[NOISE] Caution! Netscape 2.0 and Linux
Hi all. Just a warning to steer clear of Netscape 2.0 on Linux. It can't resolve FQDNs, its distributed as a staticly linked a.out binary *AGAIN*, and I'm hearing lots of reports sitting here on IRC that it locks up R6 versions of XFree solid on a random basis. Not to mention that there is no java support yet for Linux, and the Java support in the Sun/Windows version of netscape is based on the new (and imcompatible with earlier versions) beta version of Java which sun pimped out to Netscape and won't release the source code too. The part about not resolving FQDNs might be an undocumented feature. The most secure transaction is one that doesn't take place at all. ;) Have fun, Christopher
Hi all.
Just a warning to steer clear of Netscape 2.0 on Linux. It can't resolve FQDNs, its distributed as a staticly linked a.out binary *AGAIN*, and I'm hearing lots of reports sitting here on IRC that it
It was released as a dynamically linked binary first, however gazillions of Linux users who didn't purchase Motif (and hence could not run Netscape 2.0 since it uses Motif), complained, and Netscape put up a statically linked version immediately.
locks up R6 versions of XFree solid on a random basis. Not to mention that there is no java support yet for Linux, and the Java support in the Sun/Windows version of netscape is based on the new (and imcompatible with earlier versions) beta version of Java which sun pimped out to Netscape and won't release the source code too.
No, the Java in Netscape 2.0 is Java BETA. The Java used in earlier versions was Java Alpha, and Sun explicitly said that the class hierarchy *would* change. The Java used in Netscape 2.0 is the same Java you get in SunSoft's Java development environment. -Ray
Just a warning to steer clear of Netscape 2.0 on Linux. It can't resolve FQDNs, its distributed as a staticly linked a.out binary *AGAIN*, and I'm hearing lots of reports sitting here on IRC that it
It was released as a dynamically linked binary first, however gazillions of Linux users who didn't purchase Motif (and hence could not run Netscape 2.0 since it uses Motif), complained, and Netscape put up a statically linked version immediately.
Releaseing an a.out binary without motif staticly linked is a dumb idea. There were approximately a dozen vendors of Motif for Linux, however none of their libraries were compatible as they could not afree on where the library should reside in memory and how much space to allocate for future additions to the libraries. Thats why the linux developers switched to ELF format binaries. Under ELF all symbol names are resolved at run-time so one man's motif will work just fine for everyone elf. Normally I would suggest that someone should drop the good people at netscape a hint that you can link Motif staticly without linking all of the X11 libraries staticly as well, except they are still producing a.out bins and since nobody has a.out libraries any more, making one dynamicly linked wouldn't do anyone any good.
that there is no java support yet for Linux, and the Java support in the Sun/Windows version of netscape is based on the new (and imcompatible with earlier versions) beta version of Java which sun pimped out to Netscape and won't release the source code too.
No, the Java in Netscape 2.0 is Java BETA. The Java used in earlier versions was Java Alpha, and Sun explicitly said that the class hierarchy *would* change. The Java used in Netscape 2.0 is the same Java you get in SunSoft's Java development environment.
I said it first, but you said it better. Netscape uses the Beta Java stuff, which is totally incomptible with the Alpha Java stuff. Nobody has the Beta java stuff except for Netscape because sun is refusing to release it to anyone else for the moment -- that means you can't get it at sun's site. Christopher
(I have no idea what this has to do with Cypherpunks, but...) Christopher J. Shaulis wrote:
Releaseing an a.out binary without motif staticly linked is a dumb idea.
It wasn't a dumb idea, it was a mistake :-) We didn't intend to do it.
Thats why the linux developers switched to ELF format binaries. Under ELF all symbol names are resolved at run-time so one man's motif will work just fine for everyone elf.
Even when ELF has taken over the Linux world, we will still be linking Motif statically because we can't count on everyone having it, and even if we could, we can't count on everyone having the same version. And if Motif is static, then the other X libs have to be static, because all versions of Motif won't interoperate with all versions of Xlib and Xt. (In particular, Motif 1.2.4 and X11R6 don't get along.)
Normally I would suggest that someone should drop the good people at netscape a hint that you can link Motif staticly without linking all of the X11 libraries staticly as well, except they are still producing a.out bins and since nobody has a.out libraries any more, making one dynamicly linked wouldn't do anyone any good.
If you can prove that "nobody has a.out libraries any more," we will stop distributing a.out binaries and start distributing ELF binaries. But we don't have the resources to build and test two Linux binaries, especially given that we don't sell the Linux version. So, given that we're only building one binary, my belief is that everyone will be able to run an a.out binary, and a much smaller number of people will be able to run an ELF binary. If you have numbers, I'd be happy to be proven wrong. -- Jamie Zawinski jwz@netscape.com http://www.netscape.com/people/jwz/ ``A signature isn't a return address, it is the ASCII equivalent of a black velvet clown painting; it's a rectangle of carets surrounding a quote from a literary giant of weeniedom like Heinlein or Dr. Who.'' -- Chris Maeda
participants (3)
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Christopher J. Shaulis -
Jamie Zawinski -
Ray Cromwell