AMDKFD -- AMD HSA On Linux -- Will Not Support 32-Bit Linux

[phoronix]

Phoronix: AMDKFD -- AMD HSA On Linux -- Will Not Support 32-Bit Linux

This really shouldn't come as a huge surprise, but AMD won't support HSA on 32-bit Linux...

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=MTg1OTE

[Marc Driftmeyer]

Good. Nor should it. To ask really has me wondering what kind of a mind you'd need to wonder if a company baselining [as it should] all its product to 64 bits should knee cap itself with 32 bit.

[kaprikawn]

Glad to hear it. Given that one of the main points of HSA is unified memory, that memory pool should probably be more than 4 gig anyway. And before anyone says, I know >4GB is not the only reason for 64bit computing.

[vadix]

Glad to hear it. Given that one of the main points of HSA is unified memory, that memory pool should probably be more than 4 gig anyway. And before anyone says, I know >4GB is not the only reason for 64bit computing.

Of course, the large potential virtual address space is one of the major benefits. You are on Phoronix, so you don't have to worry about getting into an argument with a lot of non-programmers about technical details, just arguments with programmers over implementation details .

[rohcQaH]

Going by the commit, it looks like 32bit support had already been implemented, but was now.. not even removed, just disabled. 32bit processes are not allowed to open the device.

Sure, all AMD HSA platforms are 64bit, and today everyone should be using a 64bit kernel, but still.. what about HSA accelerated system libraries, like an accelerated libjpeg, libz etc? 32bit processes wouldn't be able to benefit from the speedups, and there are still plenty of unported 32 bit applications, not just on WINE.

[AJSB]

Going by the commit, it looks like 32bit support had already been implemented, but was now.. not even removed, just disabled. 32bit processes are not allowed to open the device.

Sure, all AMD HSA platforms are 64bit, and today everyone should be using a 64bit kernel, but still.. what about HSA accelerated system libraries, like an accelerated libjpeg, libz etc? 32bit processes wouldn't be able to benefit from the speedups, and there are still plenty of unported 32 bit applications, not just on WINE.

I wont' debate if their decision per se of focusing only in 64bit is correct or not, what i want to say is that if what you say is true, its at least ridiculous and dumb that AMD made HSA for 32bit and then decided to disable it for "political reasons"...reminds me Adobe and Chrome about Flash and Linux (no matter the situation is not exactly the same but in a way it is, i.e. nothing prevents modern versions of Flash work in Linux (as its proven by Chrome), it was a "political decision" from Adobe stop its developing).

All these kinds of "political decisions" that plague Linux Land are simply ridiculous and dumb, IMHO, YMMV.

PS: Isn't HSA in Linux Open source ? If it is, isn't it possible to re-enable it for 32bit ?

[grigi]

I suspect it was a political decision to support 32-bit, which has been changed as a way to reduce testing/debugging overhead.

[V10lator]

PS: Isn't HSA in Linux Open source ? If it is, isn't it possible to re-enable it for 32bit ?

Yes, it's a kernel driver. To re-enable simply revert this patch: http://cgit.freedesktop.org/~airlied...df0aeeb43fbda8

[AJSB]

Yes, it's a kernel driver. To re-enable simply revert this patch: http://cgit.freedesktop.org/~airlied...df0aeeb43fbda8

Thanks very much

[AJSB]

I suspect it was a political decision to support 32-bit, which has been changed as a way to reduce testing/debugging overhead.

...and that just reminds me the exponential growth of MP-Only games:

Maximize profit, minimize work.
Devs provide only the game assets (sometimes even that of dubious quality to say the least), the suckers.....errrr....customers provide the game content....and when the online game community dies, the suckers....errrr....customers have a nice paperweight...wait...not even that...no longer physical game distribution, its all in the "cloud"

Its all part of this lazy attitude nowadays, worse when we are talking about supposed professional coders making "serious" software...wait...the decision was not from them but from the "powers to be"