On Thu, Dec 13, 2012 at 12:59 PM, Robert Dewar wrote: > >> Intel stopped producing embedded 386 chips in 2007. > > > Right, but this architecture is not protected, so the > question is whether there are other vendors producing > compatible chips. I don't know the answer.
Ralf has found one such a vendor, it seems. But to me, that doesn't automatically imply that GCC must continue to support such a target. Other criteria should also be considered. For instance, quality of implementation and maintenance burden. Just two examples: * It's already happened in the past (at least 10 years ago) that i386 was broken for a while without anyone noticing. (See e.g. http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc-4.7.2/libstdc++/manual/faq.html#faq.threads_i386) * Supporting the C/C++ memory models on 386 is hard and susceptible to bitrot unless tested on real 386 hardware. (see e.g. http://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/Atomic/GCCMM/LIbrary -- actually, it looks like libatomic currently doesn't support 386 at all) But we digress... Ciao! Steven
