[LAU] denormals, cpu flags, and "minor" apps over-reaching

[Paul Davis]

On Mon, Mar 15, 2010 at 11:41 PM, cal <cal at graggrag.com> wrote:
> Long ago I added some code to yoshimi to deal with denormals (from Jens M Andreasen,
> LAD <http://lists.linuxaudio.org/pipermail/linux-audio-dev/2009-August/024707.html>).
>
> Now I'm wondering if it's actually cool for a synth app or plugin to arrogantly go
> about changing cpu flags underneath other running apps, eg ardour. I'd like to hear
> the thoughts of the wise on whether that's a very bad thing for a "minor" app to be
> doing.

the OS will restore CPU flags on a context switch. so, doing this in a
plugin is an absolute no-no; doing it in a separate application is
totally fine. i think.