Re: [gentoo-user] Dumb question

["Troy Curtis Jr" <troycurtisjr@gmail.com>]

On 10/10/06, Anthony E. Caudel <acaudel@gt.rr.com> wrote:
> I have been using Gentoo for more than 2 years now and have always
> wondered (but never asked - That's the "dumb" part) how Gentoo manages
> to update a package that happens to be running at the time.
>
> Given that the old version (the one running) is deleted, how does it
> manage to keep standing if you just cut its legs off?
>
> I've never seen this discussed anywhere which probably means everyone
> else already knows and are probably thinking to themselves, "Dumb question."
>
> Tony
> --
> Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary
> Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
>    -- Benjamin Franklin
> --
> gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
>
>

Simple and short answer is that at run-time the binary and libraries
are loaded into memory and run from there.  When you do the update it
replaces the binary and/or libraries on disk, but you won't actually
be running those updates until you restart the process.  There may be
other, more dynamic, cases that I am aware of, but that is the general
gist of it.

Troy
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