Date: Thu, 9 Dec 1999 16:36:48 -0500 (EST) From: Chuck Robey <chuckr@picnic.mat.net> To: "Daniel C. Sobral" <dcs@newsguy.com> Cc: Motoyuki Konno <motoyuki@snipe.rim.or.jp>, current@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: why 'The legacy aout build' was removed from current ? Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.4.10.9912091632180.16082-100000@picnic.mat.net> In-Reply-To: <384F656B.52F01F9B@newsguy.com>
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On Thu, 9 Dec 1999, Daniel C. Sobral wrote: > Motoyuki Konno wrote: > > > > I think we don't need "a.out world" any more, but a.out support > > (a.out lib/shared lib, etc.) is still needed. Some commercial > > programs such as Netscape are in a.out only, so we still have to > > make a.out binaries. > > > > Please see Netscape plugin port (ports/www/flashplugin) to find > > out why we still have to need a.out support. > > Current is not a general use platform. And if we want them (third > party) to support FreeBSD-elf by the time 4.x becomes -stable, we > better lock them out of it *now*. > > The main reason for removing the legacy support is forcing people to > switch. This isn't taking the execution of aout binaries out, just stopping a world build. This is only going to stop 3rd party developers from making a 4.0 aout platform to create *more* aout binaries. They'll probably hang on for dear life on 2.2, just as long as they can. Looking at copious examples from real life, forcing 3rd party developers to upgrade is a good way to lose 3rd party developers. It just *sounds* like a good way to go. As long as this is a change for building world, and not making changes to the kern/imgact things (so we keep on executing aout binaries) then this is probably the best way to go. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chuck Robey | Interests include C programming, Electronics, 213 Lakeside Dr. Apt. T-1 | communications, and signal processing. Greenbelt, MD 20770 | I run picnic.mat.net: FreeBSD-current(i386) and (301) 220-2114 | jaunt.mat.net : FreeBSD-current(Alpha) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-current" in the body of the message
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