The next release, will be or not will be i586? That's the question!
 

Like everyone can see, looking to Slackware-current ChangeLog, almost every new package is into ARCH i586.

Also, spectacular, very important packages like GCC suite, even BASH and util-linux are i586. Yet, some can argue that the Mother of All Packages, GLIBC, is still i486. Yes, but the changes are enough invasive to make Slackware current as Operating System to be unable to run in an ol'good i486 CPU.

So, my questions are if Slackware Team finally decided to jump in the i586 bandwagon and say goodbye to i486 World, and if the next release will be first of its kind, as an glorious Slackware i586?

To note that I'm not against this optimization movement, contrary, I salute that wise decision which I consider being thoughtfully for A.D. 2015.

Finally, please, Slackware Team, find a excuse and do an i586 (re)build for X.org and KDE4. That will do a significant "snappification" for KDE4, especially in systems driven by relatively old processors like a Pentium 4 on Socket 478...

The old guru sat on top of the mountain with his young pupil. The wise elder guru said to his student, "One must not wish for things youngling, for it is a mixed blessing!" The pupil asked the elder guru, "Master why should one not wish for things?" The great elder wise in his years turned and replied, "Wish in one hand, and take a dump in the other, but be forewarned my pupil, you may end up with a handful of crap faster than what you wished for."

My dear frenemy ReaperX7, you are kind to explain what connection is between subject of this thread and your gibberish?

The next release, who the hell still needs this i{3,4,5,6}86 junk? That's the question!

Cheers

Well, You can still buy motherboards with AMD Geode LX CPUs such as ALIX system boards for instance.
AMD Geode LX cpus are I586 cpu with one or two i686 instructions added.

i586 (pentium)
pentium-mmx
pentiumpro/i686 (year 1995)
pentium2
pentium3
pentium4

you have a pentium4, 5 Generation newer than you want, but you want compiler flags that target pre 1995 hardware.
why? just because?

i686 with one or two mmx/sse/3dnow features
not that it it important, even if it would be nice if some of the OLPC kids would start to play with Slackware

Most distros have been 686 for quite some time, (some also offered 486, but not many), but I would think that any machine older than a Pentium2 is dead, & most likely PII are too slow to perform anything but basic tasks.

Edit: My oldest machine is a 3GHz P4 with 1GB ram.

Take a look at Pat's note in the gcc.SlackBuild:

http://slackware.osuosl.org/slackwar...gcc.SlackBuild

Last year, I pulled out my 486 laptop to see if I could perform an update, but it was dead. It had been a bit of a novelty for being still usable for a recentish slackware. The caps must have finally gone after 20 years. Time to move on.

I have a first gen pentium laptop that is getting very nervous right now.

It means this: You can ask, but don't expect it. Patrick will make the decision to see if the architecture is in need of change.

486 is a simple baseline optimization, but it's done because there are a few people that may be using old hardware for low level things. You can use these old computers for things like file storage servers, routers, firewalls, print servers, and various other things that don't require a 64-core 64-bit CPU, 512GB RAM, RAID-10 array, beastmachina from the netherworld.

If you look at the packages optimized for 586 and 686, they are mainly aimed at desktop PC users mainly. Out of the box, the system is server ready even if it's a 486 based server.

They're changing as a package is updated or has been rebuilt for some other reason.
Will all packages be rebuilt just to build for i586? Highly unlikely.

So, in your opinion, as Insider, the next Slackware release will be something like a mix with i486 and i586 packages, which, guaranteed, need, at minimum, a i586 machine to work?

I think that's likely.

Sorry, my dear frenemy, looks like that you are read the ChangeLog some years ago, last time. I understand, you are busy with your FromScratch experiments, and you comment there from memories... ;)

So, I have news for you: bash, coreutils, utils-linux, etc..., even the LAMP stack are i586-zed right now. Slackware current can't run in a i486 machine, as server, anymore. Is i586-zed with no hope. :hattip:

In other hand, permit me to cite Our Dear Leader: the i486 is not a baseline optimization, IT is an Constraint.