Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1751148Ab2BUF1l (ORCPT ); Tue, 21 Feb 2012 00:27:41 -0500 Received: from terminus.zytor.com ([198.137.202.10]:40505 "EHLO mail.zytor.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1750732Ab2BUF1k (ORCPT ); Tue, 21 Feb 2012 00:27:40 -0500 Message-ID: <4F432B27.4000708@zytor.com> Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2012 21:27:03 -0800 From: "H. Peter Anvin" User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:10.0) Gecko/20120131 Thunderbird/10.0 MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Linus Torvalds CC: Ian Kent , David Miller , thomas@m3y3r.de, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: Linux 3.3-rc4 References: <20120219.144947.660678318380307878.davem@davemloft.net> <1329794974.2226.11.camel@perseus.themaw.net> <1329796956.2226.20.camel@perseus.themaw.net> <1329799959.2226.32.camel@perseus.themaw.net> In-Reply-To: X-Enigmail-Version: 1.3.5 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1427 Lines: 37 On 02/20/2012 09:21 PM, Linus Torvalds wrote: > On Mon, Feb 20, 2012 at 9:06 PM, Linus Torvalds > wrote: >> >> So it really is limited to only x86. > > Oh, and if people really are using "uname()" to figure out that they > are running a 64-bit kernel, then we should probably make uname() use > "is_compat_task()" instead of checking the PER_LINUX32 personality. > > So we already do have support for returning a different machine-name > to 32-bit binaries, but it uses the "personality" thing that nobody > cares about, rather than the compat layer. Looks like purely > historical reasons. > No, it serves a real function. I use both directions of this to deal with various compatibility things. PER_LINUX32 lets you run, say, an installer as if it was on a 32-bit program, even if it is written in a scripting language (and hence running a native 64-bit interpreter). Similarly, a 32-bit legacy binary can still function as part of a bigger 64-bit system. So let's not change that just because someone did something idiotic. -hpa -- H. Peter Anvin, Intel Open Source Technology Center I work for Intel. I don't speak on their behalf. -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/