Subject: Re: PAM
To: NetBSD-current Discussion List <current-users@netbsd.org>
From: Greg A. Woods <woods@weird.com>
List: current-users
Date: 08/28/2002 21:42:23
[ On Wednesday, August 28, 2002 at 17:38:17 (-0700), Greywolf wrote: ]
> Subject: Re: PAM
>
> Hello?  *waves*  Hi.  Please don't assume that, just because the CPU,
> disk, and memory can support bloat, they should be expected to.  That
> attitude miffs me more than anything.  "Oh, we have the space/RAM/CPU
> power to handle it, who cares?"

Do _you_ really want all that extra locale support on your ancient
hardware?  Are you sure you didn't just red-line on the word "bloat"?

_I_ don't want all that extra locale support bloat in any form (and I
have more than enough ancient and resource limited hardware, some
running in production, to be more than qualified enough to speak very
authoritatively on this issue!).

However just because one static-links everything doesn't mean one has to
use code one doesn't need.  I can no doubt still go through and #ifdef
all the fancy locale code into a bunch of stubs if I don't want it.
(though hopefully the person integrating it adds and maintains the
#ifdefs for me! ;-)

static-linking does not require bloat, but getting rid of the bloat does
require some preparation and the making of intelligent choices and
finally of course recompiling.  but "duh!", what more can you expect?

There's enough bloat already even without the enhanced locale stuff.  I
don't even really want to have to pull in networking and RPC code and
all that other NIS/YP and HESIOD crud just to call getpwent() on most of
my own systems and I've been meaning to make sure it's all #ifdef'ed out
on them too and to work out a way to move the explicit setting of -DYP
and -DHESIOD (and -DNLS) in CPPFLAGS in src/lib/libc out to a more
generic NOYP and so on to be set in /etc/mk.conf.  (/bin/ls will
probably drop to about 80KB or less instead of being nearly 350KB, and
that's with existing locale support (message catalogues, etc.) still in
there)

(and I'm happier with the performance of my all-static ss-1+ system than
I was with even just /usr programs dynamic linked too, even without
getting rid of NIS/YP et al.)

-- 
								Greg A. Woods

+1 416 218-0098;            <g.a.woods@ieee.org>;           <woods@robohack.ca>
Planix, Inc. <woods@planix.com>; VE3TCP; Secrets of the Weird <woods@weird.com>