>>>> "BC" == Ben Cotton
<bcotton(a)redhat.com> writes:
BC> * Other developers: Other developers may have to adjust test suites
BC> which expect exact floating point results, and correct linking with
BC> <code>libatomic</code>. They will also have to upgrade their x86-64
BC> machines to something that can execute AVX2 instructions.
[...]
BC> == Upgrade/compatibility impact ==
BC> Fedora installations on systems with CPUs which are not able to
BC> execute AVX2 instructions will not be able to upgrade.
Wow. I understand progress, but I have to say that it's not really cool
to toss this bomb out there without some more detailed breakdown of the
impact.
For my part, I try to keep my equipment relatively up to date but I
don't want to throw something away if it's still perfectly useful. And,
let's see, I'd have to toss out five desktops (which isn't too bad, I
guess) and probably forty perfectly functional servers, some of which
aren't really even all that old. Heck, a dozen computational servers
would be on the block. Even requiring avx would force me to toss a
pretty big pile of stuff.
Basically, this would force me to use something other than Fedora. I'd
have no choice, since it wouldn't work. I don't want to be that guy
with the 20mhz 386 that still wants others to make sure his stuff works,
but still, this seems like it's going more than just a bit too far.
- J<