> In the future it is likely that x86_64 will significantly deviate from
It already is in some cases. And I agree more will happen. > i386. i386 is going to be gradually abandoned because it does not support > the ever larger memory sizes and be mainly used for embedded devices. The desktop/server user base is quite conservative so that will take a long time, but gradually probably. > x86_64 is going to acquire more functionality that will not be available > for i386. We plan f.e. to add virtual memmap support for x86_64. Virtual What advantage would that have over the current setup? We already should handle holes between nodes reasonably efficiently and with nonlinear memory even holes inside nodes shouldn't be a problem. > memmap support may require a large chunk of virtual memory space that is > not available on i386. Its not good to have to deal with i386 issues when > doing x86_64 arch development. If the great merged architecture ever happens this would be needed anyways. Just basic 32bit support isn't too difficult anyways -- the problem are more the old bugs. -Andi - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
