Re: High UID support for Linux

david parsons (o.r.c@p.e.l.l.p.o.r.t.l.a.n.d.o.r.u.s)
25 Nov 1998 10:55:09 -0800

In article <linux.kernel.73g7cg$1dr$1@palladium.transmeta.com>,
H. Peter Anvin <hpa@transmeta.com> wrote:
>Followup to: <73evlu$830@pell.pell.portland.or.us>
>By author: o.r.c@p.e.l.l.p.o.r.t.l.a.n.d.o.r.u.s (david parsons)
>In newsgroup: linux.dev.kernel
>
>[When uid_t and gid_t change, it will be useless for libc4/5 users]
>
>>
>> Unless, of course, they rewrite libc to take advantage of these new
>> system calls.
>>
>
>Not that easy... the datatypes themselves would have to change, which
>means the old binaries would be useless.

I'm not so sure about that; elf compatability may be [1] a lost
cause, but since a.out uses jump tables, all I'd need to do is move
the entry points for the new library calls up past where the older
calls are. I'd guess it would bloat libc by 40 to 50k (ick) to
thread the new calls into the existing library, but it's still
a very small library.

>And at that point, they
>might as well just switch to glibc.

Get back to me when an a.out glibc that can fit on an install
floppy is written [2].

[1: and probably is.]
[2: libc 4.8.0 is 412 blocks long; if glibc is clocking in at
that size range, please let me know.]

____
david parsons \bi/ The last of the a.out distributions.
\/

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