On Tue, Jul 08, 2014 at 01:19:58AM -0700, Jim McCarthy wrote:
> On Mon, 7 Jul 2014, Connie Sieh wrote:
> >>
> >> I note that only X86-64 is available; have I missed something about 
> >> supported ISAs, or will there also be an IA-32 port/distribution as 
> >> well?
> >>
> >> Yasha Karant
> >
> > TUV is only releasing X86-64 .
> > 
> > -Connie Sieh
> 
> Is this for TUV "v7 ALPHA", or is this to become 'the new normal' going
> forward ?
> 

My best guess is - there is no 32-bit RHEL7 because "they" decided to use the XFS filesystem by default, but XFS only works on 64-bit systems (something about stack size or page size or something obscure like that).

This is a wise decision if you consider that all serious UNIX machines went 64-bit back in the late-1990-ies (SGI, DEC, etc),
and that all new PC hardware is 64-bit capable.

This is a silly decision if you consider your pile of 32-bit-only Pentium-3 and -4 based VME SBCs
that you use to run all the experiments data acquisition systems and much of the accelerator controls.
(These 32-bit-only machines are here to stay and they cannot be upgraded to 64-bit CPU
and they cannot be economically replaced by 64-bit-capable VME SBCs - requires major $$$ plus
major man-hours for software updates and testing).

>
> If no more IA-32 support, what would it take to convince the binutils (?)
> development powers-that-be to make available for X86-64 the ld linker option
> "-taso" (truncated address space option).
>

You want "gcc -mx32", see https://sites.google.com/site/x32abi/home

(When SGI and DEC went 64-bit, they had this implemented right away, as it is the only
way to run old Fortran programs in 64-bit mode).

-- 
Konstantin Olchanski
Data Acquisition Systems: The Bytes Must Flow!
Email: olchansk-at-triumf-dot-ca
Snail mail: 4004 Wesbrook Mall, TRIUMF, Vancouver, B.C., V6T 2A3, Canada