> The same thing which happens right now if you install from any recent
> (read ELF-based) distribution and don't install the optional a.out
> libraries. Presumably the distribtion maintainers are intelligent to
> include an a.out-capable loader and dynamic linker along with things
> like an a.out libc. So, with a new distribution that ships with ld.so
> 1.9.2 both the problem and solution will be the same as they are now.
> IMHO the discontinuation of support for a.out in ld.so is no different
> than the discontinuation of development of a.out libc. It simply
> means that a.out binaries will not be able to take advantage of any
> improvements (including bug fixes) that are made in newer libraries.
> The bigest complication (again IMHO) is the necessity of keeping both
> old and new versions in /lib.
Actually, the only real concern is probably ldconfig, since ldconfig
*is* used by both the a.out and the ELF shared library system. As
long as ldconfig doesn't break on a.out libraries, everything should
be just hunky-dory with distributors sticking /lib/ld.so etc in their
a.out compatibility package.
-hpa
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