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Date:      Wed, 22 Apr 1998 00:16:38 -0600
From:      Nate Williams <nate@mt.sri.com>
To:        Peter Wemm <peter@netplex.com.au>
Cc:        freebsd-security@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Static vs. dynamic linking (was Re: Using MD5 insted of DES ...)
Message-ID:  <199804220616.AAA02036@mt.sri.com>
In-Reply-To: <199804220504.NAA01624@spinner.netplex.com.au>
References:  <199804211814.OAA23669@brain.zeus.leitch.com> <199804220504.NAA01624@spinner.netplex.com.au>

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Peter Wemm writes:
> FWIW, I'm a little amazed at the paranoia about dynamic linking.  I have
> *never* *ever* "lost" or damaged ld.so except through stupidity (made a
> mistake with a source change and caused an undefined symbol).  I have never
> lost or damaged libc.so except through stupidity (again, generally through
> normal development accidents with undefined symbols).

I have thwacked the snot out of my system by replacing libc.so to the
point that nothing except the static stuff in /bin|sbin worked.  It
doesn't happen too often, but when it does the only recourse was to use
the static stuff to recover, which I was able to do.

With dynamic programs, instead of having a single point of failure, you
have *many*.  ld.so, libc.so, potentially /var/run/ld.hints, etc...

There are too many variables plus the performance advantages of having a
static /bin/sh to even argue about the *minute* advantage of having a
completely dynamic system, vs. the hybrid we have now.


Nate

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