Re: ppc64 port
On Wed, 2004-04-28 at 09:13, Tom Gall wrote:
> Let's review where some of the the other distros are at and what they
> are doing for x86_64 as well. Everyone (and I mean everyone) has the
> ability to run both 32 bit and 64 bit code.
For x86-64 and ia64 this makes sense. There are a good
number of non-free binaries out there -- though I must
admit that Debian traditionally gives non-free binaries
the cold shoulder.
Those of us running ppc have long gotten used to doing
without any of those non-free binaries. There isn't any
compatibility benefit to supporting 32-bit stuff. It's
only a matter of performance: do you want 1 glibc in RAM,
or 2 of them in RAM?
> The design choice is what is
> the "default" mode. IE if a user just calls gcc, are they going to get
> a 64 bit app, or a 32 bit app. Install something like apache, will it be
> 64 bit or 32 bit... etc etc.
>
> 1) SuSE SLES 8 for PowerPC64 - Default is 32 bit
That may be, but they did manage to compile a number
of packages as 64-bit. This isn't another case of
slapping a 64-bit kernel and libc on a 32-bit install
and calling it good.
If you really want a 32-bit userspace, remember
that you can simply run a 32-bit distribution.
> 2) SuSE SLES 8 for x86_64 - Default is 64 bit
> 4) Gentoo/ppc64 - Default is 64 bit
Well, that looks like the thing to run on a Mac G5.
Gentoo is planning ahead and keeping things simple.
Alternately, run a pure 32-bit system. Why not?
Let's not complicate things for no good reason.
> 5) Gentoo/x86_64 - Default is 64 bit
> 6) Redhat Enterprise for PowerPC64 - Default is 32 bit
> 7) Redhat for x86_64 (fedora) - Default 64 bit
> 8) Redhat exterprise for x86_64 -Default 64 bit
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