Re: musl 0.9.3 released

[Rich Felker <dalias@aerifal.cx>]

On Mon, Aug 06, 2012 at 12:43:36AM +0800, orc wrote:
> Also, does x32 run on plain x86_64? If it does, then probably that

It's a separate ABI in userspace (and has some new syscalls for
situations where it's necessary to interface with the kernel using a
structure that looks different in userspace due to containing
pointers), but it runs on a standard 64-bit kernel that's new enough
to have x32 support.

It's possible to mix x32 and normal x86_64 ABI binaries on the same
system, but for dynamic linking they need their own separate library
paths.

> large apps like Firefox can be compiled and run in that mode can have
> benefits. If it is required that you must run only x32 kernel, then I
> see no it's benefits currently. It will be much easier to run plain 32
> bits Firefox.

Plain 32-bit apps are moderately slower due to not having access to
64-bit arithmetic and the really inefficient i386 ABI. I've heard the
difference can be 5-20% depending on the application.

Rich