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Date:      Tue, 10 Oct 1995 19:18:22 +0100
From:      se@zpr.uni-koeln.de (Stefan Esser)
To:        Steven Wallace <swallace@ece.uci.edu>
Cc:        current@freebsd.org
Subject:   emul dir mount point (Was: Re: cvs commit: src/sys/i386/ibcs2 ibcs2_ioctl.h ibcs2_ipc.h)
Message-ID:  <199510101818.AA09554@Sysiphos>
In-Reply-To: Steven Wallace <swallace@ece.uci.edu> "Re: cvs commit: src/sys/i386/ibcs2 ibcs2_ioctl.h ibcs2_ipc.h ibcs2_isc_syscall.h ibcs2_isc_sysent.c ..." (Oct 10, 10:48)

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On Oct 10, 10:48, Steven Wallace wrote:
} Subject: Re: cvs commit: src/sys/i386/ibcs2 ibcs2_ioctl.h ibcs2_ipc.h ibcs
} > On Oct 10,  0:59, Steven Wallace wrote:

} > But I think that the the emulation libraries and binaries
} > should be put in a directory below /usr, not in /emul ...
} > 
} Yeah, just do a symbolic link into /usr.  I think it is better to
} leave it as root because you could mount a linux or sysv partition
} into /compat/xxx w/o having to depend on /usr.

Well, yes, I did this ...

And I understand the reasons you state ...


But I started with just the minimum set of Linux libraries 
(to try the Doom demo, since I just couldn't believe it :)
and later unpacked a complete XFree library directory to 
get all the libraries since I wanted to run some large 
package that is distributed as a binary for Linux only ...

Only then I noticed that all these Linux libraries consume 
disk space :) and thought about moving them to a better place.


Expecting the "naive" user to first create a symbolic link
seems to contradict the principle of least surprise.

I don't see, why you couldn't mount a Linux or SysV partition 
under /usr. I would not want to do it without reason, but I
guess that people who can enter the mount into fstab at all,
are well aware of the consequences of a hierarchical mount.
(And since you'll never rely on anything from some compat 
directory before /usr has been mounted, there is no problem.)


And I doubt that simply mounting a System V /usr directory
under /compat/ibcs2 would result in all the required libraries
be made available, anyway. Last I lokked (it has been looong 
ago), there were files under /lib and /usr/lib, which both 
needed to show up under /compat/ibcs2 ...

This could be accomplished by mounting the SysV root under
/xxx/ and the /usr under /xxx/usr and have symbolic links 
to /xxx/lib/libc.a as well as /xxx/usr/lib/libpw.a and even
/xxx/usr/X11/lib/libXt.a in the /usr/emul/ibcs2/lib directory ...
(Which would hold copies of those files, if they are not 
accessed on some SysV partition ...)


For these reasons I'd vote for moving the contents of /compat
into /usr/emul (I liked the emul name a lot better, BTW :), 
and thus make it easy to install into these directories with
no need to prior create some symbolic link or ris running out 
of space on the root partition ...

I can deal with it either way, but I guess for the case some 
port is prepared, which combines some Linux binary with the 
necessary Linux shared libs, the /usr/emul concept will do 
the right thing anyway, and the /compat concept will result
in a full root partition :)


Regards, STefan

-- 
 Stefan Esser, Zentrum fuer Paralleles Rechnen		Tel:	+49 221 4706021
 Universitaet zu Koeln, Weyertal 80, 50931 Koeln	FAX:	+49 221 4705160
 ==============================================================================
 http://www.zpr.uni-koeln.de/staff/esser/esser.html	  <se@ZPR.Uni-Koeln.DE>



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