Date: Wed, 26 Jun 2002 18:46:42 -0700 (PDT) From: Roger Marquis <marquis@roble.com> To: security@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Legacy Static Linking (was: Security Advisory FreeBSD-SA-02:28.resolv) Message-ID: <20020626183519.F36946-100000@roble.com>
next in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
Robert Watson wrote: >You will catch most applications simply by rebuilding libc and >reinstalling. Unfortunately, some applications are statically linked, and >they must be individually relinked against the new libc and reinstalled. This makes a good case for doing away with static linking of system binaries. Why does FreeBSD have statically linked binaries? Static binaries were originally compiled because the libraries under /usr had to be mounted from a network filesystem or second disk and were not always available on boot. Since 1GB and larger SCSI hard drives became generally available (~1992) there has not been a compelling need to split /usr onto another disk/partition and, by extension, there has not been a real need for statically linked binaries. The track record of Unix and non-Unix operating systems which no longer ship with statically linked binaries is evidence they are no longer necessary. IMHO, -- Roger Marquis Roble Systems Consulting http://www.roble.com/ To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-security" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?20020626183519.F36946-100000>