Re: git: c16e08e5f324 - main - stand/efi: Retire i386 support

From: Rodney W. Grimes <freebsd-rwg_at_gndrsh.dnsmgr.net>
Date: Fri, 12 May 2023 14:05:37 UTC
> On Thu, 11 May 2023 23:08:30 +0200
> Yuri <yuri@aetern.org> wrote:
> 
> > Warner Losh wrote:
> > > 
> > > 
> > > On Thu, May 11, 2023, 2:50 PM Rodney W. Grimes
> > > <freebsd-rwg@gndrsh.dnsmgr.net <mailto:freebsd-rwg@gndrsh.dnsmgr.net>>
> > > wrote:
> > > 
> > >     > On Thu, May 11, 2023, 2:16 PM Yuri <yuri@aetern.org
> > >     <mailto:yuri@aetern.org>> wrote:
> > >     >
> > >     > > Warner Losh wrote:
> > >     > > > The branch main has been updated by imp:
> > >     > > >
> > >     > > > URL:
> > >     > >
> > >     https://cgit.FreeBSD.org/src/commit/?id=c16e08e5f324aa119c85e10eaabacbd2abdb40e0 <https://cgit.FreeBSD.org/src/commit/?id=c16e08e5f324aa119c85e10eaabacbd2abdb40e0>
> > >     > > >
> > >     > > > commit c16e08e5f324aa119c85e10eaabacbd2abdb40e0
> > >     > > > Author:? ? ?Warner Losh <imp@FreeBSD.org>
> > >     > > > AuthorDate: 2023-05-11 20:04:12 +0000
> > >     > > > Commit:? ? ?Warner Losh <imp@FreeBSD.org>
> > >     > > > CommitDate: 2023-05-11 20:06:03 +0000
> > >     > > >
> > >     > > >? ? ?stand/efi: Retire i386 support
> > >     > > >
> > >     > > >? ? ?Remove the i386 ifdefs and files. It never worked.
> > >     > > >
> > >     > > >? ? ?Sponsored by:? ? ? ? ? ?Netflix
> > >     > > >? ? ?Reviewed by:? ? ? ? ? ? manu, tsoome, kevans
> > >     > > >? ? ?Differential Revision:? https://reviews.freebsd.org/D40012
> > >     <https://reviews.freebsd.org/D40012>
> > >     > >
> > >     > > As this question seems to be asked a lot on the forums, does
> > >     this mean
> > >     > > we will never support the 32bit efi booting 64bit OS?
> > >     > >
> > >     >
> > >     > Yes. It means we've given up on that. Such environments are rare these
> > >     > days, as far as I know, so unless someone shows up with something that
> > >     > works perfectly with a qemu testing recipe that we can roll it
> > >     into out
> > >     > test bed. Plus some kind of info on real hardware that does this
> > >     that's
> > >     > popular enough to justify inclusion.
> > > 
> > >     I have only ever seen 1 implementation of x86 32bit efi, and it was
> > >     such a pile of turds I just scrapped the machine.
> > > 
> > > 
> > > That was my experience as well, so I biased my action towards just
> > > removing it. If it turns out my experience was somehow atypical and
> > > these are popular and very much robust, I'm open to learning about it.
> > 
> > I just noticed that it was asked several times in the last few months
> > trying to use FreeBSD on not-so-modern and rather exotic hardware; I
> > don't think we really need that support, but I simply wasn't aware of
> > efi32 status before this commit, hence I asked :)
> 
> Just a FYI.
> 
> A subscriber (not me) tried ASUS EeeBook X205TA (manufactured "2015-04")
> through Mar.18, 2021 to Apr.13, 2021 without luck on freebsd-usrs-jp ML
> (in Japanese, started from [1], [2] for April).
> 
> Atom CPU Z3735F @1.33GHz, 2GB RAM

That is a 4 core 64 bit CPU, it most likely has a 64bit efi
implementation.

> Shipped with "Windows 8.1 with Bing (32bit)" installed.

Probably a good choice to use a 32 bit OS on a machine
with only 2GB as there is no need for a 64 bit pointer.
This pretty much applies to any machine with 4GB or
less of memory 

> 
> [1]
> https://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-users-jp/2021-March/001728.html
> 
> [2]
> https://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-users-jp/2021-April/001746.html
> 
> 
> -- 
> Tomoaki AOKI]    <junchoon@dec.sakura.ne.jp>
> 
> 

-- 
Rod Grimes                                                 rgrimes@freebsd.org