On Thu, Oct 15, 1998 at 02:09:23PM -0700, Kenneth Scharf wrote: > The intel version of debian packages are in some directory path > downstream from ../../i386/.. and the package names also carry i386. > While this is technically correct, it can be missleading to some that > the package only runs on an 80386 cpu. The current name for the cpu > family from intel (and clones) that are derived from the 386 is IA32. > (and intel's next family will be called IA64). Should the package and > directory names be changed from i386 to IA32?
We're following the industry convention. It might be more appropriate to use x86, but other IA32 CPU's are a superset of the 386. I think it would be much more confusing to the average user to see IA32. Nobody other than Intel seems to refer to the architecture as IA32. I'd say that "386" is the least misleading. It also leaves the possibility for a Debian distribution with packages optimized for (and possibly requiring) newer x86 chips. Regards, Jeff
