On Thu, Oct 3, 2013 at 7:22 AM, Yitzchak Gale
Do GHC-compiled binaries have a dynamic dependence on libgmp? If so, what are the exact requirements we need to communicate to our customers? Does this limit what versions of Linux we can claim that our product supports?
Are there similar requirements and limitations regarding GNU Readline?
GHC uses static libraries for Haskell libraries, but the default (usually dynamic) system libraries for everything else (gmp, glibc, readline, zlib, etc.) unless you force static linking for everything. But on Linux, static linking means an exact glibc version dependency for anything involving plugins: mostly name service lookups (gethostbyname, user/group lookup, etc.). And even bundling glibc and its plugins to avoid this can run into conflicts with kernel APIs (often revealed as the program crashing immediately with a itimer error). glibc should almost always be dynamic. Ideally you would use `ldd` on binaries to determine other dynamic dependencies that must be communicated or provided; if necessary, you can arrange for only static versions of those libraries to be available at link time, but if the library uses plugins it will have the same issues that static linking glibc does. -- brandon s allbery kf8nh sine nomine associates allbery.b@gmail.com ballbery@sinenomine.net unix, openafs, kerberos, infrastructure, xmonad http://sinenomine.net