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Date:      Sat, 31 Aug 2019 01:43:00 +0000
From:      bugzilla-noreply@freebsd.org
To:        toolchain@FreeBSD.org
Subject:   [Bug 230888] Missing 64 bit atomic functions for i386 (libatomic)
Message-ID:  <bug-230888-29464-EAv4Z6S4jO@https.bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/>
In-Reply-To: <bug-230888-29464@https.bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/>
References:  <bug-230888-29464@https.bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/>

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https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=3D230888

Warner Losh <imp@FreeBSD.org> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
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                 CC|                            |imp@FreeBSD.org

--- Comment #14 from Warner Losh <imp@FreeBSD.org> ---
In the past we've kept 486 for two reasons. As a core technology, it was ar=
ound
in the embedded space well into the 686 era, so there were latter-day versi=
ons
of that technology well past the classic 486s that are being sneered at a b=
it
in this bug (though these too are now quite old). The Soekris box was one
example. Now that it's become a burden, I think a good case could be made f=
or
its removal.

We can make the default i686, say, and give people that are interested in
486/586 until just before the 13 branch to fix it or we remove it. That blu=
nts
the criticism somewhat, and make people put their money where their mouths
are...

And the 'let's remove i386' is an outlier position. There's strong support =
for
it at least being a userland ABI that we support as a tier 1 platform, with=
 the
kernel dropping to tier 2 for 13. Now, this may change in 14, but that's 5
years off yet :). There's always radical positions within the project... Be=
st
not to take what any one person says seriously...

But whatever you do, I'd strongly suggest talking about it in arch@. It hel=
ps
to have a firm plan and good justification for that plan. If I may be so bo=
ld,
I'd suggest removing 486 support in the kernel; support for generating new =
486
binaries and make the default i686, but allow i586 builds (unless there's a
good technical reason for not doing that). I'd justify it with the amount of
work to support the 486 has become burdensome and if we're going to change,=
 we
might as well go to something a bit newer by default, but allow the folks t=
hat
need it to build binaries (or not, depending on the technical stuff). I sus=
pect
that this will be close enough to what most people want as to make it throu=
gh
an arch@ gauntlet and even though that might be a bit painful, it will get =
us
to buy in.

My own experience is that 600MHz pentium III are still decent enough, though
for a desktop with a modern web browser, you really need something quite a =
bit
more modern. I know people are still embedding 686 and maybe 586 boxes still
with FreeBSD, though I know of no-one that still needs the 486 stuff. This =
came
up 6 months ago and that was the result of my survey then...

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