On Fri, Nov 14, 2003 at 08:45:18PM +0000, Martin wrote: > > I've read that linux for sparc64 has got a 32 bit userland. > > > > Why? What's wrong with 64 bit? > Nothing is wrong with it par-say BUT in most cases it is unnecessary. > Whne in 64-bit mode you use a lot more memory to run the same program - > thus the current strategy - 64bit where you actually need 64bit > arithmetic and larger address spaces; 32 everywhere else.
64-bit in most cases is slower. Unless you need the memory mapping, or other various 64-bit things (like netfilter tools would be nice, to bypass the 64/32 ioctl translations). > Or at least that's how I understand it. Also if I am correct Debian > stable has recently got all of the tools to build / run 64bit binaries; > think the gcc flags are -m32 and -m64 respectively. If you want a fully > 64bit system then source debs might eb the way to go. Debian stable does not have that. It's Debian unstable that is currently ramping up 64-bit support. Also, you don't want a fully 64-bit system. -- Debian - http://www.debian.org/ Linux 1394 - http://www.linux1394.org/ Subversion - http://subversion.tigris.org/ WatchGuard - http://www.watchguard.com/