Re: Is Linux Unix?
on Fri, Jul 23, 2004 at 02:44:06PM -0700, Ryo Furue (furufuru@ccsr.u-tokyo.ac.jp) wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Since Kent West has kindly clarified what I wanted to say, I'm not going to
> repeat my main point. Only the following:
>
> Erik Steffl <steffl@bigfoot.com> wrote in message news:<2l4QK-4ZJ-3@gated-at.bofh.it>...
> [...]
> > about particular software (nptl thread library) not being available
> > for woody: why not install it yourself? just because it's not available
> > as debian package does not mean you cannot install it. I can imagine
> > that this might not be possible in all cases but in general this
> > approach solves lot of portability problems (from one linux
> > distro/version to another linux or even unix distro/version).
Please set you mailer to wrap at 72 characters.
> In fact I looked at the homepage of nptl. That was kind of scary to
> me :) The page says that you need to use a rather new kernel and libc.
> So, the installation of nptl would mean: Back up everything, learn how
> to build kernel since I've never done that before (my machine is
> dual-processor, and my kernel was built by another guy), learn how
> large an impact upgrading libc will mean, and so on. If I had a
> leisure few days, I might try. But, if I had a few days off, I'd
> rather spend the time away from the computer screen! I've had too
> much these days in front of my workstation.
Kernal building is somewhat daunting the first time you go through it,
but not entirely.
The Debian make-kpkg package both streamlines the process a lot, *and*
gives you a resulting kernel Debian package which you can then install
with dpkg and manage along with the rest of your Debian packages.
With a Debian packaged kernel, you'll also find that /boot contains, in
addition to images and system maps, the actual configuration file used
to _build_ the kernel. Which means that if you want to tweak your
configuration to suit your system, you can start from a known good
working configuration and remove unnecessary stuff (does anyone actually
use tokin', erm, Tolkein, erm, token ring?), and roll in the couple of
modules you actually need.
Yes, you can find yourself with some spectactularly nonfunctional
results, but if you leave your known good kernel in place, you just hit
reset and boot that. Presuming you're working locally (which helps, but
isn't essential).
> By the way, Intel compiler is really critical to my work. So, I'm
> sticking to version 7 of it, which is working. But, one day I will
> need to switch to version 8, because Intel won't fix bugs of version
> 7, let alone enhance its features. And, I don't expect the GNU
> Fortran 95 compiler will be even half as mature as the Intel compiler
> in a few years.
Here's a vague possibility.
UML, user-mode Linux, not the modeling language, allows you to run
multiple fully independent Linux systems on one box. You may still end
tripping over kernel dependencies, but everything *within* the
environment is fully in the clear. Too, with your compiler, you're
likely doing some fiddling with Intel-specific x86 microcode, which may
not be fully compatible either. But for large classes of needs, it's
sweet.
See also: xen, a virtual machine monitor.
Both are packaged for Debian in the standard archive.
Peace.
--
Karsten M. Self <karsten@linuxmafia.com> http://linuxmafia.com/~karsten
Ceterum censeo, Caldera delenda est.
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