Re: [PATCH 1/2] docs/about: Deprecate 32-bit x86 hosts and qemu-system-i386

[Thomas Huth]

On 27/02/2023 21.12, Michael S. Tsirkin wrote:
> On Mon, Feb 27, 2023 at 11:50:07AM +0000, Daniel P. Berrangé wrote:
> > I feel like we should have separate deprecation entries for the
> > i686 host support, and for qemu-system-i386 emulator binary, as
> > although they're related they are independant features with
> > differing impact. eg removing qemu-system-i386 affects all
> > host architectures, not merely 32-bit x86 host, so I think we
> > can explain the impact more clearly if we separate them.
>
> Removing qemu-system-i386 seems ok to me - I think qemu-system-x86_64 is
> a superset.
>
> Removing support for building on 32 bit systems seems like a pity - it's
> one of a small number of ways to run 64 bit binaries on 32 bit systems,
> and the maintainance overhead is quite small.

Note: We're talking about 32-bit *x86* hosts here. Do you really think that 
someone is still using QEMU usermode emulation
to run 64-bit binaries on a 32-bit x86 host?? ... If so, I'd be very surprised!

> In fact, keeping this support around forces correct use of
> posix APIs such as e.g. PRIx64 which makes the code base
> more future-proof.

If you're concerned about PRIx64 and friends: We still continue to do 
compile testing with 32-bit MIPS cross-compilers and Windows 32-bit 
cross-compilers for now. The only thing we'd lose is the 32-bit "make check" 
run in the CI.

 Thomas