Description of problem:

On a ppc64le system, trying to change the personality using "setarch ppc<*>" fails with "Unrecognized architecture", e.g.:

# uname -m
ppc64le
# setarch ppc32 uname -m
setarch: ppc32: Unrecognized architecture

Using "linux32" works:

# setarch linux32 uname -m
ppcle


Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):

util-linux-2.23.2-43.el7_4.2.ppc64le


How reproducible:

Always


Additional info:

Running under gdb, we can see the code is working as expected, until "uname(&un)" is reached (line 218), then some "rollback" occurs (error printed on line 212).

# gdb --args /usr/bin/setarch ppc32 uname -m
(gdb) break set_arch
Breakpoint 1 at 0x10001ae8: file sys-utils/setarch.c, line 140.
(gdb) run
Starting program: /usr/bin/setarch ppc32 uname -m

Breakpoint 1, 0x0000000010001ae8 in set_arch (pers=0x3ffffffff3ca "ppc32", options=0, list=0)
    at sys-utils/setarch.c:140
140	{
(gdb) next
148	  } transitions[] = {
(gdb) 
140	{
(gdb) 
148	  } transitions[] = {
(gdb) 
140	{
(gdb) 
148	  } transitions[] = {
(gdb) 
140	{
(gdb) 
148	  } transitions[] = {
(gdb) 
201	  if (list) {
(gdb) 
207	  for(i = 0; transitions[i].perval >= 0; i++)
(gdb) 
208	      if(!strcmp(pers, transitions[i].target_arch))
(gdb) 
207	  for(i = 0; transitions[i].perval >= 0; i++)
(gdb) 
208	      if(!strcmp(pers, transitions[i].target_arch))
(gdb) 
207	  for(i = 0; transitions[i].perval >= 0; i++)
(gdb) 
208	      if(!strcmp(pers, transitions[i].target_arch))
(gdb) 
215	  if (set_pers(pers_value) == -EINVAL)
(gdb) 
218	  uname(&un);
(gdb) 
219	  if(transitions[i].result_arch &&
(gdb) p un
$1 = {sysname = "Linux", '\000' <repeats 59 times>, 
  nodename = "ibm-p8-02-lp1.rhts.eng.bos.redhat.com", '\000' <repeats 27 times>, 
  release = "3.10.0-693.21.1.el7.ppc64le", '\000' <repeats 37 times>, 
  version = "#1 SMP Fri Feb 23 14:02:56 EST 2018", '\000' <repeats 29 times>, 
  machine = "ppcle", '\000' <repeats 59 times>, domainname = "(none)", '\000' <repeats 58 times>}
(gdb) next
220		strcmp(un.machine, transitions[i].result_arch))
(gdb) 
219	  if(transitions[i].result_arch &&
(gdb) 
222	    if(strcmp(transitions[i].result_arch, "i386")
(gdb) 
212	    errx(EXIT_FAILURE, _("%s: Unrecognized architecture"), pers);
(gdb) 
setarch: ppc32: Unrecognized architecture
[Inferior 1 (process 10531) exited with code 01]