Goodbye, x86
miniSIPServer currently supports two major operating systems: Windows and Linux, as well as three hardware architectures: x86, x64 (x86_64 or amd64), and aarch64.
miniSIPServer for the Linux platform has been based on the x64 and aarch64 architectures since the day development began–all 64-bit versions. miniSIPServer for the Windows platform, however, has a longer history and carries a heavier historical burden: it was originally based on the x86 architecture and has long been a 32-bit version.
miniSIPServer’s target users are small and medium-sized businesses, so the 32-bit version is sufficient–there are no higher performance or memory requirements–and it has always worked well. Frankly speaking, we haven’t had much incentive to upgrade 64-bit versions of miniSIPServer for the Windows platforms.
However, 32-bit Windows systems are simply too old. Some of the toolchains and frameworks we use for development have abandoned (or are about to abandon) the x86 architecture one after another, so we will inevitably have to follow suit and abandon it as well. In addition, having both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of miniSIPServer creates a significant burden in terms of engineering management and project development. Simplifying the architecture will indeed allow us to better maintain versions and advance future software development work.
Therefore, aside from some minor features and optimizations, the most important change in the newly released miniSIPServer V80 is the abandonment of the x86 architecture. Whether on Windows or Linux, miniSIPServer will henceforth only offer 64-bit versions, primarily supporting the x64 and aarch64 architectures.
Other softwares–such as miniSIPPhone and miniDNServer–uses the same underlying software feature set, so they will also abandon support for the x86 architecture in the future and migrate entirely to 64-bit versions.
