i386 support

[Butler, Paul]

Christer Hermansson wrote:

 

> Hi.

>

> FreeBSD 6.0R don't support 386 processors according to the release

> notes, maybe it's time to change the name of the i386 platform to the 

> x86 platform.

>

>

Do you realize how many things depend on the platform name being i386? 

Just thinking of ports alone, I cound probably name a "few." Not very 

important, but a huge hastle to switch over.

 

-Frank

 

I believe the issue here is one of the accepted nomenclature currently in
use in the industry, although it is not completely accurate.  This is
because "i-386" is often used to refer to all the processing chips using
successors to the 386 instruction set, even though very few installations
actually employ a true 386 chip.  FreeBSD needs to keep its terminology
consistent with other operating systems ported to the same "Intel-based"
technology, and in this context retaining the "i-386" designation makes
sense because all of us whose responsibility includes 32-bit Pentium family
hardware can immediately identify which version of FreeBSD (or the kernel)
is the one for use on these machines.

 

Paul Butler