Re: [PATCH] make uselib configurable (was Re: uselib() & 2.6.X?)

From: Adrian Bunk
Date: Wed Jan 12 2005 - 11:55:53 EST


On Tue, Jan 11, 2005 at 09:11:40PM -0800, Stephen Pollei wrote:
> On Tue, 2005-01-11 at 18:12, Barry K. Nathan wrote:
> > > There are more ancient system calls, like old_stat and oldolduname.
> > > Do we want separate options for each system call that is obsoleted?
>
> > A config option for each one would be a bit much, I'll agree. However,
> > I think having a single config option for the whole bunch would be a
> > good idea.
>
> > less controversial than trying to do all of the old syscalls now.
> Well the most controversial one-stop option could be a by date option.
> CONFIG_OBSOLETE_TIME could default to 199201 or whatever
>
> then you could then make things obsolete by wrapping them with
> #if CONFIG_OBSOLETE_TIME <= 199805
> /* old stat stuff */
> #endif
> #if CONFIG_OBSOLETE_TIME <= 200211
> /* old uname stuff */
> #endif
> #if CONFIG_OBSOLETE_TIME <= 200501
> /* uselib */
> #endif
>
> Then people could select with one option just to what extent they want
> to support old crufty stuff. So one person could go super lean and mean
> by choosing 200502 , while another could choose 200000 just to have
> things from this century. Most people could just leave it alone.

I don't see much value in this proposal - it would only cause confusion
for users.

Except for some obscure cases, every application compiled with any libc6
version is expected to work with even the most recent libc6.

OTOH, libc4/libc5 <-> libc6 is a natural border since support for older
libc's anyways requires extra support by the distribution.

cu
Adrian

--

"Is there not promise of rain?" Ling Tan asked suddenly out
of the darkness. There had been need of rain for many days.
"Only a promise," Lao Er said.
Pearl S. Buck - Dragon Seed

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