[PATCH] Utilize i686, SSE and MMX by default on FreeBSD/i386

[Scott Long]

On Mar 19, 2010, at 12:36 PM, Julian Elischer wrote:

> John Baldwin wrote:
>> On Thursday 18 March 2010 9:06:31 pm Xin LI wrote:
>>> Hi,
>>> 
>>> I think it doesn't really make sense to by default use MACHINE_CPU=i486
>>> when the kernel is built with SSE by default today.
>>> 
>>> Attached patch uses i686 SSE MMX by default, the user can always change
>>> the default setting by overriding CPUTYPE (they have to do it as SSE is
>>> enabled by default for several years).
>> The kernel is only built with support for userland applications using SSE, it does not _use_ SSE.  Similarly, the kernel is built with support for PG_NX provided on 64-bit processors, but it does not do so by failing to support older 32-bit processors.  I think this change is premature.  Users can already set CPUTYPE in make.conf.  Also, most modern x86 server-class machines are
>> 64-bit in which case they would be running FreeBSD/amd64 and using SSE
>> already.
> 
> 
> and a lot of low power boxes (e.g. soekris) are 586 class.
> 

Are these machines typically installed via a GENERIC kernel from freebsd.org release CD's?  Maybe there's a market to create a new mini-distribution tailored for these devices.  It would come with a suitable kernel and install/setup tools.

Scott