Subject: 1.0 issues: FSSTND compliance & preparation for a.out abolishment
Short Description ----------------- The default Linux binary format is to move to ELF. Most of the libraries and other support is already debianized, but uses non-standard locations. In the long term, we want users to be able to remove the a.out libraries, binutils etc, once all their binaries are ELF. Considerations -------------- - Eventually, we don't want users bothered with two sets of libaries. - Currently, the ELF libraries are in non-FSSTND compliant locations: under /usr/i486-linuxelf. This means that they cannot be used for packages like sysvinit, which are needed before /usr is available (/usr may be on a separate partition, see FSSTND). Proposal -------- - Make new packages for a.out libraries, binutils, gcc, efence that use a non-default location: /lib-a.out and /usr/i486-linux-a.out - Make new ELF packages for libraries, binutils, gcc, efence that use the FSSTND locations /lib and /usr, and which drop the -elf suffix. - Use 'Conflicts:' to prevent trouble. This makes the ELF packages (and therefore, 1.0) FSSTND compliant again, and makes compliation default to ELF. To be solved ------------ - The dpkg database does not distinguish between ELF and a.out binaries, so it cannot be used to decide if a.out-library removal is possible. Furthermore, users may have "unregistred" binaries e.g. in /usr/local. The best solution is probably to have a script using 'find' and 'file' to determine if the a.out libraries can be removed. Ray -- Cyberspace, a final frontier. These are the voyages of my messages, on a lightspeed mission to explore strange new systems and to boldly go where no data has gone before.
