> What is the purpose static linking ftp(1) ?
Imagine your system is really badly broken, for example ld.so or
libc.so got deleted or broken. Then you can still use the statically
linked tools in /bin and /sbin for repairs. But what if you need
to fetch more tools or replacement parts over the network?
Stuff like ssh(1), scp(1), sftp(1), lynx(1), even nc(1) is dead
in that case. But you can still use the static fsck(8) and mount(8)
to get /usr mounted and then use the static /usr/bin/ftp to fetch
stuff over the network. So chances are you don't need a "rescue CD"
or whatever for repairs. The rescue system is already contained in
the regular base system.
At least that's one advantage of a static ftp(1) binary,
there may be more.
For comparison, look at this nightmare on Linux:
schwarze@donnerwolke:~$ ldd `which sh`
linux-gate.so.1 => (0xb772e000)
libncurses.so.5 => /lib/libncurses.so.5 (0xb76e6000)
libdl.so.2 => /lib/i686/cmov/libdl.so.2 (0xb76e2000)
libc.so.6 => /lib/i686/cmov/libc.so.6 (0xb759a000)
/lib/ld-linux.so.2 (0xb772f000)
So when stuff is broken, you can't even start a shell any longer.
Yours,
Ingo
