Windows emacs-25.1 i686 vs x86_64?

[David M. Miller]

When I went to download 25.1 for windows I saw two packages on the main GNU ftp server:

emacs-25.1-i686-w64-mingw32.zip
- AND -
emacs-25.1-x86_64-w64-mingw32.zip

but no explanation of the difference between them in the README file.

Also, there seems to be a separate package of "deps" for each:

emacs-25-i686-deps.zip
- AND -
emacs-25-x86_64-deps.zip

the need for which is also not explained anywhere (dependencies? dependencies for what?).

Does anyone know what the difference between the i686 and x86_64 packages are?
Does anyone know what the "deps" packages are for?

Thanks,
David

[David M. Miller]

After examining both main emacs packages, I think I figured out the obscure naming conventions: 'i686' refers to the 32-bit version, while 'x86_64' refers to the 64-bit version. So this answers my first question.

I have no intention of doing so, but I still wonder whether the "deps" package is intended for *BUILDING* emacs, or if it provides runtime binary support for some of the more obscure elisp facilities.