Suggestion: less drastic exclusion of x32 ABI binaries

Feedback Feature Request
1

For some time, Manjaro supported x32 binaries, but then it was removed completely by dropping the following kernel config line: CONFIG_X86_X32=y

For some applications (typically: pointer and garbage collection intensive), x32 reduces runtime significantly (e.g. by 20 %) and hence resources. Therefore, I would like to recommend the Debian approach. They add the above config line, but disable x32-use with CONFIG_X86_X32_DISABLED=y (probably to reduce complexity for security purposes). Users that rely on x32 binaries can just add syscall.x32=y on GRUB’s cmdline and use their x32 binaries again.

1 Like
2

To be honest, I agree that it is because the X32 ABI lacks compiled binaries and probably no container images are available.

3

But the relevant binaries might come from other Linux distributions (statically linked). You could use them with the suggested small change.

4

I found a workaround for some use cases. I installed the Liquorix kernel (see https://liquorix.net/) under Manjaro. This kernel supports x32 binaries - and reduces our energy bill as needed.