Re: config.sub pentium2 and pentiumii aliases (fwd)

[Joe Buck <jbuck at racerx dot synopsys dot com>]

>      > Some packages might want to make a distinction between exact CPU
>      > types.  GMP is one such package, where there has a very significant
>      > speed advantage,
...

> I believe that what is required is a carefully selected middle ground:
> sufficient granularity to be of use to most applications -- and to allow
> clone x86 CPUs to be grouped under, say, i686, and for anyone else really
> caring that much to perform their own specific tests as part of the
> configury.

I don't think that your middle ground approach is workable, as the
information provided will not be usable.  AMD's processors don't look like
"i686", they have different scheduling models and, to some extent,
different instructions.  That's why gcc has separate support for them.

(This is an argument for dropping the misleading term "i686", as it
suggests the availability of exact clones but there aren't any).

Seems to me only two things make sense: either generic ix86, or use the
same -m notation gcc uses.  If a program is going to use special
instructions, it had better only use instructions that are actually
available.