Re: [PATCH] rename COMPAT_FREEBSD32

On Mar 22, 2010, at 10:52 AM, David O'Brien wrote:

> On Mon, Mar 15, 2010 at 09:00:18AM -0700, Julian Elischer wrote:
>> I certainly agree.. can it be changed please?
> 
> I've waited a while to see what other opinions would be expressed on this
> topic.  I believe there is sufficient support to rename COMPAT_FREEBSD32
> to something else based on responses in the mailing lists.
> 
> I am sorry if some may wish to label this a "bikeshead".  But we seem to
> have many folks disliking "COMPAT_FREEBSD32".
> 
> 
> Based on responses to the topic of COMPAT_FREEBSD32, the following
> were the suggestions offered:
>    COMPAT_ARCH32, COMPAT_ARCH_32BIT, COMPAT_32BIT_ARCH, COMPAT_32BIT,
>    COMPAT_FREEBSD32BIT

There's probably a bigger problem than just how we name it. The option
really encodes 2 independent aspects:
1.  Support for a 32-bit ABI (i.e. ILP32)
2.  Support for a particular OS in ILP32.

Of course 2 implies 1.

For example:
COMPAT_IA32 in sys/ia64/ia64/machdep.c enabled code to save and restore
IA32 registers as part of cpu_switch(). In this context COMPAT_IA32 was
perfectly named. It's now called COMPAT_FREEBSD32, which doesn't make a
lot of sense because what if I only want to support Linux/ia32 and not
FreeBSD/ia32 (or vice-versa if you club them under a single COMPAT_*32)?

-- 
Marcel Moolenaar
xcllnt_at_mac.com