On my G4/867, running mke2fs, mkfs.xfs, or tar causes a kernel panic, either with a backtrace or just a silent freeze. This works perfectly on my iMac. I think it's something to do with reading/writing the disk (since that's what they all do :) ). Thanks.
I think this was dependent on an old kernel; I think it's fixed now.
This bug is NOT resolved. This bug occurs while booted off the CD; sorry if that wasn't clear. Silent freezes still occur on my G4/867 with the latest PPC 1.2 ISO from ibiblio.org.
There is a new ISO about to hit ibiblio, which sould resolve this problem. The 1.2 that is online currently is very old, and you are right still has this bug. Please verify once the new ISO is online.
fixed on the 1.2-r1 PPC ISO, it includes a new (and properly tested) kernel
Definitely gone.