I have an old PowerPC G4 PowerMac 733 and it currently has OS X 10.4.11 on it. I want to use it as a Syncthing server and I would like to know which is going to be better/easier to install Syncthing onto, the current install of OS X 10.4.11 or a install of Linux, such as Lubuntu?
Thanks!
We don’t have ppc builds for OSX, more exotic architectures are only supported on linux.
OK, cool. So if I install Lubuntu, I’ll be able to install Syncthing?
I am not sure, as I don’t know what’s the last PPC architecture Go supports.
The standard Go compiler (and hence Syncthing) supports 64 bit PowerPC only. Your G4 is too old for that, unfortunately.
If you’re feeling adventurous you might be able to build it yourself using gccgo, which does support ppc32. In either case this is certainly a Linux-only adventure. That computer doesn’t run any macOS we’re compatible with.
OK, what about Linux? If I install Lubuntu 16.04 LTS onto the G4, could I then install Syncthing via apt-get or something similar that doesn’t involve compiling?
No. There is no pre compiled Syncthing for 32 bit PowerPC, regardless of OS, and your CPU is 32 bit. You might be able to compile it yourself, on Linux, using gccgo which is an alternative Go compiler that supports 32 bit PowerPC. The standard Go compiler does not support 32 bit PowerPC.
On macOS there is no chance whatsoever (regardless of the lack of 32 bit support) as the latest OS your Mac supports is 10.4 (10.5?) and the oldest that Syncthing supports is 10.10. The discrepancy is significant.
Thanks, Jacob, for the thorough and quick reply. I wish the answer was different but at least now I know the facts!
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