[x264-devel] cpu detection

[GoatZilla]

Hi there.

I've been having fun trying to use x264.

I wanted to test it out on some ARM machines, but they all bomb with
"illegal instruction".  A quick search shows that someone has deemed
non-NEON capable machines unworthy of proper CPU detection.

So, fine, I've got another x86 machine I can play with.  I hop over to Ubuntu...

...  Where they've compiled the default binary with --disable-asm
because x264 apparently wouldn't load on non-SSE machines.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/x264/+bug/550524?comments=all

Again, seemingly another "CPU detection" issue.

I have to ask:  why is x264 in the business of detecting CPU
capabilities in the first place?  I see there's code for this kind of
thing in x264.  And it's obviously broken if I can't get it to run on
ARM, and in order to get it to run on x86 you have to cripple it to
the point where it runs just as slow as on the ARM (if it were working
on ARM, that is)...  At which point I guess you could turn around and
say that performance is so bad on the architecture that you just
crippled that you can just say you're no longer actively supporting
chips as running x264 on it would be basically useless in the first
place, pat yourselves on the back, and be on your merry way.


Can't we just take the kernel's word for it?  If OS==Linux cat /proc/cpuinfo?