Date: Thu, 31 Jul 1997 10:54:17 -0400 (EDT) From: "Michael R. Rudel" <mrr@aerosmith.dyn.ml.org> To: Tim Liddelow <TLiddelow@cybec.com.au> Cc: "Jordan K. Hubbard" <jkh@time.cdrom.com>, Chuck Robey <chuckr@glue.umd.edu>, FreeBSD current <freebsd-current@freefall.FreeBSD.org> Subject: Re: core group topics Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.96.970731105228.23430A-100000@aerosmith.dyn.ml.org> In-Reply-To: <33E04610.81C2C2EC@cybec.com.au>
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On Thu, 31 Jul 1997, Tim Liddelow wrote:
> Jordan K. Hubbard wrote:
> >
> > Erm, "none excepting inertia and fear of chaos, confusion, shock and
> > increased entropy all around." :) Inflicting another ABI on our user
> > base, one which will result in a new class of packages which all older
> > FreeBSD releases cannot run, is NOT something to be considered
> > lightly.
> >
> > Jordan
>
> It doesn't have to be _that_ hard. The Linux camp did the dual ABI
> thing for quite a while. Sure - the transition wasn't all beer and
> skittles but they did it. And they're reaping the rewards (see
> previous postings) for it.
>
> Another thing - so what if OLDER FreeBSD releases can't run the ELF
> packages ? You have symlinks for packages for a certain release,
> right ? There's no way if I am running FreeBSD 4.0 (ELF) that I would
> try to add an a.out package. And vise versa. OLDER FreeBSD releases
> will continue to use the a.out packages. New packages would have
> to be made for both 2.1.7.x release(s) and the newer ELF release.
Well, new FreeBSD realeses will be able to run both ELF and a.out,
correct? So, really, as long as people running an old release don't try to
grab packages for a new release, this should work fine. We could really
stress the fact that, when the ELF release comes up, people -NEED- to
upgrade, as this will (and, IMO, 3.0 always has been) a major milestone.
>
> Noone is suggesting there aren't going to be hurdles. What has
> to be considered is the cost in remaining a.out, and the advantages
> of ELF in the longer term.
>
> We rely on third party (GNU) software that supports ELF "out of the
> box". If we continue down the a.out path for too long, we risk
> obscurity in terms of language support, etc. When gcc 2.8 comes
> out (fingers crossed) will it support a.out correctly ? C++
> support on FreeBSD is something that really interests/concerns me.
> FreeBSD plugs itself as a great networking/internet server. What
> about a development box ? ELF is great for development - e.g. Java,
> C++, etc.
>
> Just my $0.02.
>
> Tim.
>
--
Michael R. Rudel -=- FreeBSD: There are no limits -=- mrr@aerosmith.dyn.ml.org
FreeBSD aerosmith.dyn.ml.org 3.0-CURRENT
PGP Key Block: finger mrrpgp@aerosmith.dyn.ml.org
When you are born your afraid of the darkness ...
Then your afraid of the light ...
I'm not afraid when I dance with my shadows ...
This time I'm gonna get it right ...
-- Aerosmith: Taste of India
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