Re: What's the plan for powerpc64 in FreeBSD 16

On Wed, 26 Nov 2025, Alexander Ziaee wrote:

> Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2025 16:33:33 +0000 (UTC)
> From: Alexander Ziaee <ziaee@FreeBSD.org>
> To: Minsoo Choo <minsoochoo0122@proton.me>, Warner Losh <imp@bsdimp.com>
> Cc: "freebsd-arch@freebsd.org" <arch@freebsd.org>
> Subject: Re: What's the plan for powerpc64 in FreeBSD 16
> 
> On 2025-11-26 10:50 -05:00 EST, "Minsoo Choo" <minsoochoo0122@proton.me> wrote:
>> PowerPC 970 for PowerMac G5 was the last big-endian processor that physically runs FreeBSD. Other big-endian power processors like the ones until POWER7 (Yes, I know POWER4 to 7 technically support bi-endian, but they were effectively big-endian-only due to lack of firmware and software support) are only supported through pSeries VM according to FreeBSD Hardware Notes.
> Well, I write those hardware notes. They contain just what I can find people have admitted to using.
>
> They say at the top "other configurations may also work, but simply have not been tested yet".
>
> "Feedback, updates, and corrections to this list are encouraged!"
>
> Yes, you reading this, that means you! Reply to this mail!
>


Well, I don't know how I can prove the hardware I am using:

# sysctl hw.model hw.machine
hw.model: Freescale e5500 core
hw.machine: powerpc
# getconf LONG_BIT
64
# grep -i cpu /var/run/dmesg.boot
cpu0: Freescale e5500 core revision 1.2, 1995.00 MHz
cpu0: Features cc009100<PPC32,PPC64,FPU,MMU,BOOKE,ARCH205,ARCH206>
# uptime
10:18AM  up 450 days