Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!sdd.hp.com!caen!umich!sharkey!aucis!gillham From: gillham@andrews.edu (Andrew Gillham) Newsgroups: comp.os.minix Subject: Re: Message-ID: <673996083wkn20941@edmund.cs.andrews.edu> Date: 11 May 91 21:08:03 GMT References: <9864@star.cs.vu.nl> <9911@star.cs.vu.nl> Reply-To: gillham@edmund.cs.andrews.edu.UUCP (Andrew Gillham) Organization: Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan Lines: 39 In article <9911@star.cs.vu.nl> ast@cs.vu.nl (Andy Tanenbaum) writes: > >Maybe yes, maybe no. I don't care about how big the programs are when they >are in memory. What I care about is how big they are on the distribution >disks. If I have to include the library in every a.out, but the system >detects the existence of the shared library when the second program is >executed and links to it, there is no gain. If programs do not include >the library at all in their a.out's, and somehow magically find the library >when they are executed, then I suspect this will require linking to the >entire library, not just the routines that the individual program needs. >Having the entire library in memory (even 1 copy) on a 512K original XT >is likely to be a real hog. And then there is the complexity of the whole >thing :-( > >Andy Tanenbaum (ast@cs.vu.nl) Then why not distribute then in the compressed .s format? How many full executables would be needed to link the remainder? (programs that make the linker choke could be included whole) Enough to mkfs the hard-drive, copy over the libraries and linker, etc could be already linked, and the install program would simply setup the root file system and then install/link binaries and install the source, etc.. Maybe a basic floppy minix system with some additional utilities would be enough to install to the hard drive. A lot of /usr/bin wouldn't be necessary to install minix. Anyway, just some crazy thoughts... (and yes, I'm copyrighting this technique.. ;-) ) -Andrew -- =========================================================================== Andrew Gillham "High Ideals are weighed down by Andrews University the Anchors of Reality" (gillham@andrews.edu) - myself