Re: Stop shipping static libraries for NetBSD

[der Mouse <mouse%Rodents-Montreal.ORG@localhost>]

>> nobody here is arguing for doing away with support for linking
>> dynamically.  Not even gwoods or me.
> I might, if pressed.  In an open-source world, dynamic linking offers
> a lot of liabilities and not very many benefits, and the chief
> benefit (reduced disk usage) is no longer very pertinent.

(a) It also offers the ability to change a library without needing to
relink everything that uses it.  The most dramatic example of this
would probably be a bugfix in libc.

(b) Don't be i386-centric; disk space is plenty pertinent on some
platforms.  I have a MicroVAX that I basically never use, and the
principal reason is that, between what disks I have and what Qbus disk
interfaces I have, I have only something like 0.2G of disk for it
(possibly less if the big disks have stopped working - it's been a
while since I tried them).  Unless and until someone comes up with a
Qbus IDE interface or a Qbus SCSI card drops into my lap, I can't see
this changing.  Anything that can shave off a few megabytes helps, in
situations like that.  (Not that I necessarily think our current
dynamic linker is the right way to save disk space.)

> Although I don't actually think the argument is strong enough to
> propose seriously.

Pity.  I'd certainly support it.  (Which, if history is any indication,
means it would be doomed....)

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