Re: [2.6 patch] asm-generic/int-ll64.h: always provide __{s,u}64

From: H. Peter Anvin
Date: Mon May 19 2008 - 20:17:54 EST


Adrian Bunk wrote:
On Mon, May 19, 2008 at 04:51:53PM -0700, H. Peter Anvin wrote:
Adrian Bunk wrote:
If it is going to be unconditionally offered, we could get rid of
__BYTEORDER_HAS_U64__ as a next step. Unless there is something I've
missed.
Why do we need the byteorder headers in userspace at all?

Because Linux-specific software has depended on them for over 15 years (they are a much better API than anything POSIX provides.) We can't just yank them, and so it's better if they actually work.

Yes, you can argue it should be glibc's job to provide them, but well, why duplicate work when we already have a nicely working set.

The worst thing is how many CONFIG_'s they currently leak to userspace.

And e.g. the versions in the x86 header are therefore not the fastest ones (unless the userspace software #define's CONFIG_X86_BSWAP)...


This is a valid point. This should be __i486__ for userspace, which is gcc's way to tell you if you're compiling with -march=i486.

-hpa
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