Snow Leopard includes PowerPC code...

[Amdahl]

Bad news haters.

Even if you never 'install' Rosetta, PowerPC is still in yer system, slowin' U down.

That means the only reason Rosetta has to be 'installed' is probably to reduce their licensing costs to Transitive (now IBM).

Interestingly, there is some ppc in there:

$ file Foundation
Foundation: Mach-O universal binary with 3 architectures
Foundation (for architecture x86_64):	Mach-O 64-bit dynamically linked shared library x86_64
Foundation (for architecture i386):	Mach-O dynamically linked shared library i386
Foundation (for architecture ppc7400):	Mach-O dynamically linked shared library ppc

I'll probably install Rosetta eventually, I just don't need any PPC software at the moment.

 

[gr8tfly]

It's a library - how is it slowing the machine down when it's not executing?

I still have many PPC apps I'd hate to lose (I'm not holding on to old revisions either - for example, I have PS CS4). Why should I lose that capability for a few MB of resources? Doesn't make any sense and that's why Rosetta's still available. It doesn't do anything, unless you're executing a PPC application.

 

[Amdahl]

It's a library - how is it slowing the machine down when it's not executing?

I still have many PPC apps I'd hate to lose (I'm not holding on to old revisions either - for example, I have PS CS4). Why should I lose that capability for a few MB of resources? Doesn't make any sense and that's why Rosetta's still available. It doesn't do anything, unless you're executing a PPC application.

Yeah, I know. But some foolish people were claiming that PPC was 'slowing them down,' had to be dropped, and SL would finally free them from PPC.

 

[gr8tfly]

Yeah, I know. But some foolish people were claiming that PPC was 'slowing them down,' had to be dropped, and SL would finally free them from PPC.

Ah, I see. Another case of misusing a buzzword. I keep waiting for the "I want K64, 'cause I have to have it..." threads to slow down, but, alas...

 

[Ramashalanka]

Even if you never 'install' Rosetta, PowerPC is still in yer system, slowin' U down.

It couldn't be there because I upgraded from Leopard to Snow Leopard (rather than a clean install) could it? I would think that the Foundation.framework would be simply deleted and a new one copied over in the Snow Leopard upgrade process. I certainly haven't installed Rosetta (as the contents of my /private/var/db/dyld attest).

I'm not at all bothered, of course, just curious.

 

[devburke]

Yeah, I know. But some foolish people were claiming that PPC was 'slowing them down,' had to be dropped, and SL would finally free them from PPC.

Well it could be slowing them down in the sense that some software is still PPC only, meaning Intel users have to run it in Rosetta, which is slower than running it natively.

I had a version of an app with an annoying bug that was temporarily solved (until a bug fix came out) by running the PPC version of the app in Rosetta, and it was a lot slower.

It’s not that having Rosetta itself installed is slowing down the computer, it’s the need to use it that slows things down.

 

[Amdahl]

It couldn't be there because I upgraded from Leopard to Snow Leopard (rather than a clean install) could it? I would think that the Foundation.framework would be simply deleted and a new one copied over in the Snow Leopard upgrade process. I certainly haven't installed Rosetta (as the contents of my /private/var/db/dyld attest).

I'm not at all bothered, of course, just curious.

No, it is not there because you upgraded. If Apple did something like that, it would be stored in one of the other 'Versions'.

It’s not that having Rosetta itself installed is slowing down the computer, it’s the need to use it that slows things down.

You've made a distinction that many Mac users are incapable of comprehending. Many are convinced that there is PPC code in their computers, sucking away their vital fluids.

 

[lewis82]

You've made a distinction that many Mac users are incapable of comprehending. Many are convinced that there is PPC code in their computers, sucking away their vital fluids.

"How come there's still 32-bit code in 10.7? This is sooooo slowing down my machine!"

 

[Catfish_Man]

You've made a distinction that many Mac users are incapable of comprehending. Many are convinced that there is PPC code in their computers, sucking away their vital fluids.

Technically it means a switch table somewhere in dyld has one extra entry, slightly reducing locality of reference