Rescue FreeBSD (PowerPC)??

[Nathan Whitehorn]

Gerald A wrote:
> On Wed, Jun 25, 2008 at 2:52 AM, Peter Grehan <grehan at freebsd.org> wrote:
>
>   
>>  The reason this isn't being built as part of the pp release process is
>> that it hasn't been determined what the mkisofs switches are to create a
>> bootable hybrid 9660/HFS image and also deal with the hard links that
>> FreeBSD creates without blowing out the size beyond a CD.
>>     
>
>
> Could it work as a DVD? (Can DVD PPC's be booted from a DVD?)
>
> I think both of my Blue and White's have DVDs in them. If I can get this
> far, I can work on...
>
>   
They can, but it's probably easier/better to figure out a way around the 
size explosion.
>>  So here's a call to action for ppc hackers: experiment and see if you can
>> work out what the magic incantation is. Start off by looking at the scripts
>> in src/release/powerpc.
>>
>>     
>
> I'm very familiar with FreeBSD. Would it be possible to cross compile world?
> (I know it is in theory, but is it a few switches that need tweaking, or is
> it microsurgery and headaches that will take weeks to sort out?). I'd love
> to get FreeBSD on my Blue and Whites, and am willing to fiddle a bit.
> Is it better to cross compile, or should I invest some time getting a hosted
> env on PPC going first? Any thoughts or advice are appreciated.
>   
Cross-compiling works very well, depending on what you want to do. You 
can't build release ISOs, but you can get a bootable system which is 
useful for netbooting. Just do something like this and wait:

make buildworld buildkernel installworld installkernel distribution 
TARGET_ARCH=powerpc DESTDIR=$(PPC_NFSBOOT)

For the blue and whites, you'll want a fairly recent (last couple weeks) 
-CURRENT to get support for the built-in ethernet. I'd appreciate any 
testing you feel like doing with the ethernet too, since I've only 
tested it on my machine.
-Nathan