RELEASE BLOCKER: Linux doesn't follow x86/x86-64 ABI wrt direction flag

[H. Peter Anvin]

Robert Dewar wrote:
> H.J. Lu wrote:
> 
>> So that is the bug in the Linux kernel. Since fixing kernel is much 
>> easier
>> than providing a workaround in compilers, I think kernel should be fixed
>> and no need for icc/gcc fix.
> 
> Fixing a bug in the Linux kernel is not "much easier". You are taking
> a purely engineering viewpoint, but life is not like that. There are
> lots of copies of Linux kernels around and in use. The issue is not
> fixing the kernel per se, it is propagating that change to all
> Linux kernels in use -- THAT'S another matter entirely, and is
> far far more difficult than making sure that a kernel fix is
> qualified and widely proopagated.
> 

Not really, it's just a matter of time.  Typical distro cycles are on 
the order of 3 years.

	-hpa