64bit clean AMD64?

[Paul A. Houle]

On Fri, 4 Mar 2005 21:08:35 -0500, Peter Arremann <loony at loonybin.org>  
wrote:

>
> What is the future direction on this? When I look at OSF/1 or the IA64  
> bit
> versions of most Linux distributions I get jealous on how clean their
> environment is... For most server environments, 32bit versions of  
> libraries
> you don't need are just clutter...
>

	Funny enough,  many operating system for Ultrasparc (both Solaris and  
Debian Linux) decide to run a 32-bit userspace under a 64-bit kernel.

	I think things are different with SPARC than with AMD64;  AMD64 not only  
widens registers,  but it adds more registers.  Some things run faster in  
64-bit mode in AMD64.  On the other hand,  applications that handle a lot  
of pointers will bulk up substantially in 64-bit mode:  32-bit binaries  
will lose less RAM.

	If you're running,  say,  mod_perl,  under Apache prefork,  or even a  
Java system that burns a lot of RAM,  you might be better off running in  
32-bit mode than 64-bit mode.