[I wrote a whole bunch of stuff about a -lhesiod kind of thing, to which
 the reply came: ]

#define AUTHOR "mike.long@analog.com (Mike Long)"

/*
 * What about binary packages?  Shared executables built on hesiod-based
 * systems wouldn't work on non-hesiod systems, unless the non-hesiod
 * system had a do-nothing libhesiod.so.* .  Shared executables built on
 * non-hesiod systems wouldn't load properly on hesiod systems, because
 * the hes_getpw* symbols would be unresolved.

A sharex built on a hesiod system would run fine because the non-
hesiod system would have a nop libhesiod.so.* as you surmised above.
Build on a non-hesiod system would also run fine if a nop libhesiod
were in place.

What I meant by "do-nothing" (in your words) was to have the hes_getpw*
stuff present as stubroutines, while I think you presumed that I would
not even have a libhesiod present or that the library would be totally
empty.

(egad!  What am I *doing*?)

Yow.  This is all starting to make the nsswitch stuff look more appealing
to the senses.
 
 * 
 * (This is all AFAIK, of course.)
 * -- 
 * Mike Long <mike.long@analog.com>           http://www.shore.net/~mikel
 * VLSI Design Engineer         finger mikel@shore.net for PGP public key
 * Analog Devices, CPD Division          CCBF225E7D3F7ECB2C8F7ABB15D9BE7B
 * Norwood, MA 02062 USA                assert(*this!=opinionof(Analog));
 * 
 */

#undef AUTHOR	/* "mike.long@analog.com (Mike Long)" */




				--*greywolf;
--
Assignment:  Think about and expound upon the possibilities of these two 
questions.  What would the world be like today if
    a)  the Roman Empire had been defeated early on? (religious implications)
    b)  the Stock Market had not crashed? (economical/political implications)