On Sep 23, Bob Nielsen wrote > I guess this confuses me even more! Are libc4, libc5 and libc6 completely > independent of each other, or are they versions of something which began > as "libc".
They are somewhat independent: libc4 is the Linux C library for use with the a.out format of binaries. (it is a heavily hacked version of GNU libc version one) libc5 is the Linux C library for use with the ELF binary format. licb6 is the GNU C library (version two) for use with the ELF binary format. The advantage: it is much cleaner designed & implemented, better for standards compliance (e.g. POSIX) but still includes the good stuff from Linux libc Although they share parts of their code, to a user they are more or less independent. > In either case, why would one want to compile for more than one at a time? We maintainers want to be able to compile code for libc5, so users of the current stable tree can get updates in case of security fixes and such. > I take it they are neither upward nor downward compatible. You have to distinguish between source and binary compatibility. There is no binary compatibility: you cannot run libc4 binary with libc5; you have to have libc4 installed on that system to. There is source compatibility (but not 100%): you can compile most well written C code with libc4, 5 and 6. HTH, Ray -- PATRIOTISM A great British writer once said that if he had to choose between betraying his country and betraying a friend he hoped he would have the decency to betray his country. - The Hipcrime Vocab by Chad C. Mulligan -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] .
