Re: git: 56ade3a6b9 - main - 15.0/relnote: Mention 32 bit platform removal

From: John Baldwin <jhb_at_FreeBSD.org>
Date: Mon, 01 Dec 2025 20:46:03 UTC 
On 12/1/25 15:09, Alexander Ziaee wrote:
> The branch main has been updated by ziaee:
> 
> URL: https://cgit.FreeBSD.org/doc/commit/?id=56ade3a6b9d0212d307a05b8b32a4d711bf70a3e
> 
> commit 56ade3a6b9d0212d307a05b8b32a4d711bf70a3e
> Author:     Alexander Ziaee <ziaee@FreeBSD.org>
> AuthorDate: 2025-12-01 19:04:45 +0000
> Commit:     Alexander Ziaee <ziaee@FreeBSD.org>
> CommitDate: 2025-12-01 19:49:05 +0000
> 
>      15.0/relnote: Mention 32 bit platform removal
> ---
>   website/content/en/releases/15.0R/relnotes.adoc | 3 +++
>   1 file changed, 3 insertions(+)
> 
> diff --git a/website/content/en/releases/15.0R/relnotes.adoc b/website/content/en/releases/15.0R/relnotes.adoc
> index d70f7d6053..0b5e1d6d3c 100644
> --- a/website/content/en/releases/15.0R/relnotes.adoc
> +++ b/website/content/en/releases/15.0R/relnotes.adoc
> @@ -960,6 +960,9 @@ On amd64, handling of the `%fsbase`/`%gsbase` registers and tls base were rework
>   gitref:68ba38dad3[repository=src]
>   {{< sponsored "the FreeBSD Foundation" >}}
>   
> +The venerable i386, armv6, and powerpc platforms have been retired.
> +We thank them for their service.

Hmm, this probably needs a bit more words as there are some subtle differences here:

- armv6 support has been removed entirely, but armv7 support remains.  In practice
   I think this just means that FreeBSD 16 won't run on a system with an ARM CPU older
   than v7.

- For i386 and 32-bit powerpc (and it's worth being explicit about powerpc since sometimes
   "powerpc" is used as an umbrella term that covers both 32-bit and 64-bit), native
   kernels are no longer supported, but existing 32-bit binaries can still be executed
   using 32-bit compatibility mode under a 64-bit kernel.

- For armv7, i386, powerpcspe, and powerpc, no release media or other artifacts are
   provided, nor are any pre-built packages provided.  (And this point is perhaps a
   reason why I think this doesn't belong in a kernel-only section, but a top-level
   "architectures" section.)

-- 
John Baldwin