Very Computer

There have been several discussions about the change from 'a.out'  
to ELF in the binary executable format.

_My_ experience:
After following with care the instructions in move_to_elf I
have successfully rised up an ELF based Linux system with no big
problem. (Thanks HJL) (linux-1.2.10, gcc-2.7.0, libc-5.1.2)

_My_ opinion:
ELF format is _much_ easier to use than a.out for developpers. I _never_
built an a.out shared library (will that space be occupied by some other
stuff ?? + 18 pages tech. manual to deal with... Sorry EY) however right
now I've built _many_ ELF shared libraries with no problem (svga, ImageMagick,
jpeg, tiff, termnet, ncurses, Xpm, Xaw3d, fvwm, _my own projects_, ... ).
That means only for ImageMagick a saving of 300-400Kb in each executable!

I think that this _big_ shift will give Linux full potential as
a _modern_ Un*x system (like DEC-OSF1, HP-UX, Univel, etc.)
Meanwhile if you want to run old a.out executables, keep
your old 'a.out' libs in /usr/i486-linuxaout/lib and tell 'ld.so'

_My_ advice:
If you are not used to deal with Makefiles and tools ..., wait till
Slackware, ... distribute an ELF based system. It is, by far, much
more simple to follow the installation menu than to build from
sources. (What are you waiting for, Patrick? :-) ) If you dare
though, be _extra_ careful, follow strictly all the instructions
in move_to_elf, and release-xxxx, and get last utilities (ld.so, libc,
gcc, binutils, libc++, etc ) And last but not least keep in mind that
ELF, right now, is more BETA than Linux itself!

Regards,
Manolo

BTW linux-1.3.3 _runs_ ELF!!! (But has some other bugs to * out!)

Quote:>_My_ opinion:
>ELF format is _much_ easier to use than a.out for developpers. I _never_
>built an a.out shared library (will that space be occupied by some other
>stuff ?? + 18 pages tech. manual to deal with... Sorry EY) however right

Best regards
    Joerg
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Joerg Pommnitz, ARTe Team, IBM Scientific Center Heidelberg, Germany


   Tel. : Germany (06221) 59 3609
   I'm not speeking for IBM in any way.

Quote:>_My_ advice:
>If you are not used to deal with Makefiles and tools ..., wait till
>Slackware, ... distribute an ELF based system. It is, by far, much
>more simple to follow the installation menu than to build from
>sources. (What are you waiting for, Patrick? :-) )

--
+--------------------------+--------------------------------------------------+
| Fug fug fug wug wug Hume | "Don't mess with the twin hitlers of SPACE!"     |

+--------------------------+--------------------------------------------------+

1) ELF binaries to be easily available on the net
2) ELF To become stable
3) Kernel's to compile cleanly under ELF

All of those are good reasons to wait, and I applaud Patrick for his
patience.

Of course, he may just be recompiling everything and having it take a
while ;-)

Erik

--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 "Eggheads unite!  You have nothing to lose but your yolks" - Adlai Stevenson