4 ms·

I'm not a big fan of how actually portable executable doubles down on x86-64. I think anyone really wanting to make run-anywhere executables that don't bind us

I'm not a big fan of how actually portable executable doubles down on x86-64. I think anyone really wanting to make run-anywhere executables that don't bind us to specific CPU architectures should consider something WASM based, like WASI on Wasmtime.

int_19h 4y ago
That requires a wasm runtime to be preinstalled everywhere. The beauty of APE is that it's just a valid executable file on all supported platforms - it doesn't have any dependencies or requirements.
- the_duke 4y ago
  Hopefully wasm will take off and a high quality wasm runtime (with JIT) will be pre-installed on every system, but we'll see if that happens.
  - wongarsu 4y ago
    The Java Runtime is pretty ubiquitous, so maybe compiling to Java bytecode would be a better approach for a "universal" executable, if runtimes are allowed.
    - jart 4y ago
      Just be sure to uninstall the browser toolbar Oracle bundled.
      - kaba0 4y ago
        Sun* And it has not been the case for close to a decade now.
    - int_19h 4y ago
      I haven't seen a PC with JRE installed in many years now.
- AgentME 4y ago
  Agreed, though I guess it's that I'm not too interested in the general use-case of generic independent executables that can run on any system by themselves, which APE is aimed at. It's probably good for me to be explicit that I'm interested in a more specific use-case that I think is shared by some people interested in very portable executables: where you have some application that contains redistributable plugins, and those plugins must be executable by the application on any OS/architecture that the application runs on and be sandboxable. WASM is very well-shaped for this specific use-case; it might be okay for the general independent-executable use-case if you embed a few small WASM interpreters or if your target platforms each include one (which seems increasingly reasonable on modern systems that have one because it's needed for the system webviews).

int_19h 4y ago

That requires a wasm runtime to be preinstalled everywhere. The beauty of APE is that it's just a valid executable file on all supported platforms - it doesn't have any dependencies or requirements.

the_duke 4y ago
Hopefully wasm will take off and a high quality wasm runtime (with JIT) will be pre-installed on every system, but we'll see if that happens.
- wongarsu 4y ago
  The Java Runtime is pretty ubiquitous, so maybe compiling to Java bytecode would be a better approach for a "universal" executable, if runtimes are allowed.
  - jart 4y ago
    Just be sure to uninstall the browser toolbar Oracle bundled.
    - kaba0 4y ago
      Sun* And it has not been the case for close to a decade now.
  - int_19h 4y ago
    I haven't seen a PC with JRE installed in many years now.
AgentME 4y ago
Agreed, though I guess it's that I'm not too interested in the general use-case of generic independent executables that can run on any system by themselves, which APE is aimed at. It's probably good for me to be explicit that I'm interested in a more specific use-case that I think is shared by some people interested in very portable executables: where you have some application that contains redistributable plugins, and those plugins must be executable by the application on any OS/architecture that the application runs on and be sandboxable. WASM is very well-shaped for this specific use-case; it might be okay for the general independent-executable use-case if you embed a few small WASM interpreters or if your target platforms each include one (which seems increasingly reasonable on modern systems that have one because it's needed for the system webviews).