Subject: COMPAT_AOUT removal
To: None <>
From: Frank van der Linden <>
List: current-users
Date: 08/06/2000 23:47:50
I plan to remove COMPAT_AOUT in the following days. The reason is,
that it was originally added to provide a way for a.out binaries
to find their shared libraries, in a seperate place from the ELF
ones, that may have the same name.

However, because of the way that kernel compat code is structured,
this meant translating all filesystem name lookups to the
shadow tree (/emul/aout). This caused problems with things like
a.out shells, and emulations that used a.out (like running
BSD/OS binaries).

It will be replaced by an for a.out that will know where to find
the shared libraries (this will still be /emul/aout, so if you
copied the libs there during the a.out -> ELF transition, you
won't notice any change; a.out binaries will work as before).

I've heard from a few people that they were actually using the
COMPAT_AOUT side-effect of path translation for all lookups,
but I doubt that there are many people who do this. 

In other words, unless I hear from someone that a nuclear power
plant will melt down because of this, I'll do it on wednesday.

- Frank

Frank van der Linden                 
Quality NetBSD Sales, Support & Service.