From owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Apr 1 05:53:37 2013 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.FreeBSD.org [8.8.178.115]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id A7239651; Mon, 1 Apr 2013 05:53:37 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from kpaasial@gmail.com) Received: from mail-wi0-x22b.google.com (mail-wi0-x22b.google.com [IPv6:2a00:1450:400c:c05::22b]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E9B30CD8; Mon, 1 Apr 2013 05:53:36 +0000 (UTC) Received: by mail-wi0-f171.google.com with SMTP id hn17so1278676wib.10 for ; Sun, 31 Mar 2013 22:53:36 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=20120113; h=mime-version:x-received:in-reply-to:references:date:message-id :subject:from:to:cc:content-type; bh=tGUA89l9lgpIC8jtd17hs1hpbja2ZhmeXPeStSgiAvA=; b=HJTE/yNreWmzsaLLfDdDCqddf5c8U+eoDhVlKpRVZa3gPrYg43omM7YNdlhw43538j RSPCNlVwOB2pp9PSPT0DZhhQwJx9AaPVPPYIfDhrG61ZD4a5uhA6kzIYbI1qrHxW0aM2 qANoGcpbJQdXV1dxJ97fn3tUF7Svwo8WJSNSaIi4LBr4W3azKbWbETvCyLD9GMulM1Ts WPjcZuJa+1t8A/W5EEipQnEkVIGcrupQxMsmFwWvIgYr66pB5KLqj1neH4ktVdv241w6 +t98YH/nLmX4AcYzYWwdXG3oER0R0GH8rzVANnjUb0JxCb4gSWsAzUTksshF7swfSnsC t2Og== MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Received: by 10.194.60.195 with SMTP id j3mr13853005wjr.33.1364795616171; Sun, 31 Mar 2013 22:53:36 -0700 (PDT) Received: by 10.216.139.72 with HTTP; Sun, 31 Mar 2013 22:53:36 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: <20130401055031.GB47589@eureka.lemis.com> References: <20130401055031.GB47589@eureka.lemis.com> Date: Mon, 1 Apr 2013 08:53:36 +0300 Message-ID: Subject: Re: considering i386 as a tier 1 architecture From: Kimmo Paasiala To: "Greg 'groggy' Lehey" Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Cc: Eitan Adler , freebsd-arch@freebsd.org, FreeBSD Hackers X-BeenThere: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list List-Id: Technical Discussions relating to FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 01 Apr 2013 05:53:37 -0000 On Mon, Apr 1, 2013 at 8:50 AM, Greg 'groggy' Lehey wrote: > On Monday, 1 April 2013 at 0:48:08 -0400, Eitan Adler wrote: >> Hi, >> >> I am writing this email to discuss the i386 architecture in FreeBSD. >> >> Computers are getting faster, but also more memory intensive. I >> can not find a laptop with less than 4 or 8 GB of RAM. Modern >> browsers, such as Firefox, require a 64bit architecture and 8GB of >> RAM. A 32 bit platform is not enough now a days on systems with >> more than 4 GB of RAM. A 32 bit core now is like 640K of RAM in >> the 1990s. Even in the embedded world ARM is going 64 bit with >> ARMv8. >> >> Secondly, the i386 port is unmaintained. Very few developers run >> it, so it doesn't get the testing it deserves. Almost every user >> post or bug report I see from a x86 compatible processor is running >> amd64. When was the last time you booted i386 outside a virtual >> machine? Often times the build works for amd64 but fails for i386. >> >> Finally, others are dropping support for i386. Windows Server 2008 >> is 64 bit only, OSX Mountain Lion (10.8) is 64-bit only. Users >> and downstream vendors no longer care about preserving ancient >> hardware. >> >> I hope this email is enough to convince you that on this date we >> should drop support for the i386 architecture for 10.0 to tier 2 >> and replace it with the ARM architecture as Tier 1. > > Nice one! And only 48 minutes into the day. I've seen a number of > people take it seriously. > > Greg > -- > Oh crap :P However, this discussion will not be out of place some day, may be 2 or 3 years and practicly everything will be 64-bits. -Kimmo