The result is quite impressive: what I have built so far fits on a
single 1GB drive with room to spare (and that includes all the
sources!). In fact, not counting the sources on that drive, the
system takes up about 252MB of disk space. Of course, this is not a
complete installation (e.g., TeX has not been built yet), but it does
include your basic X11 system, Emacs, etc. As more X binaries are
built, the disk-space saved due to shared libraries will become even
more significant.
So what's the point of this announcement? Well, if you're a
distributor, this is probably a good point to start switching to
glibc/ELF. To avoid painful experiences, it may be better for
"end-users" to wait for such a distribution to arrive. The reason for
this is two-fold. First, upgrading incrementally is difficult because
the include files changed completely and because several important
system files changed their file format (e.g., utmp, I think the
timezone file may be different, too). Second, some key tools needed
to build the ELF/glibc system are based on pre-releases which cannot
be made available widely. But for those that want ELF/glibc really
bad and _now_, feel free to join the axplinux-libc@azstarnet.com
majordomo mailing list and get it going yourself. As I said in an
earlier mail: be prepared for more than a weekend's worth of
work... ;-)
Some credit to the giants on whose shoulders this effort rests:
First, and foremost, thank Richard Henderson and Eric Youngdale for
their excellent ELF, dynamic-linker, and binutils work (and everything
else I forgot to mention).
As for glibc, Roland McGrath (FSF) and Ulrich Drepper (Cygnus) have
done a tremendous job in fixing bugs and bringing glibc up to snuff.
They also have been very patient in dealing with my constant prodding
and pushing. That alone should speak volumes... :-))
Last but not least, much thanks to DEC Semiconductor for being so
generous in supporting Linux/Alpha development. Having a machine that
builds stuff faster than I can reach for a cup of coffee helps a lot
in keeping caffeine at a non-lethal level... ;-)
If you want to get serious about moving to glibc/ELF, it's best to
discuss the details on axplinux-libc@azstarnet.com. A README file
with some initial instructions is at:
ftp://ftp.azstarnet.com/pub/linux/axp/glibc/README
Enjoy,
--david