Date: Wed, 1 Nov 2006 06:52:27 +1000 From: Greg Black <freebsd@mail.gbch.net> To: Bill Moran <wmoran@collaborativefusion.com> Cc: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Subject: Re: 6.x from i386 to amd64 Message-ID: <nospam-1162327947.70923@iliad.gbch.net> In-Reply-To: <20061031153134.0f587f84.wmoran@collaborativefusion.com> References: <45475298.5090709@inoc.net> <nospam-1162325643.69866@iliad.gbch.net> <20061031153134.0f587f84.wmoran@collaborativefusion.com>
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On 2006-10-31, Bill Moran wrote:
> In response to Greg Black <freebsd@mail.gbch.net>:
> > On 2006-10-31, Robert Blayzor wrote:
> >
> > > Is there a way to upgrade/move an already installed i386 installed 6.1
> > > machine to amd64 without completely reinstalling? Is there a procedure
> > > to do so?
> >
> > Having just gone through the migration in the opposite
> > direction, I would ask why you want to do this?
> >
> > The state of the software out there is disgracefully far from
> > being ready for 64-bit platforms -- after wasting weeks in a
> > vain attempt to get a workable development environment on my
> > amd64 setup, I've just completed a move to i386 (by a fresh
> > install).
> >
> > I now have a machine that has almost every port I want working
> > and that still gives me considerable performance improvements
> > over the genuine Intel 32-bit boxes I have.
> >
> > I won't be trying another amd64 setup for at least a couple more
> > years.
>
> Are there open PRs on this? We've not had any problems. Although
> our amd64 deployment is still young, we have several machines humming
> away happily. Where did you have problems, specifically?
I didn't look for PRs and didn't submit any. I found that a
very large number of ports that mattered to me were marked i386
only. You could get a count by searching the Makefiles in ports
for:
ONLY_FOR_ARCHS= i386
There are several hundred of them. Since the non-functionality
of these ports on amd64 was already known, there seemed little
point in adding to the noise by sending a PR.
I did write a bit about this as part of a general rant on the
woeful state of current software here:
http://www.gbch.net/gjb/blog/software/discuss/software-quality.html
Greg
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