[MacPorts] #66288: Discussion re pre-build ports for PPC

[MacPorts]

#66288: Discussion re pre-build ports for PPC
----------------------------+-------------------------------------------
  Reporter:  barracuda156   |      Owner:  (none)
      Type:  enhancement    |     Status:  assigned
  Priority:  Normal         |  Milestone:
 Component:  buildbot/mpbb  |    Version:  2.8.0
Resolution:                 |   Keywords:  powerpc, leopard, snowleopard
      Port:                 |
----------------------------+-------------------------------------------

Comment (by ryandesign):

 I have not been able to assemble a working Power Mac G5 because I need to
 swap the power supply between them, but the heat sink must be removed to
 reach the screw that holds in the power supply and I don't have a
 sufficiently long screwdriver.

 Another thing you can do to help is to file pull requests that add minimum
 OS version information to ports that don't have it. For example, if a port
 requires OS X 10.9 (Darwin 13) or later, the Portfile should contain the
 line:

 {{{
 platforms {darwin >= 13}
 }}}

 Most ports don't have this information because MacPorts didn't have the
 capability to represent it until the release of MacPorts 2.8.0 in October
 2022 (see #15712). (Some ports use an older method of conveying this
 information, setting `known_fail yes` depending on some conditional, which
 also works. To the extent that the conditional has to do with OS versions
 only, these should be converted to use the new method as time permits.)

 In the absence of this information, all buildbot workers will try to build
 a port, and it will fail to build on the OS versions on which it doesn't
 work, and reaching this point of failure will take time (which could have
 been better spent building something that would actually build). Every
 time a port is updated, even for a trivial change that would not require a
 rebuild on OS versions where it was successful, it will trigger a buildbot
 build on those OS versions where it had previously failed to see if that
 fixed it. On an Intel Mac it may take minutes to activate all the
 dependencies and potentially many minutes or even hours to reach the point
 in a build where it fails. On a PowerPC, it would take much longer. I fear
 that any PowerPC Mac would not be able to keep up with the volume of
 commits we currently experience if it is constantly trying and retrying to
 build ports that we already know have no hope of ever building on such an
 old machine. By properly indicating minimum OS versions in ports, the
 buildbot can skip those builds on those OS versions within seconds and
 move on build a different port.

 The same applies to indicating supported architectures. For example, if a
 port only works on Intel or Apple Silicon processors, then the Portfile
 should contain the line:

 {{{
 supported_archs arm64 i386 x86_64
 }}}

-- 
Ticket URL: <https://trac.macports.org/ticket/66288#comment:12>
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