Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S934239Ab2HWSyo (ORCPT ); Thu, 23 Aug 2012 14:54:44 -0400 Received: from mail-ee0-f46.google.com ([74.125.83.46]:43927 "EHLO mail-ee0-f46.google.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S934168Ab2HWSyl (ORCPT ); Thu, 23 Aug 2012 14:54:41 -0400 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: References: <201208231814.21168.tweek@tweek.dk> Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2012 14:54:40 -0400 Message-ID: Subject: Re: Drop support for x86-32 From: Brian Gerst To: wbrana Cc: Martin Nybo Andersen , linux-kernel Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1606 Lines: 36 On Thu, Aug 23, 2012 at 1:22 PM, wbrana wrote: > x86-32 > - is deprecated since Linux supports X32. > - will slow down adoption of X32 - there won't be X32 versions of many > software - if new ABI was added, old one should be removed You misunderstand what the X32 ABI is. It's 64-bit code (allowing use of the extended register set) that uses 32-bit pointers to save memory. It has nothing to do with 32-bit kernels, and is completely optional. > - wastes time of developers who can spend their time supporting X32 > instead of x86-32 or support x86-64 only as 99% of users will be able > to run x86-64 software if x86-32 will be dropped The x86-32 arch is mature and well maintained, and shares so much in common with x86-64, that there is little to be gained by dropping kernel support. > - wouldn't be dropped this year, but there should be plan when it will > be dropped e.g. when Windows 9 will be released Windows mostly sells with new hardware, and by the time win9 is released all new hardware designed for it will be 64-bit capable. Therefore it is not *profitable* for Microsoft to continue to develop a 32-bit version. That doesn't apply to Linux. Linux is installed on a broad range of hardware, new and old. In general, we don't drop support for hardware unless there is nobody willing to maintain it. -- Brian Gerst -- 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/