Re: The Kernel

[William T Wilson <fluffy@dunadan.com>]

On Wed, 21 Jan 1998, George Bonser wrote:

> Most put hooks in the Makefile to specify a destination. Many simlpy
> compile their binary in the src directory and allow the user to move the
> binary to where they will. 

Hooray.  What a valuable solution to the problem of nonstandardization:
Put up with it and let the user sort it out.  How many hours have I spent
editing makefiles and looking for libraries, to correct for the fact that
every version of Unix puts things in different places without regard to
versions or standards.

> any case, distributors are going to do what they want. We can SUGGEST a
> standard and offer packages that will install within that standard but we
> should not alienate those who feel they have too much invested in their

I am beginning to wonder what the point of the core is supposed to be
then?  We have this thing called the core, except that we don't specify
where the files are, nor what versions they are supposed to be, nor even
what the basic behavior of the kernel is.  It looks like the core boils
down to "Your average system probably ought to have libc installed, libm
would be helpful but isn't required". I don't see any value in this.