[LAU] Audio Distribution Proposal...

[nescivi]

On Wednesday 17 June 2009 14:19:00 alex stone wrote:
> >>> WRT to the original audio distribution proposal I want to throw out an
> >>> idea that Linus and some of the other high-end kernel developers have
> >>> been discussing on the LKML, and it rings true as possibly important
> >>> for folks like us doing audio work. The comment was that distribution
> >>> packagers haven't accepted the idea of providing a 64-bit kernel with
> >>> a 32-bit tool set. The idea, as I understand it, is that with a 64-bit
> >>> kernel you get the potential advantages of using all the features of
> >>> your newer 64-bit processor - newer hardware flags, more memory. On
> >>> the other hand 32-bit apps might work better in virtualized
> >>> environments and, in my experience, would provide more backward
> >>> compatibility with older audio and Windows stuff. Linus and others
> >>> seem to think it's a a good thing to do, but no one is doing it yet.
> >>> I'm not qualified to say what's good or bad about it.
> >>>
> >>> Just an idea about how this could lead somewhere different, if enough
> >>> people thought it important enough to actually undertake.
> >>>
> >>
> >> Mark, even better would be native 64bit across the board.
> >>
> >> Alex.
> >
> > What do you mean by 'native' 64-bit?
> >
> > I run 64-bit Gentoo with all apps built as 64-bit. Have for 4-5 years
> > now.
> >
> > - Mark
> >
> |As do i Mark. i meant i don't understand why we should pursue 32bit
> as a continued option if, where possible, apps can be written for
> 64bit by default.

There are some apps out there, which are quite complex to rewrite for 64bit, 
and it will take a couple of years, before rewrites of these apps are there 
that work 64bit.

Most notably the language part of SuperCollider, because of the way certain 
things are encoded for the garbage collection parts (as far as I understood).

Right now, I'm building the lang in a 32bit chroot, but it would be much 
nicer, if I could build it linking with 32bit libs, without the chroot.

Debian is making some steps towards making this easier the the 32bit apt 
package, but up till now I found the documentation rather unclear as to how to 
actually do something useful with it, so I haven't really tried it out yet.

sincerely,
Marije