Making NPTL the default for FC3, vanilla i386 support

[Leonard den Ottolander]

Hi Jakub,

> I'd like to make NPTL the default threading library for FC3,
> as a step in phasing out LinuxThreads.

>    This means though that almost no FC3 programs can run
>    on vanilla i386{SX,DX} CPUs.  Is this a problem to anyone?

It's always a bit sad to have to give up compatibility, but otoh most
boxes with i386 CPUs (including Cyrixes and WinChips) are usually not
that well equiped to run the bloated releases we have today anyway.

Actually i386 support has already been effectively discontinued
(https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=103078). Time to
start looking for some small footprint distros for such boxes.

>    There have been some i486+ only instructions accidentally
>    used in the past in many C++ programs (from libstdc++-v3
>    headers) and apparently nobody noticed this in RHL or
>    Fedora, so I assume not really many people are attempting
>    to revive their i386 boxes.

Well, at least one person has tried to :) .

> Another alternative is to change all rpms in FC3 which are .i386.rpm
> in FC2 to .i486.rpm, with rpmrc:

Although it might appear a bit funny at first I think this is the most
consequent solution. If it's not i386 compatible it shouldn't be called
so.

Also have a look at
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=91933 .

Leonard.

-- 
mount -t life -o ro /dev/dna /genetic/research