[Vm-dev] Re: [Pharo-dev] 32 bits and 64 bits VM

[David T. Lewis]

On Fri, May 16, 2014 at 04:52:14PM +0200, Esteban Lorenzano wrote:
>  
> I wonder how. 
> AFAIK different length of word will warranty that you cannot use most of the plugins (in the case you actually can compile the vm without made any change). 
> I know Dave made the interpreter vm compilable in 64bits, with a flag or something. But that not talks about the plugins (FFI, in particular, I do not think will work). 
> For compiling the stack/cog there are other problems, I think. I may be wrong, but even the StackVM will have some problems because registers change in 64bits. 
> ? or I?m having wrong assumptions, and it is easily feasible, but I do not think so. 
> 

Most of the plugins will work, although FFI is definitely an issue. A fix was available
at one time, but was never integrated:

  http://bugs.squeak.org/view.php?id=7237

FFI has changed a lot since then, so this fix is probably not useful any more. But
it may give some insight into the issues.

The plugins are pretty much the same in trunk and oscog, so if a plugin works
today on a 64-bit interpreter VM, then I expect that it also will work on Cog.

Dave