Andrew Reilly <andrew-freebsd@areilly.bpc-users.org> writes:
quoted text
> Dag-Erling Smørgrav <des@des.no> writes:
> > Two-way i386 + amd64 executables would be very useful, since they can
> > run on the same hardware with just a change of kernel.
> How is that useful?  I386 executables can run on the same hardware
> with the same changes of kernel.

...but they cannot take advantage of the full capabilities of amd64 (not
just address space, but larger number of general-purpose registers etc.)
Even further, an i386 binary built for maximum compatibility cannot
assume SSE2 support, while an amd64 binary can.  Conversely, there are
(admittedly not many, but some) workloads that run faster on i386 than
on amd64.

Imagine having a single binary distribution and a single install CD or
DVD that runs unmodified on i386 and amd64 - that would cover 90% or
more of our user base.

DES
-- 
Dag-Erling Smørgrav - des@des.no
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