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Re: [MiNT] MiNTLib for ColdFire : DONE !

Miro Kropacek wrote:

    If a program is linked with the ColdFire MiNTLib, when it is run on
    a 680x0 computer the following message is displayed:
    This program requires a ColdFire V4e
    processor and cannot be run on this
    machine.
    So the user knows exactly what is happening.
Is this really necessary? Or are there some incompatibilities for 680x0 when coldfire code is executed? 

Yes, it is necessary.
Binaries optimized for 680x0 and binaries optimized for ColdFire are
mutually incompatible. They use instructions unavailable on other CPUs.

Fortunately, there will be a 680x0 emulation layer on the new ACP
computer, so it will be capable to run any binary. But the traditional
680x0 binaries will run a lot slower than ColdFire binaries on that
computer. However, because the ColdFire is very fast, even 680x0
binaries with emulation of the missing instructions should be faster
than on a 68060.

We could imagine a compiler using only the subset of instructions common
to all 680x0 and ColdFire processors, it may be funny but not really
useful because it would produces compatible binaries optimized for
nothing. GCC does not support that.

--
Vincent Rivière