Re: Lobby this, somebody
[I have taken the liberty of adding the relevant support address to the To
list]
On Wed, Jan 28, 1998 at 02:45:58PM +0200, Arto Astala wrote:
> We have a public relations problem here:
I don't know if _we_ are the ones having a public relations problem.
> which has spurred the following action:
> in OSS Linux page http://www.4front-tech.com/linux-x86.html
> there is the following note:
> > Debian Linux installation Notes:
> > The way how Debian handles kernel includes is seriously broken. The
> > only way to get OSS working is to make /usr/include/linux and
> > /usr/include/asm to be symbolic links to /usr/src/linux.
The way Debian handles kernel includes is seriously correct. If you use the
old symlink approach (/usr/include/{linux,asm}->/usr/src/linux) the
definitions of <linux/*.h> and <asm/*.h> can be different from those that
were used in the compilation of the C library. This can cause "interesting"
effects.
Here's the mini-FAQ distributed with our libc development package:
:Q1: Why does Debian's libc point the /usr/include/linux and
:/usr/include/asm symlinks to a specific kernel instead of using the
:standard convention of pointing them to the currently installed kernel?
:
:A1: Occasionally, changes in the kernel headers cause problems with the
:compilation of libc and of programs that use libc. To ensure that users
:are not affected by these problems, we configure libc to use the headers
:from a kernel that is known to work with libc.
:
:Q2: What if I want to compile a program that needs a feature from a later
:kernel than is used by libc?
:
:A2: In practice, most programs will not have this problem. However, when
:you do run across one, you can just use -I/usr/src/linux/include when
:compiling that specific program.
The old version of this FAQ had a quote from Linus on this issue (confirming
our solution). Feel free to contact the libc developers if you need further
confirmation.
Ray
--
POPULATION EXPLOSION Unique in human experience, an event which happened
yesterday but which everyone swears won't happen until tomorrow.
- The Hipcrime Vocab by Chad C. Mulligan
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