Message-ID: <47D0453D.5080501@adacore.com>
Date: Thu, 06 Mar 2008 14:25:49 -0500
From: Robert Dewar <dewar@adacore.com>
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To: "H. Peter Anvin" <hpa@zytor.com>
CC: "H.J. Lu" <hjl.tools@gmail.com>, Jakub Jelinek <jakub@redhat.com>,
       NightStrike <nightstrike@gmail.com>,
       Olivier Galibert <galibert@pobox.com>,
       Chris Lattner <clattner@apple.com>, Michael Matz <matz@suse.de>,
       Richard Guenther <richard.guenther@gmail.com>,
       Joe Buck <Joe.Buck@synopsys.com>, Jan Hubicka <hubicka@ucw.cz>,
       Aurelien Jarno <aurelien@aurel32.net>, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
       gcc@gcc.gnu.org
Subject: Re: RELEASE BLOCKER: Linux doesn't follow x86/x86-64 ABI wrt direction
 flag
References: <738B72DB-A1D6-43F8-813A-E49688D05771@apple.com> 	 <578FCA7D-D7A6-44F6-9310-4A97C13CDCBE@apple.com> 	 <47CF44E7.3020106@zytor.com> <20080306135139.GA5236@dspnet.fr.eu.org> 	 <b609cb3b0803060737xa0c3c0byb51d51af797eb81f@mail.gmail.com> 	 <6dc9ffc80803060743h502fc96bj6117ef87a8555c3a@mail.gmail.com> 	 <47D012B4.3020104@zytor.com> 	 <20080306162353.GF24887@devserv.devel.redhat.com> 	 <6dc9ffc80803060858i7d4e8b56o99ff8ad301a5cc1a@mail.gmail.com> 	 <47D024AA.9010300@zytor.com> <6dc9ffc80803060914x187049a2hb24ef501baf55601@mail.gmail.com> <47D0275B.4020105@adacore.com> <47D027B5.5030503@zytor.com>
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H. Peter Anvin wrote:
> Robert Dewar wrote:
>> H.J. Lu wrote:
>>
>>> So that is the bug in the Linux kernel. Since fixing kernel is much 
>>> easier
>>> than providing a workaround in compilers, I think kernel should be fixed
>>> and no need for icc/gcc fix.
>> Fixing a bug in the Linux kernel is not "much easier". You are taking
>> a purely engineering viewpoint, but life is not like that. There are
>> lots of copies of Linux kernels around and in use. The issue is not
>> fixing the kernel per se, it is propagating that change to all
>> Linux kernels in use -- THAT'S another matter entirely, and is
>> far far more difficult than making sure that a kernel fix is
>> qualified and widely proopagated.
>>
> 
> Not really, it's just a matter of time.  Typical distro cycles are on 
> the order of 3 years.
> 
> 	-hpa

again, in the real world, there are MANY projects that are nothing
like this interactive when it comes to moving to new versions of
operating systems.
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