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Re: Resurrect discussion: Mixing 32 and 64 bit distro


On Tue, Feb 12, 2013 at 05:50:16PM +0100, Corinna Vinschen wrote:
>On Feb 12 11:26, Christopher Faylor wrote:
>> On Tue, Feb 12, 2013 at 04:40:09PM +0100, Corinna Vinschen wrote:
>> >On Feb 12 10:29, Earnie Boyd wrote:
>> >> On Tue, Feb 12, 2013 at 8:40 AM, Corinna Vinschen wrote:
>> >> > Hi guys,
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> > I slept a bit bad tonight.
>> >> >
>> >> > As you may or may not remember, we had a discussion about how to go
>> >> > forward with a 64 bit distro in 2011.
>> >> >
>> >> > In this discussion I held vehemently to the view that we have to create
>> >> > the 64 bit distro in a way which allows to mix Cygwin 64 and 32 bit
>> >> > applications freely.  My main point was that it may take a long time
>> >> > until we get all the Cygwin 32 bit packages built for 64 bit, and
>> >> > therefore have to provide a mix so that users can adopt the 64 bit
>> >> > distro early without having to drop the tools they are using.
>> >> >
>> >> > But is that really so?  I'm not so sure anymore.  Maybe that problem
>> >> > is exaggerated or overvalued.
>> >> 
>> >> Maybe overvalued.  Would an idea that 32bit executables use the 32bit
>> >> runtime and 64bit executables use the 64bit runtime be bad?  So for
>> >> the time being deliver both 32bit cygwin1.dll and cyg64w1.dll (I
>> >> forget what you called it) and allow the executables to use the
>> >> correct version?
>> >
>> >That wasn't the question.  Of course, if you mix the distros, you will
>> >have to provide two DLLs, one for 32 and one for 64 bit.  The question
>> >is, shall the 32 and 64 bit Cygwin DLLs interact or not.   Keep 32 and
>> >64 bit distinct from each other or not.  Even if you just mix them into
>> >one /bin, you have to keep the new cyg64 DLL prefix.  But then again
>> >you would get the same result by having two distinct distros and add the
>> >other /bin dir to $PATH, without the requirement to keep the cyg64
>> >DLL prefix.
>> 
>> I think two distinct distros with no explicit understanding between the
>> 32-bit and 64-bit is the sanest approach.  I hate the thought of lots of
>> code in 64-bit Cygwin to specifically deal with 32-bit aps.
>
>It's worse.  For a smooth operation you have to take both scenarios into
>account, 32 bit processes starting 64 bit processes and vice versa.
>That means, the same special code, just for the opposite target, has to
>go int the 64 bit and the 32 bit DLL.

I don't recally you suggesting that the 32-bit DLL should somehow be
modified to understand 64-bit Cygwin.  Ugh.

cgf


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