Can you build a disto for PPC64 Big Endian Systems ? I have a p720 in my basement

[jerryn]

Would it be possible to build an ISO for PPC64 Big Endian ?

I could build with a cross compiler environment. Can you set directions for what I need for PPC64 Big-Endian ?

[nazunalika]

Building an ISO would not solve this for you. The entire power build of Rocky Linux 9 is all ppc64le. Because of this, there is no support for big endian. Supporting big endian would require a full new build of Rocky Linux 9.

[jerryn]

That’s what I plan on doing, an entire power build of Rocky Linux 9 for ppc64BE and then once that’s complete an ISO build. I was just wondering if you have the flags handy and the source tree for the ISO.
Once I get the initial build installed on my old p720 I can build the new releases on my p720.

I guess I wasn’t clear enough when I posted. I know cross compile works. I just never made bootable media for the PowerPC with an Intel based machine. I wasn’t sure if that worked.

[nazunalika]

This won’t be as simple as you want it to be. Kickstarts don’t generate our minimal nor our DVD images.

To make a bootable image, you need you need to run lorax on a native system that would have access to the necessary repositories that have the needed packages to build that image (template). Once the boot image is made, you would need to use xorriso with a dialog to take the boot image and add in the extra repositories and packages for anaconda to utilize. That can be done on any architecture.

In summary: lorax must be ran in a native environment/archictecture. xorriso to repackage an ISO with packages can be done anywhere.

Our toolkit is what helps us with this procedure.

[jerryn]

Thanks… that’s what I thought, creating a bootable cd/dvd has to be native. I am going to have to jump through hoops. I have an old CentOS 6.8 installed on that p720. The GCC compiler on that system is going to be too old to build the new install.

[nazunalika]

If you’re willing to go through with trying to make it all work, you might have better luck starting on Fedora 28. It’s still old yes since it’s closer to Rocky 8, but it’s better than CentOS 6 or 7. It may be worth a shot.

See here.