cvs commit: src/lib/libc/locale utf8.c

[Rong-en Fan]

On 10/26/07, Ken Smith <kensmith at cse.buffalo.edu> wrote:
> On Thu, 2007-10-25 at 23:14 +0400, Andrey Chernov wrote:
> > On Thu, Oct 25, 2007 at 01:10:13PM -0600, Scott Long wrote:
> > >> Well, I think the problem is not exposing a new symbol by itself, but
> > >> __mb_sb_limit is being used in _ctype.h, in a form of __inline
> > >> functions.  Therefore, the change will break new binaries running on
> > >> older systems.  Personally I think this is acceptable, but maybe we
> > >> could have a better way to avoid this, because the binaries are no
> > >> longer backward compatible (i.e. you may have trouble running a program
> > >> compiled for 6.3-RELEASE on 6.2-RELEASE, if it uses locale bits).
> > >
> > > If this is true, then it directly violates the API/ABI compatability
> > > guidelines that were developed and agreed to by the project in 2005.
> >
> > We define only backward compatibility, not forward one. Do you f.e. expect
> > to run 7x binaries on 6x as is? At least compat7x required (if all syscall
> > are the same).
> >
>
> That's not what Scott was referring to.
>
> It's expected that 8.X binaries *may* not run on 7.X without compat
> libraries or something along those lines.  That said this sort of
> breakage is what I was hoping we could avoid having happen before 7.0
> was out the door (it's what I meant by asking people to be a bit
> conservative until we're done with 7.0) because it does tend to add to
> peoples' general frustration level at a time there is enough stress
> coming from other sources.
>
> What we need to try and avoid unless *absolutely* *necessary* is the
> part Scott quoted above - binaries compiled on 6.3-REL should work on
> 6.2-REL unless there was a really big issue and the solution to that
> issue required us to break that.  The reason is simple, people should be
> able to continue running 6.2-REL "for a while" and still be able to
> update their packages from packages-6-stable even after portmgr@ starts
> using a 6.3-REL base for the builds (I think they use RELENG_6 for the
> most part but I could be wrong).  And this sort of backwards
> compatibility is a big help to large sites that do things like have an
> NFS server where local software gets installed (we build stuff and stick
> it in /util/bin which is NFS mounted from one machine).  Its a big help
> running a site like this if all machines don't need to be at exactly the
> same OS rev as the server.

I will work with delphij and try to find a solution.

Thanks,
Rong-En Fan