Re: dropping 32-bit host support

[Philippe Mathieu-Daudé]

Hi Andrew,

On 16/3/23 01:57, Andrew Randrianasulu wrote:
> Looking at https://wiki.qemu.org/ChangeLog/8.0 
> <https://wiki.qemu.org/ChangeLog/8.0>
>
> ===
> System emulation on 32-bit x86 and ARM hosts has been deprecated. The 
> QEMU project no longer considers 32-bit x86 and ARM support for system 
> emulation to be an effective use of its limited resources, and thus 
> intends to discontinue.
>
>   ==
>
> well, I guess arguing from memory-consuption point on 32 bit x86 hosts 
> (like my machine where I run 32 bit userspace on 64 bit kernel) is not 

If you use a 64-bit kernel, then your host is 64-bit :)

host: hardware where you run QEMU
guest: what is run within QEMU

Running 32-bit *guest* on your 64-bit *host* is still supported.

We don't plan to support running 32-bit WinXP x86 (guest) on 32-bit
Raspberry Pi 2 (host) for example.

> going anywhere, but what about 32bit userspace on Android tablets, 
> either via Limbo emulator or qemu itself in Termux?

*System* emulation [on 32-bit hosts] is deprecated. User emulation
(such linux-user) is not. For example, you can still run 64-bit x86_64
Linux binaries on a 32-bit ARM Raspberry Pi.

> At least I hope it will be not *actively* (intentionally) broken, just 
> ...unsupported (so users who know how to run git revert still will get 
> their build for some more time).

Unsupported code almost always unintentionally end bit-rotting...

I hope this is clearer.

Regards,

Phil.