diff --git a/en_US.ISO8859-1/htdocs/news/status/report-2015-10-2015-12.xml b/en_US.ISO8859-1/htdocs/news/status/report-2015-10-2015-12.xml index bdff21bc5b..bf806e79c8 100644 --- a/en_US.ISO8859-1/htdocs/news/status/report-2015-10-2015-12.xml +++ b/en_US.ISO8859-1/htdocs/news/status/report-2015-10-2015-12.xml @@ -3937,4 +3937,71 @@ + + + armv6 Hard Float Default ABI + + + + + Warner + Losh + + imp@FreeBSD.org + + + + + Blog Entry + + + +

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.

+ +

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 rc system has been + enhanced to load the software float paths. ldconfig 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.

+ +

The experimental armv6hf MACHINE_ARCH 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 WITH_LIBSOFT build option.

+ + + + +

Complete documentation needs to be written.

+ + + +

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.

+ + + +

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.

+ + +