Should we only support arm64 for embedded linux arm platforms going forward?

[ofTheo]

One of the things that has made new releases and maintenance slow and tedious is the shear number of platforms OF is supporting.

As its been several years since our last release thought it would be good to see if we can fully transition from armv6 / armv7 to arm64 for embedded linux platforms like Raspberry Pi.

Rpi 3 and 4 support arm64. It will be a fair amount of work to get our build setup configured for arm64, so I am wondering if we can drop the other platforms? ie: if you want to use armv6 you have to use 0.11.2 but 0.12.0 and newer is arm64 only?

I know @dimitre has been trying out an arm64 PR here:
#7069 ( also a related issue #6770 )

Curious if people who use embedded devices more often have any thoughts?
@madelinegannon @patriciogonzalezvivo @roymacdonald @jvcleave

[dimitre]

100% about moving forward, supporting more recent configurations. Dropping everything that makes weight (like tvOS)
In the same train of thought I think next OF should be C++17 first, and some alternative if not possible. maybe drop boost?

[danoli3]

C++17 abi is a good idea requires all dependancies at the same abi though. Yeah basically boost is merged into c++17 anyways

[armadillu]

Yes, minimize clutter! You can always use an old release if for some reason you need arm32.

[danoli3]

arm64 for all platforms including windows

Drop armv6 / armv7 / i386 - 100%

[jvcleave]

As for the RPI I feel the same way as @armadillu

[danoli3]

Android will be the exception, need to support armv7 for that platform for sometime, however new cmake build systems make that easier

[steeley]

Yes arm64. Have been wanting to use 64 bit OF on Pi and similar. Use OF on Linux mostly, and quite a bit on OSX. Not interested in Windows or Android.

[autr]

ARM64, since Pi Zero (2) is now also that. Perhaps also some sort of Firmata example for the Pico.

I would like to help out - is there an effort underway, or yet to be decided?

[n1ckfg]

I'd be interested in hearing other folks' experiences, but I find each oF major version on Raspberry Pi has always required a corresponding new RPi OS version, and not all Pis can run all OS versions, so this doesn't break the pattern. imo the only catch is we need to warn people with RPi 2s specifically to check their CPU--that one was sold in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions.

[ofTheo]

Thanks @n1ckfg
Btw there is also some discussion and coordination happening on the raspberry-pi channel on Slack

[summerlotus513]

I am also interested in this issue.
I am using RT-Linux (including Xenomai and Preempt-RT). According to chip manufacturers, A7's real-time nature will be better than A35, and then 32-bit will be better than 64-bit systems. So in the case of real -time system, ARM32 will be better than ARM64?