From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:33095) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1fY5bb-0008Jt-Rx for qemu-devel@nongnu.org; Wed, 27 Jun 2018 04:15:17 -0400 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1fY5bX-00078o-Q5 for qemu-devel@nongnu.org; Wed, 27 Jun 2018 04:15:11 -0400 Received: from zero.eik.bme.hu ([2001:738:2001:2001::2001]:45059) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.0:DHE_RSA_AES_256_CBC_SHA1:32) (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1fY5bX-000786-FL for qemu-devel@nongnu.org; Wed, 27 Jun 2018 04:15:07 -0400 Date: Wed, 27 Jun 2018 10:15:05 +0200 (CEST) From: BALATON Zoltan In-Reply-To: <87fu18ach6.fsf_-_@dusky.pond.sub.org> Message-ID: References: <20180625131253.11218-1-kraxel@redhat.com> <20180625131253.11218-2-kraxel@redhat.com> <6ad67e44-b002-1cd7-cfd1-2d98ebde1a7e@redhat.com> <20180627065126.mwzdxshr3njzok7n@sirius.home.kraxel.org> <0df8a05c-43fc-6e85-b13c-d3f5c4691964@redhat.com> <87fu18ach6.fsf_-_@dusky.pond.sub.org> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=US-ASCII Subject: Re: [Qemu-devel] Drop support for 32bit hosts in qemu? (was: [PULL 1/6] audio/hda: create millisecond timers that handle IO) List-Id: List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , To: Markus Armbruster Cc: Thomas Huth , Martin Schrodt , qemu-devel@nongnu.org, Gerd Hoffmann , Max Reitz On Wed, 27 Jun 2018, Markus Armbruster wrote: > Thomas Huth writes: >> On 27.06.2018 08:51, Gerd Hoffmann wrote: > [...] >>> Drop support for 32bit hosts in qemu? >> >> I guess the only way to answer that question reliably is to send a patch >> to mark 32-bit hosts as deprecated... >> >> Anyway, you still have got to fix that problem with -m32 now somehow >> since we certainly can not drop 32-bit immediately. > > We certainly can if we want to. > > Our formal deprecation policy codifies our compromise between the need > to evolve QEMU and the need of its users for stable external interfaces. > > "Compiles on host X" is also a need, but it's a different one. > Evidence: "Supported build platforms" has its own appendix, separate > from "Deprecated features". It's mum on 32-bit hosts. > > I'm not saying we *should* drop 32-bit hosts immediately. Only that the > feature deprecation policy does not apply. > > Is QEMU still useful on 32-bit hosts? Honest question! I guess it depends on what 32-bit hosts you consider. If you look at only x86 vs. x86_64 then probably x86 is not that important any more but for some embedded systems/SoCs 32bit might still be common and QEMU useful for those (also as host not only emulated). Another option might be to not support audio/hda on 32bit hosts. It's not nice either but a lot nicer than dropping support for 32bit hosts alltogether to fix a problem in device emulation. The nicest would of course be fixing the device emulation to work on all supported platform. Regards, BALATON Zoltan