Hi all,

I've now posted a couple of RFC kernel patch series ([2], [1])
proposing the bulk of the Linux user/kernel ABI for the Scalable Vector
Extension (SVE) on AArch64.

There's an overview of the SVE architecture in [3] (no public specs
yet, though).

Since there are some impacts on ABI backwards compatiblity,
particularly due to enlargement of the signal frame (see [1] for more
detail), I wanted to open the discussion up to a wider group of
distro-oriented people.

The big unknown from my perspective is how much real-world software
will actually break if the signal frame grows, and what sort of
migration paths are feasible.  For now, I adopt the policy of making
things safe by default and providing a means for the distro maintainer
to override it -- but this may also slow adoption unnecessarily, if
hardly any software would break anyway.

People's experience and views on this kind of issue would be much
appreciated.

Cheers
---Dave


[1] [RFC PATCH 00/10] arm64/sve: Add userspace vector length control API
lists.infradead.org/pipermail/linux-arm-kernel/2017-January/478941.html

[2] [RFC PATCH 00/29] arm64: Scalable Vector Extension core support
http://lists.infradead.org/pipermail/linux-arm-kernel/2016-November/470507.html

[3] Technology Update: The Scalable Vector Extension (SVE) for the ARMv8-A 
architecture
https://www.community.arm.com/processors/b/blog/posts/technology-update-the-scalable-vector-extension-sve-for-the-armv8-a-architecture

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