Spec update and draft opinion available for 2008/351 - Switch SPARC GNU coreutils+bash from 32 to 64bit

[James Carlson]

John Plocher writes:
>   This is a *draft* opinion intended to be used as context for a vote.  It
>   needs wordsmithing in several places, including the "not architectural"
>   sections in section 4.  Contributions of "better words" would be very
>   much appreciated.

It does need some wordsmithing, but that's not my main concern with
it.

Besides not really saying anything new (we've been immersed in the
32/64 bit issues for more than a decade now), and apparent improper
handling of a private email conversation, I think section 4.3.2 is
completely out of step with the goals of the Indiana community in
building a reference distribution built on community involvement.

The real issue there is that distributions need to set boundary
conditions (including a set of platforms on which to run, which is
explicitly *NOT* what this case is about, despite section 4.1.1), and
not some architecturally irrelevant argument about who has 'standing'
to make those distributor decisions.

Because I think the out-of-context excerpt in 4.3.2 appears to suggest
that Sun has the final say here, and not the distributor, and is thus
quite destructive on the face of it, I would vote against this opinion
as drafted.

Without that section, I'd abstain.  Without a project supporting an
actual 64-bit-only platform under review, or some stronger policy
about the requirement for 64-bit cleanliness (and not just "if you
want, and you're not magical FOSS"), I don't think this says anything
useful, so there's no reason to vote in favor.

(Of course, if it provides some operational advantage, I have no
problem with the original and now blown-out-of-proportion proposal to
switch the SPARC GNU coreutils+bash to 64 bit.  I also don't think
it's an architectural matter at all, so we really didn't need to
review this implementation choice.  Why are we here again?)

-- 
James Carlson, Solaris Networking              <james.d.carlson at sun.com>
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