Re: hf/sf [Was Re: CVS commit: pkgsrc/misc/raspberrypi-userland]

[Alistair Crooks <agc%pkgsrc.org@localhost>]

On Sun, Nov 10, 2013 at 01:20:41PM -0800, Matt Thomas wrote:
> Exactly.  with hf, floating point values are passed in floating point
> registers.  That can not be hidden via a library (this works on x86
> since the stack has all the arguments).  

Thanks, I understand.  But...  there has to be a different way of
doing this that does not require such wholesale changes, especially
when they were made without discussion.

+ use virtual registers which get mapped onto the real thing, either
through compilation or JIT

+ optimise for one passing scheme, and translate the other dynamically

+ have both sets of passing conventions in a fat binary, and select
accordingly

I'm sure there are way more than I've outlined above, and that others
have much better ideas than I have.

At the moment, this has been optimised for the kernel architecture,
with the userlevel changes assumed to be collateral damage.  Since the
users are what matters, that needs to be changed.

How do you propose to fix this (interim) mess for pkgsrc?  This is a
real issue for us, and you should send your proposal to
tech-pkg%netbsd.org@localhost.

Thanks,
Alistair