How would one build a working Linux volume for a 32-bit PowerPC headless platform using a non-PPC host?

Question

Is there a tool similar to debootstrap for a recent Linux distribution that supports PPC so I could build a working system or have an automated process to cross-compile a base install?

Answer 1

Since you're tagging this embedded, I'll go with the embedded answer:

By cross-building a Linux image. That's what projects like buildroot and openembedded are for!

Note that if you need a debian image for something you know boots debian, http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/ports/snapshots/2024-02-25/ seems to still be supported, and you could try to build an image using Qemu as emulator.

However, I feel the openembedded-style approach is probably closer to what you want; you get a board support package (which is a definition of what the hardware is, including hardware that can't be automatically detected at boot), which often someone supplied (ideally a vendor), or you create one.

Then, you combine layers (say, a linux kernel, a bootloader, a shell, a webserver layer) and individual recipes so that your openembedded tooling generates a cross-development SDK for you, compiles the software packages you want for you, and builds a bootable image that you can flash to whatever your embedded platform boots from :)

The reality is that a lot of 32 bit PowerPC devices were made before openembedded became popular, so there's a better chance you find similar things for the buildroot tooling, which I'm not too familiar with. It does the same: you define hardware, you define which software you want, you get a bootable image, tools to compile and debug and package software for the target.