Ppc64le

This page is used to describe the ppc64le port.
= Testing (for developers) =
The hosting sponsor for the ppc64le port operates a miniCloud service, which provides ppc64le images to Alpine for testing.
View their website for more info.
= Hardware =
 
You can buy POWER8 or POWER9 hardware from IBM or from other vendors. For example, the Raptor Computing System Blackbird workstation is reasonably priced, competitive when compared to similar x86 servers, and is fully supported by the ppc64le port.
The following are the IBM machine models that would support Alpine Linux:
* IBM Power System S821LC 
* IBM Power System S822LC for Big Data 
* IBM Power System S822LC for Commercial Computing 
* IBM Power System S822LC for High Performance Computing [IBM Power System S822LC for High Performance Computing]
* IBM Power System S812L and S822L 
* IBM Power System S824L 
* IBM Power System S812 
* IBM Power System S822 
* IBM Power System S814 
* IBM Power System S824 
* IBM Power Enterprise Systems for the cloud 
* IBM Power System E850C 
* IBM Power System E850 
* IBM Power System E870 
* IBM Power System E880 
Raptor Computing System also has machines:
* Talos II 
* Blackbird 
Tyan also has machines:
* Tyan TN76-BP016 
* Tyan GT75-BP012
* Tyan TN71-BP012
Open Power machines:
* Rackspace Barreleye 
* Google Zaius 
= Installation =
The Alpine ppc64le ISO is available -ppc64le.iso here.
The user login is root with no password.
== Booting Alpine from CD-ROM using qemu ==
To start qemu using the Alpine ISO as CD-ROM, you can use a command similar to:
If running on a ppc64le host, you can append to the above command.
== Installing Alpine to hard-disk using qemu ==
Create a disk to install Alpine on it:
Start qemu attaching the created disk and using Alpine ISO as CD-ROM. Here is an example of the qemu command:
Run the script:
After running the script, select the disk (in this example, sda) when the following configuration appears:
Available disks are:
sda (17.2 GB QEMU QEMU HARDDISK)
Which disk(s) would you like to use? (or '?' for help or 'none') [none] : sda
When asked how you would like to use the disk, select sys, and select yes when asked whether to erase the disk.
 
The installation will format the disk properly. After this finishes, type .
== Booting Alpine from CD-ROM using qemu and saving modifications between reboots ==
When using Alpine in this mode, you need to use Alpine Local Backup () to save your modifications between reboots. This requires some writable medium, usually removable.
Create a disk to save Alpine modifications: 
 
Start qemu attaching the created disk and using Alpine ISO as CD-ROM. Here is the example of the qemu command:
Format the attached disk and add it to the file:
Set lbu to write to the attached disk, setting LBU_MEDIA=sda in the file.
Run the command, and select the following configurations when asked:
* Enter where to store configs: ('floppy', 'sda', 'usb' or 'none') [none]: sda 
* Enter apk cache directory (or '?' or 'none') [/media/sda/cache]: /media/sda/cache
The last step is to commit the changes:
 
After performing these configurations, you can reboot Alpine and the modifications will be saved. The next time a change happens, you just need to run the command, as the configurations are already done.
It is important to know that, by default, only cares about modifications in and its subdirectories, with the exception of !
= See also =
* Alpine local backup - For more information about how to use lbu and how to include a new folder to backup.
= Reference =
 * ABI - https://openpowerfoundation.org/?resource_lib=64-bit-elf-v2-abi-specification-power-architecture
Category:Hardware
Category:ppc64le