Re: [ANNOUNCE] util-linux-ng 2.13-rc1

From: Karel Zak
Date: Thu Jul 05 2007 - 17:30:41 EST


On Thu, Jul 05, 2007 at 12:41:59PM -0400, Mike Frysinger wrote:
> On Wednesday 04 July 2007, Christoph Hellwig wrote:
> > On Wed, Jul 04, 2007 at 12:11:56AM +0200, Karel Zak wrote:
> > > mount(8) doesn't include filesystem detection code anymore. You
> > > have to compile --with-fsprobe={blkid,volume_id}, and libblkid
> > > (e2fsprogs) or libvolume_id (udev >= v110) is required.
> >
> > Sorry, but it's really annoying to pull in a filesystem-specific devel
> > package for that. Having a library is fine, but please move the library
> > into util-linux so it's always available without another dependency.
>
> ugh, moving libraries which are already actively maintained by other core
> projects into util-linux is so not a good idea (ignoring the fact that it'd
> easily be a pita/waste for distro maintainers)

Yes. We have good experience with libblkid and libvolume_id. This
concept is nothing new (see current RHEL, FC, Suse, ...). The change
is that we've removed old, useless and unmaintained FS detection code
from util-linux.

I think move the library to util-linux is really bad idea. A better
idea is detach libblkid or libvolume_id (or both) from e2fsprogs/udev
and create an independent libfsprobe library and use everywhere
(e2fsprogs, udev, util-linux) this library only.

> > > The package build system is now based on autotools. The build system
> > > supports separate CFLAGS and LDFLAGS for suid programs (SUID_CFLAGS,
> > > SUID_LDFLAGS). For more details see the README file
> >
> > And this is really dumb. autotools is a completely pain in the ass and

Well, Adrian Bunk added autotools stuff to util-linux during his work
on v2.13. This stuff has been fixed and stabilized in util-linux-ng
v2.13.

I'm not fanatical autotools protagonist, but it seems useful in
util-linux. We will see...

I'm ready to change or fix arbitrary thing in util-linux-ng, but I
always need a real reason -- bug report, new feature, or so. This
discussion is about impressions and feelings only.

> > not useful at all for linux-only tools.
>
> incorrect. linux changes over time as does the kernel/libc/architecture
> api's. look at the old util-linux build system -- it had a crappy hand
> written configure script to try and detect all these different issues.

Right. The autotools provides more features that portability only.

Karel


--
Karel Zak <kzak@xxxxxxxxxx>
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