In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> you write: > I've just installed 0.93R6, and it appears that everything is in > a.out format. Is this correct?
Yup, Debian 0.93R6 was a.out, and the Debian 1.1 that's currently available for beta testing is all ELF. > I've downloaded some packages from non-free, like ncftp, seyon, and > xv. These, however, are in ELF format. E.g. > > [EMAIL PROTECTED]:561]% file xv > xv: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, version 1 > > But, it doesn't run: > > [EMAIL PROTECTED]:562]% xv > xv: can't load library 'libX11.so.6' > > Worse: > > [EMAIL PROTECTED]:563]% ldd xv > libX11.so.6 => not found > libm.so.5 => not found > libc.so.5 => not found > > I thought I just read that installing libc.so.5 was a nightmare. Is > this going to open a whole can of worms if I start installing these > packages (on my 0.93R6 system)? Is there an easy way to get these > ELF non-free packages running? Alternatively, are there a.out > versions of these packages available? >From the error messages you're getting, it looks like you've got ELF compiled into your kernel, but you don't have the libraries needed to run the programs. This is good: you are almost ready to run ELF binaries. Installing libc5 isn't too hard, and it shouldn't break existing things; after all, you're adding more functionality to your system, not less. The whole idea behind Debian's upgradeable packaging scheme is that you can make these changes without breaking your existing system. The easiest way to get these packages running is to install the newest aout dpkg, then install ldso, libc4, libc5, and xlib. For precise details, see Dale Sheetz' upgrading info document, and follow it until you have libc5 installed. Then install xlib. Away you go :) (You can upgrade the rest later, at your leisure.) Austin
