CPUTYPE=pentium-m

[Bartosz Fabianowski]

> i have read that were some problems compiling the kernel and the
> loader with "pentium-m" in CPUTYPE. are they fixed now?

I'm the one who filed the original bug report:

http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/query-pr.cgi?pr=75898

Since it hasn't been touched yet by anybody, my guess is that the problems persist. If you want to try for yourself, just recompile your kernel with CPUTYPE=pentium-m and see whether it boots or panics.

> is it safe to compile the world with that switch on (and downgrade to
> something else - pentium3? - for kernel&loader) ?

I'd assume the answer to this one is yes - it's safe. Personally, I compile world and kernel as pentium3, but that's just out of laziness. As you can read in the bug report, the problem is that SSE2 instructions get used by the kernel and loader before they are enabled. Once the boot gets to the first userland programs, SSE2 is enabled so any world programs should run just fine when compiled as pentium-m.

- Bartosz