>>"John" == John Goerzen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
John> Actually, this is incorrect. On platforms predating
John> FHS/FSSTND, /sbin was for statically-linked binaries --
John> versions of vital system tools (fsck, sh, etc) linked
John> statically for repair in an emergency. You may recall I have
John> advocated having a few statically-linked binaries in Debian
John> packages in the past.
Hmm. Well, I was there, before the FHS dasys. Indeed, from a
FAQ dating circa 1987 from good old Ultrix days (well, give or take a
couple of years), DEC called sbin for +system_ binaries -- programs
that could be required by an administrator to recover the system. ``A
number of them are also statically linked to aid in this process'',
it goes on to say. Indeed, there were two versions of ls -- a static,
minimal one in /sbin, and the full featured one in /usr/bin.
John> Anyway, I think the current situation is largely fine, although
John> I am still dismayed by the lack of statically-linked binaries
John> in /sbin.
If I recall corectly, the argument went that we had a rescue
disk, so we did not needto bloat / with bigger binaries. I note this
argument has weaknesses, in that one may not always have a rescue
disk handly, or one may need static binaries for remote work;
however, with sash statically linked, I am more or less satisfied
with the state of things.
manoj
--
"And it's so portable --- at least, it worked on every VAX that I
tried it on." Tim McDaniel ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) 6 Sep 90,
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Manoj Srivastava <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> <http://www.debian.org/%7Esrivasta/>
1024R/C7261095 print CB D9 F4 12 68 07 E4 05 CC 2D 27 12 1D F5 E8 6E
1024D/BF24424C print 4966 F272 D093 B493 410B 924B 21BA DABB BF24 424C
