[comp.unix.aix] dumb question: "32 bit clean"

rreiner@yunexus.YorkU.CA (Richard Reiner) (10/03/90)

AU/X will run MacOS applications iff they are "32 bit clean."  Noone
local has been able to tell me what this means, however.  Could some
kind soul help out?  In particular, can post-compilation processing
convert a non-32 bit clean app into a 32 bit clean one?  And what
proportion of today's off-the-shelf Mac software is 32 bit clean?

Thanks.

wilkins@jarthur.Claremont.EDU (Mark Wilkins) (10/03/90)

In article <15735@yunexus.YorkU.CA> rreiner@yunexus.YorkU.CA (Richard Reiner) writes:
>In particular, can post-compilation processing
>convert a non-32 bit clean app into a 32 bit clean one?  And what
>proportion of today's off-the-shelf Mac software is 32 bit clean

  a) No, a 32-bit dirty app stays so forever until recompiled or patched
with a patch tailored to the application.

  b) I've run my system using 7.0a9 in 32-bit mode for several weeks at a
time.  I'd say about 4/5 of the available apps are 32-bit clean, including
Mathematica (thankfully!  And surprising because of Mathematica's design).

  However, I've not found a 32-bit clean word processor, or at least I
haven't found a word processor which doesn't bomb in 32-bit mode.  The only
exception is MacWrite II, which doesn't seem to crash unless you print
something.

-- Mark Wilkins
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woan@peyote.cactus.org (Ronald S. Woan) (10/03/90)

Unbelievable! An AU/X question in the AIX newsgroup... Hmmm... 32-bit
clean... Double word alignment? Addressing modes.... Hmmm...

				Sigh, too much wasted bandwidth for one day,
				Ron
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