> [Posted to both linux-kernel and linux-gcc, since a.out support is
> also part of the kernel.]
>
> Wrt the announcement of ld.so 1.9.2, which drops a.out support...
>
> I think it is of critical importance to continue a.out shared
> library support in SOME way.
Just to make a point, I just got ld.so 1.9.2, installed it
and happily played a game of doom (gawd does it look like wolf3d :) ).
So, your old binaries will still work because they will use /lib/ld.so
(which seems to be from 1.8.9 on my box). Installing ld.so 1.9.2 won't
touch that file at all. The elf loader is /lib/ld-linux.so.1.
It's the same as with libc, would you expect that compiling a new libc
as a.out would work? I wouldn't, supporting it in libc 5.x would be just
silly. Keeping bloat around would be silly especially when removing it
doesn't break anything.
(I hope this'll end this silly thread before it spreads too much.
Well, it actually it already _HAS_)
-- Pekka Pietikäinen, Net People Ltd., Oulu, Finland