Re: Question on BIGGEST_ALIGNMENT in GCC on NetBSD/m68k

[Eero Tamminen <oak@helsinkinet.fi>]

Hi,

On 13.6.2025 15.51, John Paul Adrian Glaubitz wrote:
> On Fri, 2025-06-13 at 14:30 +0200, Geert Uytterhoeven wrote:
>> So you change the default alignment, bump all so-versions in userspace,
>> but keep the kernel-userspace ABI the same by adding explicit alignment
>> tags where needed? Old binaries keep on working, new binaries join
>> the ecosystem of anything that still builds on 32-bit big-endian ;-)
> 
> I think you're still missing the part that I'm not maintaining my own Linux
> distribution meaning that I cannot bump SO versions or making any substantial
> changes to the distributions.>
> And I'm not sure why being able to run old binaries on a retro-computing architecture
> is is so important for some people that they think it justifies making my life
> miserable.

Wouldn't next upgrade completely break user's Debian system so it needs 
complete re-install?

If true, would separate m68k arch for 4-byte alignment be out of 
question, similarly how there have been different ARM arch variants?


	- Eero

PS. I was peripherally involved in the ARM VFP thing, in a Debian 
derivative that switched to use VFP before Debian did. So I know a bit 
how big thing such transition is, even with the Debian cross-compiling & 
boot-strapping support being much better now...