[Openmcl-devel] PowerPC port

[R. Matthew Emerson]

We're planning on mothballing the PowerPC (ppc) port.

I don't imagine that many people use the ppc port now.
Fortunately, it has not required very much effort to keep
it going, and I think that having it around helps to keep
us honest:  it's a non x86-target, and it's big-endian.

On the other hand, we now have an additional non-x86
architecture in the form of the ARM (although many,
perhaps most, ARM systems are little-endian nowadays).

Our ppc hardware is dying off, and trying to keep these
old systems on life support is ultimately a losing battle.
Buying used replacements is not really a solution:  time
is just not on the side of these machines.

There is new hardware available:  for example, IBM sells
new Power7-based systems for as low $6000, but paying that
to maintain a port that hardly anyone uses, just to "keep
us honest", doesn't make a lot of sense.

That said, however, we'd love to hear from you if you have
a commercial interest in keeping the ppc port alive.  Please
get in touch.