Messages

76

Applications and Porting / Jami P2P VoIP client backported for Debian 10 (buster)

« on: February 01, 2021, 11:53:15 am »

I built a backport of the latest version of Jami for various architectures including ppc64le.  This is one of several ways to do chat and VoIP with no central server, more details on the official web site

These are distributed through the Debify repository

If you didn't use Debify already, you can add the repository with this command:

Code: [Select]

$ wget -O - http://apt.debify.org/add-apt-debify | bash

and then you can get the latest Jami with:

Code: [Select]

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -t debify-buster-backports jami

and then launch it with this command:

Code: [Select]

$ jami-gnone


77

User Zone / Re: Slow gnome-shell animation effect

« on: January 28, 2021, 09:46:22 am »

I opened a case here in the bug tracker from GNOME for the delay when changing to the Activities Overview screen, it may be related.

78

Applications and Porting / Re: QtWebEngine status (depends on Chrome / Chromium patches)

« on: January 27, 2021, 01:31:22 pm »

As far as what it will take to convince Qt...well, that's another organization that has a long history of ignoring user requests.  If there's a way to patch Qt downstream based on the existing Chromium port, that's probably the best bet.

Do you know if anybody is actively pursuing this?

Do you know any sources of funding for work like this?

I'm personally happy to do things on an ad-hoc basis from time to time, such as the 4k page size issue.  But this feels like it could take a bit more effort, it may be more productive for somebody to get to know it and stick with it over the long term.  I've already worked on some proprietary Qt-based solutions, for example, I was in the Kondor+ development center when they were migrating to Qt around 2007/2008 and we are also using TelepathyQt in reSIProcate so I have some impression of the minimum effort involved.

79

Operating Systems and Porting / Re: Fedora 34: going to 4k page size? Help needed

« on: January 26, 2021, 02:29:05 pm »

What does that mean for the QtWebEngine support?

Many other things depend on it.

80

User Zone / Re: Rough edges and how I work around them (or not)

« on: January 25, 2021, 03:05:29 am »

ffmpeg botches gif creation when using palattes - standard (ugly) gif creation with ffmpeg is fine however
   same exact config + script works okay on x86

Can you please see if this is fixed by this update?

Please confirm the ffmpeg version you are using

81

Applications and Porting / ffmpeg transparency issue fixed (also fixes Blender and OBS issues)

« on: January 25, 2021, 03:02:07 am »

I had some communication with the Blender and ffmpeg developers about issues with transparency

For example, the preview panel in Blender was corrupted and some input images or videos were corrupted in OBS

The root cause was in ffmpeg, it is fixed here.  The issue is also tracked in Blender.

I produced an updated version of my Debian backport of ffmpeg 4.3.1, it now includes both the POWER9 optimizations and the fix for this particular issue.  The version with the fix is ffmpeg_4.3.1-5~bpo10+2

If you already used packages from apt.debify.org then you can simply do

Code: [Select]

apt install -t debify-buster-backports ffmpeg

If you did not already use it, you need to add the apt source before installing/upgrading your ffmpeg:

Code: [Select]

$ wget -O - http://apt.debify.org/add-apt-debify | bash
apt install -t debify-buster-backports ffmpeg


82

Applications and Porting / Re: Firefox 78 / WebRTC regression

« on: January 17, 2021, 04:22:16 pm »

I rebuilt the Debian package with backported versions of libnss3, libnspr4 and libvpx and without using the permutation of the build logic for a backport

With this build, the WebRTC works

83

Operating Systems and Porting / Re: Linux kernel packages 5.9.6 for Debian buster with 4k page size available

« on: January 11, 2021, 08:32:18 am »

For Fedora, I have now opened a change request to use the 4k kernel by default in Fedora 34.  There is a new thread for that

For Chromium: I'm not currently using Chromium on this platform, I did have a brief look at the issues related to qtwebkit but I have not returned to that yet.

I'm really glad we made progress on this issue.  I'm still trying to get an RX 6800 XT so I can try the same set of packages.

84

Operating Systems and Porting / Re: Fedora 34: going to 4k page size? Help needed

« on: January 09, 2021, 07:18:43 am »

You need to re-compile the Fedora kernel

85

Operating Systems and Porting / Re: Fedora 34: going to 4k page size? Help needed

« on: January 08, 2021, 05:35:40 pm »

I already asked this question in the same Fedora thread and it was answered there.  It looks like an extra hassle for them but maybe they can be persuaded, after all, IBM now owns Red Hat.

