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Re: Intent To Split: netbase



>>"John" == John Goerzen <jgoerzen@progenylinux.com> 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 (mcdaniel@adi.com) 6 Sep 90,
 <MCDANIEL.90Sep6134938@dolphin.adi.com>
Manoj Srivastava   <srivasta@debian.org>  <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



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