Message-ID: <472D64B4.3000306@goop.org>
Date: Sat, 03 Nov 2007 23:20:36 -0700
From: Jeremy Fitzhardinge <jeremy@goop.org>
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To: Jeff Garzik <jeff@garzik.org>
CC: Sam Ravnborg <sam@ravnborg.org>, Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de>,
       Ingo Molnar <mingo@redhat.com>, "H. Peter Anvin" <hpa@zytor.com>,
       LKML <linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org>,
       Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Subject: Re: [PATCH] replace "make ARCH=i386/x86_64 with make ARCH=x86"
References: <20071103234826.GA26654@uranus.ravnborg.org> <472D282B.2000208@garzik.org>
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Jeff Garzik wrote:
> This also opens a chicken-and-egg problem...  What kind of config is
> generated by allmodconfig when ARCH==x86?  There is no good answer.

With a unified x86 architecture, the decision to compile with 32 or
64-bit mode isn't really different from SMP vs UP, PAE vs non-PAE and so
on.  It's just a config option with global effects.  Over time, the
number of config options with are really 32 or 64-bit specific will
probably pretty small.

> The existing tradition of switching between 32-bit and 64-bit was
> quite nice, and it was done in The Obvious Way(tm) -- via the method
> for specifying the architecture/platform.  Switching to Kconfig for
> that decision is a step backwards in usability and IMO violates the
> Principle of Least Surprise.

The architecture is now x86, with a further 32 or 64-bit parameter.  We
already have config options for setting the sub-architecture.

    J
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