The page size issue impacts multiple architectures, not only ppc64el.  If proponents of bigger page sizes are willing to invest in resolving it, there are developers who will step up to help and there are tools we can use to detect signs of these problems.  It is a bit like Covid contact tracing, if the right people act with the right tools, we can solve it but we also have other battles to fight too.

86

Operating Systems and Porting / Fedora 35 (was F-34): going to 4k page size? Help needed

« on: January 08, 2021, 04:47:38 pm »

We had some discussions in fedora-devel about changing the default page size from 64k back to 4k

This could be done for Fedora 34 - I opened a change request under Fedora policy

How do people feel about this?

Does anybody want to take ownership of the Fedora change request?

Technically, only one line of code needs to change but there is some coordination to make sure everything in userland is rebuilt and to do some tests of the installer as a bare minimum.

Code: [Select]

CONFIG_PPC_64K_PAGES=n

I might be willing to take ownership of the change personally but if somebody else wants to take ownership, that will free up some of my time for other things.

It is also important to verify that other users are comfortable with this strategy: please feel free to comment through the Fedora mailing list.

87

Operating Systems and Porting / Re: Linux kernel packages 5.9.6 for Debian buster with 4k page size available

« on: January 05, 2021, 03:57:21 pm »

Please try this for the firmware:

Code: [Select]


mkdir ~/firmware-20201022

cd ~/firmware-20201022

wget http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/pool/non-free/f/firmware-nonfree/firmware-amd-graphics_20201022-1_all.deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/pool/non-free/f/firmware-nonfree/firmware-linux_20201022-1_all.deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/pool/non-free/f/firmware-nonfree/firmware-linux-nonfree_20201022-1_all.deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/pool/non-free/f/firmware-nonfree/firmware-misc-nonfree_20201022-1_all.deb

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

After replacing the firmware packages, you need to reboot

88

Operating Systems and Porting / Re: Linux kernel packages 5.9.6 for Debian buster with 4k page size available

« on: January 05, 2021, 03:20:20 pm »

Your firmware version looks recent enough for RX 5700 but maybe it would work better with this slightly newer package, there is no backport yet

To use Xorg, you need to remove the '#' symbol in front of the line

In this example, Wayland is enabled:

Code: [Select]

#EnableWayland=false

and in this example it is disabled and it will use Xorg:

Code: [Select]

EnableWayland=false


89

Operating Systems and Porting / Re: Linux kernel packages 5.9.6 for Debian buster with 4k page size available

« on: January 05, 2021, 07:49:51 am »

For the firmware, can you please show me the output confirming which firmware you already have?

For using the kernel on Fedora: this is not what I would regard as a supported installation, it is a hack.  What you can try to do:

a) unpack the 5.9 Debian kernel package in a temporary location (use dpkg -X)

b) repack it into a tar file

c) copy the tar file into a Fedora system

d) untar the file in Fedora

e) manually copy the files into the correct places on Fedora, for example, copy the vmlinux and initrd file to /boot and copy the modules to /lib/modules, be careful not to overwrite any other files in those places or Fedora may not boot again

f) on the next boot, in petitboot, manually edit the petitboot settings to use the vmlinux and initrd file

This is unsupported from either Debian or Fedora but it may let you test.  In the Fedora environment, everything else will be much newer than in Debian, you will already have newer mesa, newer Xorg, newer firmware, maybe the RX 5700 will work.

Fedora's wiki provides instructions for building the kernel as an RPM, this might be a better way to proceed.  It is not very difficult.  The only thing you need to change in the official package is this one line:

Code: [Select]

CONFIG_PPC_64K_PAGES=n

According to search results people did get the RX 5700 working on Debian buster on x86 / 4k.  One of them mentions firmware.  You can try to download and install the firmware update like this:

Code: [Select]

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -t buster-backports firmware-linux-nonfree


90

Operating Systems and Porting / Re: Linux kernel packages 5.9.6 for Debian buster with 4k page size available

« on: January 04, 2021, 03:26:35 pm »

Wayland: yes, Debian enables it by default.  If you remove the '#' in the config, that disables it

For the firmware, for an RX 5700, I think that you want to make sure it is a 2020 firmware package.  If you have the 2019 firmware package that may not be OK.

For Big Navi, RX 6800 / RX 6900, the 2020 firmware package may not be sufficient, it may require the next firmware package or a manual installation of the firmware from Git.