Re: AIX support

On 18 April 2024 14:15:43 GMT+03:00, Sriram RK <sriram(dot)rk(at)outlook(dot)com> wrote:
>Thanks Noah and Team,
>
>We (IBM-AIX team) looked into this issue
>
>https://www.postgresql.org/message-id/20240225194322.a5@rfd.leadboat.com
>
>This is related to the compiler issue. The compilers xlc(13.1) and gcc(8.0) have issues. But we verified that this issue is resolved with the newer compiler versions openXL(xlc17.1) and gcc(12.0) onwards.
>
>We reported this issue to the xlc team and they have noted this issue. A fix might be possible in May for this issue in xlc v16. We would like to understand if the community can start using the latest compilers to build the source.
>
>Also as part of the support, we will help in fixing all the issues related to AIX and continue to support AIX for Postgres. If we need another CI environment we can work to make one available. But for time being can we start reverting the patch that has removed AIX support.

Let's start by setting up a new AIX buildfarm member. Regardless of what we do with v17, we continue to support AIX on the stable branches, and we really need a buildfarm member to keep the stable branches working anyway.

>We want to make a note that postgres is used extensively in our IBM product and is being exploited by multiple customers.

Noted. I'm glad to hear you are interested to put in some effort for this. The situation from the current maintainers is that none of us have much interest, or resources or knowledge to keep the AIX build working, so we'll definitely need the help.

No promises on v17, but let's at least make sure the stable branches keep working. And with the patches and buildfarm support from you, maybe v17 is feasible too.

- Heikki