MacPorts and x86_64?

[Joshua Root]

On 2009-6-25 04:50, Andre-John Mas wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> From what I read (accuracy of information can be disputed) we should
> expect Snow Leopard release in the third quater of this year. Taking
> this into account, I am curious to know when the general mandate is to
> 64-bit compilation and Snow Leopard? For example will all ports be
> encouraged to build 64-bit by default on Snow Leopard, or will it be
> whatever the port maintainer feels like?

I'm told that the compiler on Snow Leopard generates x86_64 binaries by
default. So with the current MacPorts code, that is what you'll get
(unless you build universal, or the port adds -arch flags itself).

The plan is to add a setting for the default target arch. MacPorts would
then attempt to always pass a -arch flag to the compiler (or -m32/-m64
for non-Apple compilers), and individual ports would need to make sure
that this is picked up by their build system if the default methods
don't suffice. The "sensible default" for this option would appear to be
x86_64 on Snow Leopard, and i386 or ppc on earlier OS releases according
to the hardware arch.

BTW, there is no question about accuracy. Barring large-scale disaster,
Snow Leopard *will* ship in September. :-)

- Josh