Messages in this thread | | | From | (Alan Cox) | Subject | Re: i386 support | Date | Mon, 6 Apr 1998 00:43:03 +0100 (BST) |
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> Those compiled with -m486 MAY work on a 386, but I would not bet my life > on it. gcc uses 486-specific instructions with -m486. Linux distributions > use kernels built for 386.
For gcc 2.7.x at least gcc doesn't generate any 486 specific code. The only useful (user mode) 386->486 addition is bswap. If gcc 2.8.x starts to generate bswap the right model is probably to add bswap emulation to the kernel so the people caring about speed dont suffer.
In kernel space we generate bswap in __asm__ stuff for networking and the kernel makes use of the material improvements in cache handling on the 486 to reduce the amount of overhead when invalidating caches is needed.
Alan
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