Re: What's Debian's /usr/src policy.
Hi,
>>"Christoph" == Christoph Lameter <chris@waterf.org> writes:
Christoph> I want to be able to change the kernel-headers a program is
Christoph> compiled with. Certain tools (especially in 2.1.X) are
Christoph> dependant on a certain kernel version. Nothing wrong with
Christoph> providing the default as 2.0.33 f.e. (why 32??).
Very few programs really need specific kernel headers. For the
few that do, use -I/usr/src/kernel-headers-2.0.33.
libc development package need to include files found in
kernel-sources to insulate most systems from the vagaries of bleeding
edge kernel sources (you *do* need to include these header files,
since one can't even include <errno.h> without having a valid
<linux/errno.h>)
There is a FAQ I seem to be posting continually arguing for
not having libc development use any old (or new, or random) kernel
headers; and libc5 did include a static set of kernel include files.
Unfortunately, the kernel header files are getting to be quite
architecture dependent, and hence if libc development packages
continued to include kernel headers explicitly, we would need
different headers for different architectures, resulting in
libc6-dev-i386, libc6-dev-m68k, et. al.
The current solution is to make the libc development package
depend on one particular, stable, well tested, *supported* kernel
headers, namely version 2.0.32, and let the kernel-headers package
handle architecture dependancies (which it had to anyway).
This is a working technical solution to having libc
development package contain/depend on a well known static set of
kernel headers (insulating the vast majority of programs that are not
closely tied to kernel version specific internal data structures),
while allowing the kernel headers to vary from architecture to
architecture, and still allowing device driver authors from having
any set of kernel headers they want on the machine through the simple
artifice of adding a -I flag to the compilation flags.
I think this solution works, and is an elegant solution. This
report should be closed.
manoj
who objects to purely aesthetic objections to excellent technical
solutions
ps. email me if you need to see the argument on why libc development
packages should depend on static set of debugged kernel headers.
--
"May your future be limited only by your dreams." Christa McAuliffe
Manoj Srivastava <srivasta@acm.org> <http://www.datasync.com/%7Esrivasta/>
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Manoj Srivastava <srivasta@acm.org> <http://www.datasync.com/%7Esrivasta/>
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