* Re: [gentoo-dev] [RFC] new global useflags: static-libs and dbi
2009-10-11 10:40 [gentoo-dev] [RFC] new global useflags: static-libs and dbi Markus Meier
@ 2009-10-11 12:11 ` Robert Bradbury
0 siblings, 0 replies; 2+ messages in thread
From: Robert Bradbury @ 2009-10-11 12:11 UTC (permalink / raw
To: gentoo-dev
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On Sun, Oct 11, 2009 at 6:40 AM, Markus Meier <maekke@gentoo.org> wrote:
>
> I'm trying to clean up use.local.desc a bit, so here we go:
>
> static-libs (used 10 times):
> Build static libraries
>
> dbi (used 7 times):
> Enable dev-db/libdbi (database-independent abstraction layer) support
>
In my seemingly long running request for library rationality / maximal
usefulness, I would like to comment that a needed general trend is towards
*all* packages (at least nearly all) that use "configure" as it is commonly
distributed and install libraries in /usr/lib) should have a "static-libs"
build option which determines whether or not the configure option
"--enable-static" / "--disable-static" is used.
Gentoo systems have ~1000 static (.a) libraries in /usr/lib which on most
systems are *never* used. One could probably even get rid of the glibc
static libraries unless one is building the /bin, /sbin, /etc core and admin
programs in "static" mode. This is because almost all system programs use
the shared libraries (in spite of the delay it will generally impose on
program startup time) and the risk it imposes for fault tolerant system
operations (corrupt a disk block in a shared library and you may have to
re-install the entire system rather than simply rebuild a package).
Needless to say these libraries under normal conditions increase the size
of installs, download times for distributions and slow operations (by
increasing seek times on /usr).
Which is not to say that static libraries are useless. Indeed for creating
program images where one wants robust regression testing across versions
(e.g. browser evolution across years) or scientific programs where a static
image is essential for the verification or reproduction of results the
static libraries (and the building of static programs) is essential.
As the current gentoo release sits, libraries/packages are almost always
effectively configured as "--enable-static --enable-shared" [1]. The
problem with this is that for a majority of users they do not need
"--enable-static" and that for developers who would really like to build
static programs (see the above paragraph) that option is currently
unavailable [2] using the emerge process.
So this is my vote for improving this situation over time, esp. with respect
to adding "static-libs" to all of the X library ebuilds. The gradual
migration of the distributed system to a "-static-libs" state is highly
desirable as well.
I note, because I happen to have it handy, that Ubuntu, "as installed" is
almost completely in a "-static-libs" state with the exception of glibc
(i.e. only 20 .a files in /usr/lib).
Robert Bradbury
1. It is worth noting in my experience there is some variation across
packages as to what the "default" library build option is and one doesn't
know this unless one examines the configure file carefully or attempts to
build the packages (usually bypassing the emerge process) all 3 ways.
2. The most glaring example being the glib and gtk+ packages where the lack
of static libraries prevents the building of "static" programs, e.g.
firefox, chrome, etc. which use X windows.
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