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Re: Defaulting to i686 for the Debian i386 architecture



Am 28.09.2015 um 23:14 schrieb Ben Hutchings:
> We propose to drop support for i386 processors older than 686-class in
> the current release cycle.  This would include folding libc6-i686 into
> libc6, changing the default target for gcc, and changing the 586 kernel
> flavour to 686 (non-PAE).
> 
> Since the 686-class, introduced with the Pentium Pro, is now almost 20
> years old, we believe there are few Debian systems still running that
> have 586-class or hybrid processors.  The only such processors
> apparently still available for sale are the DM&P Vortex86 family, Intel
> Quark and Xeon Phi, of which we currently only support the Vortex86.
> Indeed, the likely reasons for users to choose i386 over amd64 today
> are to reduce memory consumption or to run i386 binaries for which the
> source is not available - not because they're using 32-bit processors.
> 
> The older processors would of course continue to be supported in jessie
> until at least 2018, and until 2020 if i386 is included in jessie LTS.
> 
> Maintaining support for these older processors hurts the Debian i386
> architecture in several ways:
> * Prevents optimisation for 686-class without run-time checks or
>   multiple library builds
> * Divergence from upstream code in various packages which often assume
>   at least 686-class processors
> * Can require user intervention to install optimised library packages
>   e.g. debootstrap does not install libc6-i686
> 
> - Ben Hutchings
> - Aurelien Jarno
> - Matthias Klose

Your reasoning is sound. Please go ahead with your plan.
We should not optimise for the least common denominator for eternity.


Michael
-- 
Why is it that all of the instruments seeking intelligent life in the
universe are pointed away from Earth?

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