XPost: linux.debian.devel.release   
   From: unixpro1970@gmail.com   
      
   Why not support power 8 beyond 2028? It is still a good system and supports   
   newer little endian. Hopefully, you can reconsider and keep power 8 for as   
   long as power 9/10 regarding baseline support.   
      
   > On Oct 26, 2025, at 5:40 AM, Bastian Blank  wrote:   
   >    
   > Hi   
   >    
   > We never did a real discussion about architecture baselines before, but I   
   think   
   > we should do that.  We also don't have any guidelines what we as Debian want   
   to   
   > actually support.  But given that we are a general purpose distribution, we   
   > have to find a balance.   
   >    
   > As a general guidance I would like to aim for a ten to 15 years support range   
   > at release time.  The cutoff in respect to the expected 2027 release date of   
   > Forky would therefor be 2012 to 2017.  More time is given for widely used   
   > architectures, less for more specialized ones.   
   >    
   > Bastian   
   >    
   > # Current architecture baseline   
   >    
   > Only three architectures set an explicit baseline in gcc-12 (Bookworm) and   
   > gcc-15 (Forky):   
   > * armhf: armv7-a+fp   
   > * i386: i686   
   > * s390: z196   
   >    
   > All other architectures use the default values.   
   >    
   > # Proposal for architecture baseline   
   >    
   > ## amd64 (and i386)   
   >    
   > * x86-64-v2: Supported since around 2008[^x86]. Used in RedHat   
   9[^redhat9x86].   
   > * x86-64-v3: Supported since around 2013-2015[^x86]. Used in RedHat   
   >  10[^redhat10].   
   >    
   > I propose to use the x86-64-v2 baseline in Forky.  It gives us more then the   
   15   
   > years and everyone else already switched to it or even a newer variant.   
   > Factoring in a possible LTS for Trixie, this means that x86-64-v1 will stop   
   > being supported by Debian in 2030.   
   >    
   > ## ppc64el   
   >    
   > * POWER8: Launched in 2014[^power8].   
   > * POWER9: Launched in 2017[^power9]. Used in RedHat 9[^redhat9] and   
   >  10[^redhat10].   
   >    
   > I propose to use the POWER9 baseline in Forky.  The Debian infrastructure   
   seems   
   > to be comprised of all POWER9s.  This means POWER8 will stop being supported   
   in   
   > 2028.   
   >    
   > ## s390x   
   >    
   > * z14: Launched in 2017[^z14]. Used by RedHat 10[^redhat10].   
   > * z15: Launched in 2019[^z15]. Used by next Ubuntu.   
   >    
   > I propose to use the z15 baseline in Forky.  Yes, this is less then ten   
   years,   
   > but s390 is such a niche architecture and all we do is best (often not even   
   > this) effort support.  The Debian infrastructure is documented to be at least   
   > z15, all accesible system are actually z16.  This means that z14 and older   
   will   
   > stop being support in 2028.   
   >    
   > # How to see supported baseline   
   >    
   > The dynamic linker of glibc can show what microarchiture level it considers   
   > supported on the current CPU.  The "supported" marker is relevant in this   
   case.   
   >    
   > ## amd64   
   > ```   
   > % /usr/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 --help | sed -n '/^Subdirectories of   
   glibc-hwcaps/,$p'   
   > Subdirectories of glibc-hwcaps directories, in priority order:   
   >  x86-64-v4   
   >  x86-64-v3 (supported, searched)   
   >  x86-64-v2 (supported, searched)   
   > ```   
   >    
   > ## ppc64el   
   > ```   
   > % /usr/lib64/ld64.so.2 --help | sed -n '/^Subdirectories of gl   
   bc-hwcaps/,$p'             
   > Subdirectories of glibc-hwcaps directories, in priority order:   
   >  power10   
   >  power9 (supported, searched)   
   > ```   
   >    
   > ## s390x   
   > ```   
   > % /usr/lib/ld64.so.1 --help | sed -n '/^Subdirectories of glibc-hwcaps/,/^    
   z15/p'              
   > Subdirectories of glibc-hwcaps directories, in priority order:   
   >  z16 (supported, searched)   
   >  z15 (supported, searched)   
   > ```   
   >    
   > [^power8]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/POWER8   
   > [^power9]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/POWER9   
   > [^x86]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86-64#Microarchitecture_levels   
   > [^z14]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_z14_(microprocessor)   
   > [^z15]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_z15_(microprocessor)   
   > [^redhat9]: https://docs.redhat.com/en/documentation/red_hat_e   
   terprise_linux/9/html/9.0_release_notes/architectures   
   > [^redhat9x86]: https://developers.redhat.com/blog/2021/01/05/b   
   ilding-red-hat-enterprise-linux-9-for-the-x86-64-v2-microarchitecture-level   
   > [^redhat10]: https://docs.redhat.com/en/documentation/red_hat_   
   nterprise_linux/10/html/considerations_in_adopting_rhel_10/architectures   
   >    
   > --   
   > Spock: The odds of surviving another attack are 13562190123 to 1, Captain.   
   >    
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)