Baslinux mailing list

[sindi keesan <keesan2 AT cyberspace.org>]

Re wanting a later library to run later precompiled programs:
> 
> Which?  If you want to run the very latest version, then
> yes you may need glibc 2.3 for some.  However, if you go
> back a year or two, you will usually find an earlier version
> that works just fine with 2.1.

I think Lynx 2.8.4 is the first version that supports Unicode and it is
available only for a later library.  New versions of things are not always
just bigger, sometimes they are even better.  

> 
> > I put someone to the trouble of installing Slackware 7.1 
> > from CD with the old library so that someone else could 
> > compile Kermit 
> 
> I'm sure that older Kermit binaries are available that work 
> with glibc 2.1.  Kermit has been around for ages.  Or, instead 
> of "putting people to the trouble" of making binaries for you, 
> you could simply compile your own binary from the source code.

Where might they be available?  I downloaded three Kermit for Slackware
7.x files (20 min download each) and they ALL needed glibc6 2.2.x.
I would have no idea where to find a later Lynx for this older library.

As I noted before, the 100M of files (the compressed versions of which
would be downloaded at 5M per hour) needed to compile things would occupy
a lot more space on my computer than an upgraded library.  Sometimes I
prefer to do things the easier way.  Upgrading the library sounds faster
and easier than installing and learning to use a compiler.

Maybe the rest of you are viewing basiclinux as a challenge - how to get
the 2.1.3 library to work with all the programs you are interested in no
matter how much extra time and effort it takes.  The amount of disk space
taken up does not seem to be the issue here.  I like challenges, too, and
eventually I want to learn to compile, but for now I just want to be able
to find precompiled binaries that will work on my computer.  

> If you want to use the latest version of Kermit and the latest
> version of Lynx and the latest version of everything else, then
> you have two options:

I don't want to use the latest version of everything else, I just want to
be able to find precompiled binaries of programs that I have not been able
to find for Slackware 7.1.  

> (1) learn how to compile from source and make your own binaries,
> kernels, etc.  -or-

This will take up WAY more space than a newer library.  Some day.  

> (2)  use an up-to-date, "user-friendly" distribution that 
> provides pre-compiled packages for everything you want.

Nobody provides everything I want.  The 'user-friendly' Caldera and Redhat
distributions did not have most of what I installed on BL2 (the non-X
programs).  Debian has quite a few programs that Slackware does not, and
maybe there are versions for older Debians but I have not managed to find
them yet.  (Also I need to get the ar program to unpack Debian, I think
someone said it is in binutils.tgz).  

But my chances of finding what I want somewhere, precompiled, go up if I
upgrade the library. I will figure out how to do this somehow.  (I am
still hoping someone more knowledgeable will do it first and provide
complete beginner's instructions).

I find the 'user-friendly' distributions most unsuitable for how I want to
use Linux (I will go to great lengths to avoid guis and mice) and the
up-to-date ones are designed for new hardware.  They make a lot of
assumptions that don't hold for my case.

I really like basiclinux, and the philosophy of making Linux small, fast,
and efficient for use on older hardware, but I would like to be able to
use a greater variety of precompiled programs with it.  One of the nicest
things about Basiclinux is this mailing list, including all the
precompiled programs that other users are posting. 

I will report back if I succeed in a library upgrade.  

> 
> Cheers,
> Steven
> 
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