Gentoo question...

[Hyperblaze]

I am in the process of doing an installation of gentoo on my box

One thing which caused me some suspicion is whenever I looked at /etc/make.conf

I noticed a line which had host="i386-blahblahblah"

My box is a p3-450.

Should that line be changed to i686 or left at i386? Anyone know?

If you need more description, I'll have to wait till my gentoo install is done.

 

[gaidin123]

You should be able to leave it alone with no problems but changing it to i686 would be better.

Gaidin

 

[n0cmonkey]

i386 binaries will work on any 386s or above x86 processor. i386 specifications(?) probably get the most testing in gcc, so I'd be a bit leary setting it to anything else. Also, the benefits of setting it to anything else for most binaries is close to nil.

 

[Hyperblaze]

Leaving it alone =)

Will be recompiling the kernel for i686 though!

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: Jero
Leaving it alone =)

Will be recompiling the kernel for i686 though!

I'm not sure how much this affects the kernel, but I'd be looking more towards crypto stuff. OpenSSL can get a noticable improvement with decent optimizations/targets.

 

[Hyperblaze]

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey

Originally posted by: Jero
Leaving it alone =)

Will be recompiling the kernel for i686 though!

I'm not sure how much this affects the kernel, but I'd be looking more towards crypto stuff. OpenSSL can get a noticable improvement with decent optimizations/targets.

I'm not sure I understand you....

first you say that leaving it to i386 wouldn't make that much of a difference...

and now you are saying it will?

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: Jero

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey

Originally posted by: Jero
Leaving it alone =)

Will be recompiling the kernel for i686 though!

I'm not sure how much this affects the kernel, but I'd be looking more towards crypto stuff. OpenSSL can get a noticable improvement with decent optimizations/targets.

I'm not sure I understand you....

first you say that leaving it to i386 wouldn't make that much of a difference...

and now you are saying it will?

I've highlighted the word in my original post (quoted below for convenience) that is the most important for this situation:

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
i386 binaries will work on any 386s or above x86 processor. i386 specifications(?) probably get the most testing in gcc, so I'd be a bit leary setting it to anything else. Also, the benefits of setting it to anything else for most binaries is close to nil.

EDIT: To further quality this, many cryptography related programs can benefit from the extra instructions in more modern processors. Other large programs (I think mysql is an example) can benefit to varying degrees, but I can't remember how much (benchmarks were on an ultrasparc 5 anyhow, so it might not matter as much on ix86 systems).

 

[Nothinman]

Compiling everything all the time (i.e. Gentoo) is a waste of time...

 

[Hyperblaze]

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey

Originally posted by: Jero

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey

Originally posted by: Jero
Leaving it alone =)

Will be recompiling the kernel for i686 though!

I'm not sure how much this affects the kernel, but I'd be looking more towards crypto stuff. OpenSSL can get a noticable improvement with decent optimizations/targets.

I'm not sure I understand you....

first you say that leaving it to i386 wouldn't make that much of a difference...

and now you are saying it will?

I've highlighted the word in my original post (quoted below for convenience) that is the most important for this situation:

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
i386 binaries will work on any 386s or above x86 processor. i386 specifications(?) probably get the most testing in gcc, so I'd be a bit leary setting it to anything else. Also, the benefits of setting it to anything else for most binaries is close to nil.

EDIT: To further quality this, many cryptography related programs can benefit from the extra instructions in more modern processors. Other large programs (I think mysql is an example) can benefit to varying degrees, but I can't remember how much (benchmarks were on an ultrasparc 5 anyhow, so it might not matter as much on ix86 systems).

/me smacks self....

I tell ya, ass-u-me ing things just gets you in trouble

 

[Hyperblaze]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
Compiling everything all the time (i.e. Gentoo) is a waste of time...

which is why you only compile everything ONCE.

 

[Nothinman]

which is why you only compile everything ONCE.

So you never plan on updating your system?

 

[Hyperblaze]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

which is why you only compile everything ONCE.

So you never plan on updating your system?

let me stress the word 'everything'

Of course you update your system on a regular basis...

but you only need to compile 'everything' once

then you compile things as need be.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
Compiling everything all the time (i.e. Gentoo) is a waste of time...

I don't mind so much. I can have my OpenBSD systems recompiling everything while still working on other stuff. I used to do it all the time.

Of course, I try to use binary snapshots now because I'm lazy.

 

[Nothinman]

let me stress the word 'everything'

Of course you update your system on a regular basis...

but you only need to compile 'everything' once

then you compile things as need be.

That doesn't make it any less pointless.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

let me stress the word 'everything'

Of course you update your system on a regular basis...

but you only need to compile 'everything' once

then you compile things as need be.

That doesn't make it any less pointless.

Somebody's gotta do it.

 

[silverpig]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

let me stress the word 'everything'

Of course you update your system on a regular basis...

but you only need to compile 'everything' once

then you compile things as need be.

That doesn't make it any less pointless.

And building a pc of your own is pointless when you can just go to the store and buy a compaq...

A dog licking it's own balls is pointless, but he does it cause he can.

 

[Sunner]

Just set it to i686.
I ran Gentoo with that config for some time, never ran into any problems, I'd say i686 is more than mature enough to be a target for your avarge workstation these days.

As for the reasons to run Gentoo, if you only want it for speed(or rather, the perceived speed gain) it's pointless.
Gentoo does come with other nice things though, if you want those, it's a good distro.

 

[Nothinman]

Somebody's gotta do it.

Yes, auto-builders. Having every user build the same package for no reason is a waste of time.

And building a pc of your own is pointless when you can just go to the store and buy a compaq...

To start out maybe, but after that it's much cheaper to just buy replacement parts when you need to. And it's not really comparable, building packages from source gets you nearly (I would say within 99%) the same package that you would get from a binary one, buildilng your own PC can get you a radically different box compared to what HP or Dell offer.

A dog licking it's own balls is pointless, but he does it cause he can.

He does it because he doesn't shower, not because they taste good.