On Tue, 5 Nov 1996, Doug Ridgway wrote:
>
> Alan Cox wrote:
>
> > [ responding to someone else who wrote ]
>
> > > Are you using libc 5.4.x? If yes, I think it is the cause of the
> > > problem.
> > > Try to downgrade to 5.2.18
> >
> > DONT do this. Libc 5.4.x fixes many things, especially security. Instead
> > do the following (which is akin to how you make netscrap work on digital
> > unix 4 where the same problems occur)
> >
> > Unpack libc5.2.18 libc.so.5.2.18 into /usr/local/netscrap/lib. Move
> > netscape into /usr/local/netscrap/lib
> >
> > Add a new script 'netscape' that does
> >
> > export LD_PRELOAD=/usr/local/netscrap/lib/libc.so.5.2.18
> > exec /usr/local/netscrap/lib/netscape
> >
> > Now only netscrap uses the old buggy library and you don't inflict it on
> > the rest of your machine.
>
> As far as I understand it, it's just the malloc behavior which is a
> problem. Since you can recompile libc to use the old malloc (it's an
> explicit compile time choice you have to make), you can then use the the
> newest libc with everything without causing problems for Netscape's Java.
>
> A precompiled libc-5.3.12 with the old malloc is in rpm format at
> ftp://ftp.redhat.com/pub/contrib/RPMS/libc-gnumalloc-5.3.12-5.i386.rpm.
> (Install with --force. Why 5.3.12? That's what Red Hat ships these days.)
>
> I don't know of any programs broken by using the old malloc (I'd be glad
> to be told of exceptions), but people who prefer the new malloc for
> everything but Netscape can still use the script above to just load the
> gnumalloc libc for Netscape.
>
> doug.
>
> dridgway@ucsd.edu
>
+-----------------------+----------------------------------+
| Nathan Bryant | Resident Unix Geek |
| nathan@burgessinc.com | Burgess Business Solutions, Inc. |
+-----------------------+----------------------------------+