Date: Fri, 02 Apr 1999 02:11:03 -0600 From: Jon Hamilton <hamilton@pobox.com> To: Greg Lehey <grog@lemis.com> Cc: mmercer@ipass.net, freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: removing a.out executables found in /usr/sbin? Message-ID: <19990402081104.C1DFB157@woodstock.monkey.net> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Fri, 02 Apr 1999 17:09:15 %2B0930." <19990402170915.E413@lemis.com>
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In message <19990402170915.E413@lemis.com>, Greg Lehey wrote:
} On Friday, 2 April 1999 at 1:30:54 -0600, Jon Hamilton wrote:
} >
} > In message <19990402132258.V413@lemis.com>, Greg Lehey wrote:
} >> On Thursday, 1 April 1999 at 22:17:01 -0500, Michael E. Mercer wrote:
} >>> Hello all,
} >>>
} >>> I have found a few executables in /usr/sbin that are
} >>> a.out format...(at least that is what the command 'file' is telling
} >>> me)
} >>>
} >>> Is it feasible to delete these files with no impact???
} >>
} >> That depends on whether you want to use them or not :-)
} >>
} >>> I would assume a 'make world' recompiled everything it needed
} >>> in ELF format, therefore any a.out format files would not be
} >>> needed?!?!?!
} >>
} >> I don't think they're from FreeBSD. If so, they would have been
} >> overwritten by new versions.
} >
} > Unless there _is_ no new version; /sbin/dset is a good example of
} > cruft that gets left behind after upgrading to 3.1, and there are
} > other examples as well.
}
} $ file /sbin/dset
} /sbin/dset: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, version 1 (FreeBSD), stat
} ically linked, stripped
$ uname -a
} FreeBSD freebie.lemis.com 4.0-CURRENT FreeBSD 4.0-CURRENT #135: Tue Mar 23 19
} :18:27 CST 1999 grog@freebie.lemis.com:/T/src/FREEBIE/src/sys/compile/FRE
} EBIE i386
Interesting.
$ file /sbin/dset
/sbin/dset: FreeBSD/i386 compact demand paged executable
$ uname -r
3.1-STABLE
Though I do notice checking the timestamp that it's recent, so it's
not an example of what I thought it was. I'll (sheepishly) refer
instead to /sbin/newlfs:
$ ls -l /sbin/newlfs
-r-xr-xr-x 1 bin bin 114688 May 22 1998 /sbin/newlfs
$ file /sbin/newlfs
/sbin/newlfs: FreeBSD/i386 compact demand paged executable
$ uname -r
3.1-STABLE
The newlfs (and related) code wound up in the CVS attic, and is no longer
built.
Quoting the newlfs(8) manpage:
BUGS
LFS does not currently work in any variant of FreeBSD and should
therefore not be used.
} I suspect this is one of the things that people moved from one
} directory to another (typically from /usr/bin to /bin or /usr/sbin to
} /sbin). I've looked at my oldest machine and found no /usr/sbin/dset,
This is likely another cause of this sort of thing, agreed. My point
(which I supported poorly) still stands though; there are examples
of cruft which gets left behind by FreeBSD as you upgrade it over time,
whether because it got moved to a different directory or wound up in the
attic and the binary (and man page) were never removed.
} but I did find a /usr/sbin/sysctl, which has been replaced with
} /sysctl. I consider this an obscenity to move things without warning
} people and without removing the old version on install,
I'd have to agree there.
--
Jon Hamilton
hamilton@pobox.com
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