Re: r343567 aka PAE vs non-PAE merge breaks i386 freebsd

From: Warner Losh <imp_at_bsdimp.com>
Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2019 15:54:49 -0700
On Thu, Feb 28, 2019 at 12:14 PM Ian Lepore <ian_at_freebsd.org> wrote:

> On Thu, 2019-02-28 at 11:06 -0800, Conrad Meyer wrote:
> > On Thu, Feb 28, 2019 at 10:32 AM Steve Kargl
> > <sgk_at_troutmask.apl.washington.edu> wrote:
> > > This is interesting as well.  Does this mean that amd64 is now
> > > the only tier 1 platform and all other architectures are after
> > > thoughts?
> >
> > This has been the de facto truth for years.  i386 is mostly only
> > supported by virtue of sharing code with amd64.  There are efforts to
> > promote arm64 to Tier 1, but it isn't there yet.  Power8+ might be
> > another good alternative Tier 1 candidate eventually.  None have
> > anything like the developer popularity that amd64 enjoys.
> >
> >
>
> I have been of the opinion that armv[67] has met all the bullet points
> to be a tier-1 arch for several years, but nobody seemed interested in
> declaring it so.


I concur that armv[67] is the closest thing we have to a second tier 1.
arm64 is also quite good, but still has a few more rough edges compared to
armv[67].


> Now it'll never happen, because there seems to be
> growing momentum to throw everything 32-bit under the bus and declare
> freebsd to be a 64-bit-only OS.  Netflix wins; those of us building
> smaller embedded products will eventually be forced to move to linux.
>

While there's been some talk, there's too many relevant 32-bit arm chips to
toss it out in 13 (planned in 2ish years or 2021) and no i386 in 13 likely
would be a stretch as well, so 13 almost certainly will have 32-bit kernels
and userland support (though that will require the 32-bit processors
support 64-bit atomics to reduce friction).

Who know if that will be the case in 4 or 5 years when 14 is branched (so
~2025). Current trends suggest that 32-bits might not be relevant then, but
we certainly can't say that for sure today.

Warner
Received on Thu Feb 28 2019 - 21:55:02 UTC

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