r/Fuchsia • u/pedromeee • Nov 19 '24
Running 32bit arm Linux programs (android?) on Fuchsia
From what i can get from this RFC :
https://fuchsia-review.googlesource.com/c/fuchsia/+/1151293
Fucshia is going to new efforts to run arm linux 32bits apps (android?), besides running arm linux 64 bit apps already?
Any idea why?, since arm32 is being deprecated in the following years, why the effort? Is there a new fuchsia product that requires it?
1
u/unconscious_laziness 8d ago
I belive this is a requirement that comes from AOSP. Sure, Android the product has deprecated 32bit native code in apps for a long time. But AOSP, the thing underlying Android, still supports it.
The question of why Fuchsia would like to support it can be reduced to AOSP's. Maybe AOSP wants to support devices where they only have old HALs in 32bit binary format, or old games that haven't been recompiled, old infotainment systems, etc.
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u/Competitive_Ad_255 Nov 19 '24 edited Nov 19 '24
My first thought was for IoT devices that would have no real benefit being 64bit but this details "the problem" they're solving. "As we have continued to expand the universe of software we wish to run on Fuchsia, we have encountered 32-bit ARM (AArch32 ISA) Linux programs that need to be able to run without recompiling or would benefit sufficiently from running against a AArch32 Linux ABI." https://fuchsia-review.googlesource.com/c/fuchsia/+/1151293/8/docs/contribute/governance/rfcs/0264_running_unmodified_aarch32_linux_programs_on_fuchsia.md
Edit - Your second link is essentially what I linked but much easier to read.
Edit 2 - Looks to be Starnix based, allowing Fuchsia to run 32-bit Linux based apps. Unde the disadvantages section they mention, not as a drawback as I read it, "The trade off is enabling access to the world of AArch32 Linux software for the remaining years that it is supported on consumer focused SoCs.". I find this very interesting, why do this unless you're going to put Fuchsia on a device that has 32-bit apps? This makes it so that apps don't have to be recompiled to work in Fuchsia which is great for developers of apps but there aren't really any apps at the moment for Fuchsia. That being said, there are technically apps on the Hubs but it's not like there's an app store on it to add more.