[395] in SIPB_Linux_Development
Re: Slackware 1.1.2 and libc
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Greg Hudson)
Sat Feb 5 16:06:15 1994
To: Erik Nygren <nygren@MIT.EDU>
Cc: linux-dev@MIT.EDU, autumn@MIT.EDU
In-Reply-To: Your message of Sat, 05 Feb 94 15:41:57 -0500.
<9402052041.AA03291@pesto.MIT.EDU>
Date: Sat, 05 Feb 94 16:05:54 EST
From: Greg Hudson <ghudson@MIT.EDU>
> Which libc's should athena-linux development be done under. Most
> people are still using libc 4.4.4, so using the new 4.5.19 for
> building the packages would make it so that lots of people couldn't
> use them without upgrading. I am also not sure how good of in idea
> it would be for people to just blindly install 4.5.19. I may be
> wrong because I haven't tried it myself, but I've heard that some
> things built with libc 4.4.4 break under 4.5.x.
I think the answer for now is, "get someone to install it and see what
breaks." If no one else volunteers, I'll do it, since I don't have
much valuble data on my system yet.
The main problem is mh, which we don't want to have two versions of.
I've done a little bit of work trying to modify mh not to directly
play with stdio, but haven't finished it.
> Another reason to hold back with the new Slackware until we reach a
> decision: upgrading from old releases to newer releases is not
> really possible to do unless you do it by hand. Slackware may be
> great for a static distribution, but if you need to upgrade it,
> you're in trouble. Installing Slackware on top of an existing
> system is a very bad idea and will cause you lots of problems.
> I'm afraid that people may try to install over existing versions and
> then start screaming a few weeks later when things stop working.
I'm not too concerned about this; I think installing a system is
sufficiently unpleasant that people won't do it twice once they have a
working system.
Also, the situation won't get better any time soon. Debian is
supposed to be a readily upgradable distribution, but it's not ready
yet.
--GBH
