Re: Can we drop upstream Linux x32 support?

From: Sven Hartrumpf
Date: Thu Dec 13 2018 - 13:50:26 EST


Hi.

I reported several significant speedups gained by the x32 ABI
for Scheme-based applications (compiled via a gcc backend), e.g.

https://lists.nongnu.org/archive/html/chicken-users/2015-09/msg00000.html
https://www.mail-archive.com/bigloo@xxxxxxxx/msg00427.html
https://forum.manjaro.org/t/why-is-there-no-kernel-support-for-the-x32-abi-config-x86-x32/55156/9

As a tech startup in cognitive search and NLP (https://www.sempria.de/),
the benefits of the x32 ABI in terms of saved compute time and costs are
vital for us.

It's a pity that x32 has not gained the momentum that it deserves.
Two suggestions to change this:

1. One could extend a prominent page like https://sites.google.com/site/x32abi/
with positive and negative results for applications w.r.t. the x32 ABI.
I am willing to rewrite and update the results that I reported over the years.

2. The name x32 is too short, not search-engine friendly, and ambiguous (most
people think it's about i386 ...). Is not there a better name?

Ciao
Sven