Re: dynamic linking
Len Budney <[email protected]>
| Newsgroups | gmane.comp.djb.package |
|---|---|
| Message-ID | <[email protected]> |
On Sun, 9 Jun 2002, (Paul Jarc) wrote: > > "D. J. Bernstein" <[email protected]> wrote: > > Here's the real question: What exactly is the value of shared libraries? > > Upgrades don't require recompilation of the calling code, unlike with > static libraries. That's surprisingly often false. Upgraded libraries break backward compatibility all the time. And package managers often resist installing software alongside newer-than-spec libraries. And configure scripts often refuse to compile against newer libraries. So library versions and software versions are very tightly coupled. > Structured data can be passed in and out, unlike with pipes between > separate programs, where parsing is needed. That's often false as well. Structures not containing pointers can be copied bitwise across a pipe. And shared memory can be used. And modularity often brings payoffs which offset the slight cost increase... --Len.