UB, Intel, and PPC Code

[pendragon]

The recent Acrobat Reader 8.0 has an Intel version and a PPC version. Ergo my question:

Is a UB version identical from the user’s perspective or is there a difference in the code, e.g, is a UB version merely the combination of the Intel code and PPC code, but bundled in one package? Or, is each somehow different? What advantages/disadvantages (other than size) are there for developing two different packages?

Why two versions (Intel & PPC) when one UB version will work?

[kbeartx]

My guess is that there is no difference in the Acrobat versions, but that Adobe decided to offer the specific versions to avoid confusing users.

They obviously failed at this goal in your case.

[Xairbusdriver]

My understanding: A "Universal" app is really two bundles of code and it's associated resources ( which may be usable by either code set ). Obviously, intel code will not run on a PPC chip and vice versa, thus the need for two code bundles. Since many of the 'resources' are just text or bits in a particular order, either PPC or intel code should be able to use them. Therefore, a Universal app will be larger than either a pure PPC app or a pure Intel app. But you don't need to worry about what's what as the OS on the machine you're using will always use the correct pieces ( it couldn't use the wrong pieces, if it tried, anyway ).

Remember that most 'apps' ar just a special kind of folder. You can see what's in there by using control-clicking the 'app' and selecting "Show contents". You'll probably see at least two folders in there, one PPC and one Intel.

If you know you won't be using the same app on different hardware, you can use Monolingual to strip away the non-functional pieces in the packages. The space you save may not be worth the effort the way drive sizes are increasing.

[pendragon]

guys-good info.

And, I suppose this is a consideration for some-

If one has an Intel machine, they may still prefer the UB version over a pure Intel version in that the UB version will run under Rosetta. This may be handy when the app has plug-ins and a desired plug-in is still in development.

[kps]

Considering Adobe apps like Photoshop, Illustrator, GoLive, Acrobat are large, complex and critical business apps for a large number of it's users, Adobe may be taking the correct approach in developing separate apps as opposed to clumping the code together. Just a thought.