Re: [gentoo-amd64] Re: Firefox/Firefox-bin & Flash

[Frank Peters <frank.peters@comcast.net>]

On Thu, 9 Dec 2010 20:20:53 +0000 (UTC)
Duncan <1i5t5.duncan@cox.net> wrote:

> 
> Yes.  AFAIK, there's another 64-bit flash beta out.
> 
> But meanwhile, there's a problem with beta glibc and flash (both 32-bit 
> and 64-bit),

What boggles my mind is that after so many, many years this 32-bit
to 64-bit transition is still not complete.  The developers
of Flash, as highly paid ($$$) as they doubtless are, are quite
unable to modify their code to perform on modern hardware.
I recall that Sun java took a heck of a long time to go to 64-bit,
and unless I am mistaken there still is no 64-bit java plug-in.

It should not be that difficult.  In the C programming language,
only the size of pointers and certain integer types has been
changed.  Modification of software is straightforward and there
are even automated tools to assist in the job.

Flash probably has a lot of assembly language routines (I am
not at all privy to the code) but the original designers should
still be able to modify it with ease.

Unless I am missing some crucial information, this whole 32 to 64-bit
fiasco should have ended years ago.  We managed to build an atomic
bomb (Manhattan Project) from scratch in less than 3 years, but
a 64-bit Flash (as well as other software) probably won't be finalized
before an entire decade has elapsed. 

I really couldn't care less about Flash, but I would like to have
a 64-bit Foxit PDF reader.  Xpdf is a fine project, but it can't
fill in forms or annotate a document.

Frank Peters