Date: Mon, 6 Feb 2006 18:30:05 +1100 From: Peter Jeremy <peterjeremy@optushome.com.au> To: Coleman Kane <cokane@cokane.org> Cc: freebsd-amd64@freebsd.org Subject: Re: 32-bit X libs? Message-ID: <20060206073005.GC699@turion.vk2pj.dyndns.org> In-Reply-To: <20060206061739.GA16722@pint.candc.home> References: <346a80220602032210o71367220v74033da94e3d83bb@mail.gmail.com> <XFMail.20060204144751.conrads@cox.net> <346a80220602051652u5b5f59fdx5fc715c22b84d133@mail.gmail.com> <2fd864e0602051846n71db9049u3e54fa486c1300f6@mail.gmail.com> <20060206061739.GA16722@pint.candc.home>
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On Mon, 2006-Feb-06 01:17:39 -0500, Coleman Kane wrote: >If FreeBSD/amd64 had a nice, easy way to add 32-bit programs to the >system, then people would get comfortable with it, and we'd all just >have to get used to running 32-bit everything on our nice, fancy 64-bit >boxen. OTOH, a quick check shows 484 ports that will run on i386 but not amd64. This includes things like OpenOffice.org, jdk prior to 1.5 (and even on 1.5, you don't get the browser plugin), lang/squeak (a smalltalk dialect), several schemes, DivX, Win32 codecs and flash. I'm also working some old software that isn't 64-bit clean yet (it started on a PDP-11 and 32-bits was a shock to it). [The actual number of ports will be higher when slave ports are taken into account]. I'd prefer to use 64-bit binaries but having to reboot to read a Word document or PPT that someone has sent me, or watch a video in one of the various proprietary formats is rather a nuisance. (These are generally jokes and so being able to see them is quite important :-). The FreeBSD Project has traditionally focused on providing tools, not mandating prolicies. A fair amount of effort has gone into supporting 32-bit apps in the kernel. It seems silly to basically waste this effort by not providing any way to access the ports infrastructure in 32-bit mode. I went through the 64-bit compatibility problems in late 1998 when I got moved onto a project based on DEC Alphas - and found that an awful lot of software believed that all the world was a VAX. The situation has gotten a lot better since then. -- Peter Jeremy
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