From owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Mon May 5 18:32:29 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id F05C21065672 for ; Mon, 5 May 2008 18:32:29 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from carl.shapiro@gmail.com) Received: from fg-out-1718.google.com (fg-out-1718.google.com [72.14.220.152]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 811718FC25 for ; Mon, 5 May 2008 18:32:29 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from carl.shapiro@gmail.com) Received: by fg-out-1718.google.com with SMTP id l26so1922966fgb.35 for ; Mon, 05 May 2008 11:32:29 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:received:received:message-id:date:from:to:subject:cc:in-reply-to:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:content-disposition:references; bh=bCL383adrzKOSqCBJTzCuvuOsxP/i4OkSkO6zsSYqRs=; b=lG7aRDv7SdWVjlTETv/syCy1FuC9mGSoZO/X63dWMSvR6cIUmupfRxhQveQwv2T5XU0qlDsM//BcVDnwiXYkd/XR+S/V7cyRAFtq+4NWgzsqq1W6H/aOiorOlKPlipvi5b7cHEIKNg4X3CJAyMkso9YcZT4ZqkmmTZnuhTAkbTo= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=message-id:date:from:to:subject:cc:in-reply-to:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:content-disposition:references; b=gJgGt/577DHhrjdg6u2goJ6xgdJr+ToElZxt71IPfFYBLaC9/8icDRuH17GFet8O8eSwbmCsDV9ZS0bYVndlPd4l1Ay7XoBfRI/dbuQQIVS3Eym2bKN0a4Y77YggMITgqHi148jZ5QVWxZm1iH2EM5Remcn/LKVUvssFBJbU6hM= Received: by 10.86.99.9 with SMTP id w9mr8419544fgb.6.1210012349180; Mon, 05 May 2008 11:32:29 -0700 (PDT) Received: by 10.86.63.12 with HTTP; Mon, 5 May 2008 11:32:29 -0700 (PDT) Message-ID: <4dcb5abd0805051132o77d68e36u3f0ad38630a02afd@mail.gmail.com> Date: Mon, 5 May 2008 11:32:29 -0700 From: "Carl Shapiro" To: "Kris Kennaway" In-Reply-To: <481F4EED.2030300@FreeBSD.org> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline References: <4dcb5abd0805050540m292b319aw52aa2cb8ba018e12@mail.gmail.com> <481F0DB3.9070505@FreeBSD.org> <481F48EE.3050806@elischer.org> <481F4EED.2030300@FreeBSD.org> Cc: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org, Julian Elischer Subject: Re: binary compatibility query X-BeenThere: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Technical Discussions relating to FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 05 May 2008 18:32:30 -0000 Kris & Julian Thank you for clarifiying the compatibility situation. This information was exactly what I was looking for. I have a follow-up question based on this remark... On 5/5/08, Kris Kennaway wrote: > Actually we don't attempt to keep this form of ABI compatibility (running > 6.3 binaries on 6.0, for example), because it basically precludes ever > adding new functions to libc within a branch, or new syscalls to the kernel. > You are correct that often binaries will not notice these accumulated > changes though, or can be carefully constructed to avoid them. If my binary only executes system calls indirectly through libc interfaces, as far as libc and libm are concerned, are new symbols the only thing I need to worry about? Carl