Re: Linux 6.12

[Frank Scheiner <frank.scheiner@web.de>]

Dear all,

here comes the usual update on Linux/ia64 for v6.12:

We're already past mid November, so it looks like we're doing this now
since over a year actually. Maybe a good occasion to go through some of
the highlights during this time frame:

* Six mainline releases v6.7 - v6.12, all running on the ia64 hardware
we have available for testing ([1]). Not to speak of all the RCs and
test builds during merge windows tested in between. To have a
forward-look on possible build problems between RCs and during merge
windows an auto-builder for Linux mainline was set up, that builds
mainline for ia64 each day. This also shortens the time frame for us to
check for a cause when problems arise.

[1]: http://epic-linux.org/#!testing-effort/tested-kernels-table.md


* The hp-sim platform was reinstated for Linux up to mainline, allowing
everybody to run ia64 software (kernels and userland) on non-ia64
hardware, thanks to ski maintained by Sergei Trofimovich. This is for
example used for our Linux stable R(C) auto-builder to test-boot each
kernel after it was built and run some userland tools for a test. By
involving ski for this auto-builder it can not only demonstrate build
problems, but also problems during runtime, as shown already in the
corresponding issues ([2]).

[2]: https://github.com/linux-ia64/linux-stable-rc/issues


* Two Linux distributions keep support for ia64: T2/SDE ([3]) and EPIC
Slack [(4)].

[3]: https://t2sde.org/

[4]: http://epic-slack.org/


* Also http://epic-linux.org/ was established to allow interested people
to find current and relevant information about Linux/ia64 at a central
place.


Maybe someone can help me here with the history, but was there another
architecture that has been kicked out of the kernel, that received that
level of continuation afterwards?

We'll see where this goes.


Find the last Linux/ia64 update on [5].

[5]: https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/5d1b5880-9bdc-4b04-81dc-341df7b02177@web.de/

****

Thank you all for your hard work on Linux!

Cheers,
Frank et al