Re: HEADSUP: ibcs2 and svr4 compat headed for history

On Saturday 26 Jun 2004 1:57 pm, Remko Lodder wrote:
> Hi Alex,
>
> Alex Keahan wrote:
> > On Saturday 26 Jun 2004 12:32 pm, Poul-Henning Kamp wrote:
> >>The ibcs2 and svr4 compatibility code has outlived their useful lives,
> >>mainly because their target platforms are practically extinct.
> >
> > Is Solaris/x86 supported by ibcs2 or svr4?   Solaris/x86 is being
> > actively developed by Sun and is far from extinct.
>
> In this particular case i fail to seem the relation with FreeBSD. You
> are talking about Solaris for the I386 platform, what does that have to
> do with FreeBSD? It's like comparing a sheep with a goat, both can walk,
> only one has other options then the other..

Well, we are talking about "ibcs2 and svr4 compatibility code", which at least
in theory allows you to take an IBCS2 or SVR4 binary for Intel and run it on
FreeBSD.


> >>They will be eliminated from -current in the coming week, unless very
> >>compelling reasons to the contrary are put on the table.
> >
> > - Latest Java SDKs for Solaris/x86
> > - Forte C/C++ optimising compilers for Solaris/x86 (which may some day
> > be used to compile FreeBSD kernel)
>
> If solaris has support of building the stuff used in FreeBSD then it's
> not required for FreeBSD having ibsc2 and svr4 onboard.

You can use Sun's compilers for Intel to generate x86 assembly code and
(with a little bit of tweaking) assemble it with gas to create a native
FreeBSD binary.   Last time I did that (ca. 2000), I measured a 20-30%
improvement in run-time execution speed.


> > - Sun ONE servers for Solaris/x86 (e.g. iPlanet LDAP)
> > - Oracle for Solaris/x86
> > - Numerous third-party applications for SCO and Solaris/x86
> > (e.g. backup solutions)
>
> Still, i fail to see the relation to FreeBSD. Sorry if i misunderstood Alex.

It's relevant in so far as SVR4 emulation is concerned.

Alex