Bug#2697: symlink /usr/include/asm in libc5-dev
Hi,
Sorry about not letting this die out, but I have been thinking
about this issue since my last message. You say that you are going to
include both /usr/include/asm-i386 and /usr/include/linux in
libc5-dev now. (aside: which kernel do these come from?)
I guess the pro is that everybody's development environment
(wrt.headers, at least) is locked in, and one may be able to
predict/reproduce compilations since all header files are the same.
But then, if ever there is a new kernel (either a new debian
package, or something that the user picks up herself) which has an
improvement/modification of the kernel headers, then one can't use it
unless one blows away the two directories from libc5-dev, and
installs two new symlinks. Unless, of course, the libc-dev package is
synched with the kernel packages (bletch!).
The fact that it may be a newly uploaded kernel sources debian
package means that hacking away in /usr/include should not be
required (I mean, if you get your own kernel, maybe we could say you
are on your own, but a bona-fide debian user upgrading packages
should not have to hack in /usr/include).
Given the large number of people who upgrade their own
kernels, this is of concern anyway.
The fix is simple: on a debian system, at least one where the
include files are to be used, one is certain to have kernel-headers
(part of the includes or sources package, or whatever they are
currently called), so that ../src/linux/include/asm and
../src/linux/include/linux are guaranteed to be there. A depends
line can doubly ensure that, but we'll have to check circular
dependencies, though I doubt that kernel sources/headers depend on
libc-dev.
Poof. People can use whatevr kernel they want, libc-dev is no
longer synched with the includes/sources packages, and libc5-dev gets
smaller too.
Manoj
--
"Here's something to think about: How come you never see a headline
like `Psychic Wins Lottery.'" -- Comedian Jay Leno %%
Manoj Srivastava Systems Research Programmer, Project Pilgrim,
Phone: (413) 545-3918 A143B Lederle Graduate Research Center,
Fax: (413) 545-1249 University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003
<srivasta@pilgrim.umass.edu> <URL:http://www.pilgrim.umass.edu/%7Esrivasta/>
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