it back in
shape. In particular, the kernel needs to be slimmed down by
turning more drivers into modules as the maximum kernel size
for qemu-sh4 is 8 MiB.
* sparc64
- The serial driver bug for LDOM installations has been fixed
(https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/davem/sparc.git/commit/?id=07a6d63eb1b54b5fb38092780fe618dfe1d96e23)
and therefore installation inside an LDOM works correctly again.
- There are no known issues.

I will follow up with another mail listing the most important TODO
list items for every architecture in Debian Ports so that anyone
interested in helping with these architectures knows what to work on.

Important:

When reporting issues or bugs, please include the syslog
from your installation in the bug report/mail. The log
file can be access when switching to another console using
<Alt>+<Cursor> for normal installations or <Ctrl>+<a>+<n>
when installing over a serial console. I also need to know
what hardware was used, which installation steps (normal
vs. expert) and which image was used.

I am currently collecting bug reports but cannot push the fixes
immediately as the imminent Debian Buster release means that
debian-installer and components are effectively frozen.

Thanks,
Adrian

[1] https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/ports/2019-07-04/
[2] https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/ports/debian-installer/

--
.''`. John Paul Adrian Glaubitz
: :' : Debian Developer - glaubitz@debian.org
`. `' Freie Universitaet Berlin - glaubitz@physik.fu-berlin.de
`- GPG: 62FF 8A75 84E0 2956 9546 0006 7426 3B37 F5B5 F913

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