svn commit: r48059 - head/en_US.ISO8859-1/htdocs/news/status

Mon Jan 18 22:48:17 UTC 2016

Author: bjk
Date: Mon Jan 18 22:48:15 2016
New Revision: 48059
URL: https://svnweb.freebsd.org/changeset/doc/48059

Log:
  Add armv6 hardfloat entry from imp

Modified:
  head/en_US.ISO8859-1/htdocs/news/status/report-2015-10-2015-12.xml

Modified: head/en_US.ISO8859-1/htdocs/news/status/report-2015-10-2015-12.xml
==============================================================================

--- head/en_US.ISO8859-1/htdocs/news/status/report-2015-10-2015-12.xml	Mon Jan 18 22:35:01 2016	(r48058)
+++ head/en_US.ISO8859-1/htdocs/news/status/report-2015-10-2015-12.xml	Mon Jan 18 22:48:15 2016	(r48059)
@@ -3937,4 +3937,71 @@
       </task>
     </help>
   </project>
+
+  <project cat='arch'>
+    <title>armv6 Hard Float Default ABI</title>
+
+    <contact>
+      <person>
+	<name>
+	  <given>Warner</given>
+	  <common>Losh</common>
+	</name>
+	<email>imp at FreeBSD.org</email>
+      </person>
+    </contact>
+
+    <links>
+      <url href="http://bsdimp.blogspot.com/2015/12/hard-float-api-coming-soon-by-default.html">Blog Entry</url>
+    </links>
+
+    <body>
+      <p>Work on moving armv6 from a "soft float" ABI (but
+	still using hardware floating point) to a fully "hardware
+	float" API moves forward.  The ability to have both soft and
+	hard ABI libraries on the same system is now functional.  All
+	armv6 and armv7 systems we support have hardware floating point
+	capabilities.  We currently use the floating-point hardware, but
+	with a slightly un-optimal ABI, for compatibility with older
+	versions of &os;.  The ABI differences are only at the userspace
+	level — the kernel does not care what floating-point ABI is
+	used, and both types of binaries can run at the same time.</p>
+
+      <p>The run-time linker now knows if a binary uses the hardware
+	float ABI or the software float ABI by examining some fields in
+	the ELF header.  The linker uses different paths and config files
+	for hard vs. soft binaries.  The <tt>rc</tt> system has been
+	enhanced to load the software float paths.  <tt>ldconfig</tt> now
+	understands soft libraries in much the same way that it
+	understands 32-bit libraries on 64-bit systems.  No additional
+	kernel support was necessary for this, apart from a minor patch to
+	pass the ELF header information to the binary, which has been in
+	the tree since last summer.</p>
+
+      <p>The experimental armv6hf <tt>MACHINE_ARCH</tt> will be
+	retired after a transition period.  It will cease to mean anything
+	different from armv6 after the build system changes go in.
+	Support for building soft-float ABI libraries will remain in the
+	tree, to support the <tt>WITH_LIBSOFT</tt> build option.</p>
+    </body>
+
+    <help>
+      <task>
+	<p>Complete documentation needs to be written.</p>
+      </task>
+
+      <task>
+	<p>Hooks into the &os; build system to generate soft float and
+	  transition to hard float after a flag day need to be polished
+	  up and committed.</p>
+      </task>
+
+      <task>
+	<p>A number of different upgrade/coexistence scenarios need
+	  to be tested, and a full package run needs to be done to assess
+	  the latest state of the ports tree.  This work should be completed
+	  by the end of January.</p>
+      </task>
+    </help>
+  </project>
 </report>
