[OpenIndiana-discuss] 32-bit support in OpenIndiana Hipster

[Peter Tribble]

On Mon, Feb 16, 2015 at 10:06 AM, Alexander Pyhalov <alp at rsu.ru> wrote:

> Hello.
>
> We currently support (in some way) 32-bit systems. We avoid shipping
> 64-binaries in default path or use isaexec for such things.
> But do we really need it? I haven't seen PC (not speaking about server)
> without 64-bit CPU for at least 8 years.
>

There are still 32-bit systems around - even new systems in the
low-power or "embedded" space. And looking at older equipment,
there's still a fair amount of 32-bit kit that's viable.

Dropping support for 32-bit systems will allow us to port Oracle sources
> easier. Potentially, this solves time_t overflow. We could think about
> largefile support less.
>
> What are the cons of keeping support for 32-bit systems? I don't see much.
> If you see them, please, speak now.
>
> I'm inclined to make changes, breaking 32-bit systems only after next ISO
> snapshot. Of course, 32-bit libraries will be preserved.
>

I don't see much of a driver to drop 32-bit support. I see little practical
benefit, and there will be a small fraction of the potential user population
that you will drive away - I can't see the point in doing that when you
want to encourage all the users you can get. And areas in which you're
*different* from, say, Oracle are to be taken advantage of.

I had this debate in my mind about Tribblix, and came very firmly down
on the side of keeping 32-bit support. At least for now.

Looking elsewhere, Ubuntu serves as a good guide. I don't recall an
official decision, but as I recall they might think again about dropping
32-bit support in 2016. I think I would personally be more
conservative than that.

-- 
-Peter Tribble
http://www.petertribble.co.uk/ - http://ptribble.blogspot.com/