i686-linux installation medium on Pentium II fails on boot

Skylar "The Cobra" Widulski wrote on 21 Aug 2023 08:29

Recipients:(address . bug-guix@gnu.org)

Message-ID:841bd669-592d-dfb1-a842-fb7f5807dcac@vern.cc

I've got an old Pentium II machine that I want to install Guix on. 
Booting up the i686-linux installation medium, I'm dropped into a guile 
REPL with this output visible on the 640x480 rectangle because NeoMagic 
framebuffer seems unsupported:

setting up setuid programs in '/run/setuid-programs'...
populating /etc from /gnu/store/lzcvl2y4qsj6fkkq4g42a3zyqj9rsxlr-etc...
creating /etc/machine-id...
/gnu/store/0iapawfss4xnxls622g23qpk4mwb9ihp-glibc-2.33/lib/libc.so.6: 
CPU ISA level is lower than required
ice-9/boot-9.scm:1685:16: In procedure raise-exception:
ERROR:
   1. &invoke-error:
       program: 
"/gnu/store/j87mrzkw32dc03j9yxf2nxddn8621m1c-dbus-1.12.20/bin/dbus-uuidgen"
       arguments: ("--ensure=/etc/machine-id")
       exit-status: 127
       term-signal: #f
       stop-signal: #f

Entering a new prompt.  Type `,bt' for a backtrace or `,q' to continue.
GNU Guile 3.0.7


It seems that there is an issue with the P6 (i686) microarchitecture 
used in the Pentium II, even though the image is labelled i686. I'm not 
sure what problem glibc would have with it.
Explanations? Possible solutions?

-- Cobra

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Josselin Poiret wrote on 22 Aug 2023 12:43

Recipients:

Message-ID:87jztnuzkv.fsf@jpoiret.xyz

Hi Skylar,

"Skylar \"The Cobra\" Widulski" via Bug reports for GNU Guix

<bug-guix@gnu.org> writes:

Toggle quote (29 lines)> I've got an old Pentium II machine that I want to install Guix on. 
> Booting up the i686-linux installation medium, I'm dropped into a guile 
> REPL with this output visible on the 640x480 rectangle because NeoMagic 
> framebuffer seems unsupported:
>
> setting up setuid programs in '/run/setuid-programs'...
> populating /etc from /gnu/store/lzcvl2y4qsj6fkkq4g42a3zyqj9rsxlr-etc...
> creating /etc/machine-id...
> /gnu/store/0iapawfss4xnxls622g23qpk4mwb9ihp-glibc-2.33/lib/libc.so.6: 
> CPU ISA level is lower than required
> ice-9/boot-9.scm:1685:16: In procedure raise-exception:
> ERROR:
>    1. &invoke-error:
>        program: 
> "/gnu/store/j87mrzkw32dc03j9yxf2nxddn8621m1c-dbus-1.12.20/bin/dbus-uuidgen"
>        arguments: ("--ensure=/etc/machine-id")
>        exit-status: 127
>        term-signal: #f
>        stop-signal: #f
>
> Entering a new prompt.  Type `,bt' for a backtrace or `,q' to continue.
> GNU Guile 3.0.7
>
>
> It seems that there is an issue with the P6 (i686) microarchitecture 
> used in the Pentium II, even though the image is labelled i686. I'm not 
> sure what problem glibc would have with it.
> Explanations? Possible solutions?

There apparently was a bug with the ISA stamping that glibc used that
didn't take the -march option into account properly.  Since it was
noticed quite quickly after release, I think it should have been fixed
in subsequent versions (although I haven't really looked deep enough
into it).  In the meantime, you can try building a new installation
image using an existing Guix (CI doesn't build i686 images for latest).

Best,
-- 
Josselin Poiret

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