| Index: native_client_sdk/src/doc/nacl-and-pnacl.rst
|
| diff --git a/native_client_sdk/src/doc/nacl-and-pnacl.rst b/native_client_sdk/src/doc/nacl-and-pnacl.rst
|
| index 2a0872b2b982af7ccf3b90e93bbfa5f8f4b5c656..7e9c2942016c9e1ead0066d86f3627d743f265e5 100644
|
| --- a/native_client_sdk/src/doc/nacl-and-pnacl.rst
|
| +++ b/native_client_sdk/src/doc/nacl-and-pnacl.rst
|
| @@ -24,8 +24,8 @@ web technologies, by running compiled C and C++ code at near-native speeds and
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| taking advantage of multiple cores with shared memory.
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|
|
| While Native Client provides operating system independence, it requires
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| -developers to generate architecture-specific executable modules
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| -(**nexe** modules) for each hardware platform. This is not only inconvenient
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| +developers to generate architecture-specific executable
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| +(**nexe**) modules for each hardware platform. This is not only inconvenient
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| for developers, but architecture-specific machine code is not portable and thus
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| not well-suited for the open web. The traditional method of application
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| distribution on the web is through a self-contained bundle of HTML, CSS,
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| @@ -44,15 +44,14 @@ PNaCl solves the portability problem by splitting the compilation process
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| into two parts:
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|
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| #. compiling the source code to a portable bitcode format, and
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| -#. translating the bitcode to a host-specific executable.
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| +#. translating the bitcode to a host-specific executable just before execution.
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|
|
| -PNaCl enables developers
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| -to distribute **portable executables** (**pexe** modules) that the hosting
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| -environment (e.g., the Chrome browser) can translate to native code before
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| -executing. This portability aligns Native Client with existing open web
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| -technologies such as JavaScript: A developer can distribute a **pexe**
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| -as part of an application (along with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript),
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| -and the user's machine is simply able to run it.
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| +PNaCl enables developers to distribute **portable executables** (**pexe**)
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| +modules that the hosting environment (in other words, the Chrome browser) can
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| +translate to native code before executing. This portability aligns Native Client
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| +with existing open web technologies such as JavaScript. A developer can
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| +distribute a **pexe** as part of an application (along with HTML, CSS, and
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| +JavaScript), and the user's machine is simply able to run it.
|
|
|
| With PNaCl, a developer generates a single **pexe** from source code,
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| rather than multiple platform-specific nexes. The **pexe** provides both
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| @@ -61,17 +60,12 @@ architecture-independent format, it does not suffer from the portability
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| problem described above. Future versions of hosting environments should
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| have no problem executing the **pexe**, even on new architectures.
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| Moreover, if an existing architecture is subsequently enhanced, the
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| -**pexe** doesn't even have to be recompiled---in some cases the
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| +**pexe** doesn't even have to be recompiled. In some cases the
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| client-side translation will automatically be able to take advantage of
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| -the new capabilities.
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| -
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| -**In short, PNaCl combines the portability of existing web technologies with
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| -the performance and security benefits of Native Client.**
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| -
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| -With the advent of PNaCl, the distribution restriction of Native Client
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| -can be lifted. Specifically, a **pexe** module can be part of any web
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| -application---it does not have to be distributed through the Chrome Web
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| -Store.
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| +the new capabilities. A **pexe** module can be part of any web
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| +application. It does not have to be distributed through the Chrome Web
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| +Store. In short, PNaCl combines the portability of existing web technologies
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| +with the performance and security benefits of Native Client.
|
|
|
| PNaCl is a new technology, and as such it still has a few limitations
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| as compared to NaCl. These limitations are described below.
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| @@ -107,14 +101,14 @@ The limitations below apply to the current release of PNaCl. If any of
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| these limitations are critical for your application, you should use
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| non-portable NaCl:
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|
|
| -* By its nature, PNaCl does not support architecture-specific
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| +* PNaCl does not support architecture-specific
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| instructions in an application (i.e., inline assembly), but tries to
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| offer high-performance portable equivalents. One such example is
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| PNaCl's :ref:`Portable SIMD Vectors <portable_simd_vectors>`.
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| -* Currently PNaCl only supports static linking with the ``newlib``
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| +* PNaCl only supports static linking with the ``newlib``
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| C standard library (the Native Client SDK provides a PNaCl port of
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| ``newlib``). Dynamic linking and ``glibc`` are not yet supported.
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| Work is under way to enable dynamic linking in future versions of PNaCl.
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| -* In the initial release, PNaCl does not support some GNU extensions
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| +* PNaCl does not support some GNU extensions
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| like taking the address of a label for computed ``goto``, or nested
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| functions.
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|
|