>> [W]e still won't be able to change the size of FILE for a long time
>> -- so long as we require backwards compatibility with NetBSD from
>> three years ago.

> If this is true, it's only true because of (dynamic) linker issues.
> (some would say "bugs.")

> if the data definitions of the variables are in the shared library,
> and nothing uses their fields directly (or their fields can be used
> in a 'safe' way directly), you should be fine.

Recall what the historical definitions - the ones with which we'd need
to be compatible - are:

#define stdin  (&__sF[0])
#define stdout (&__sF[1])
#define stderr (&__sF[2])

(The symbol name may vary; these are from stdio.h 1.30.)  This means
that an old executable will contain a reference to __sF, regardless of
which filehandle is being used - the code will simply include an offset
for stdout and stderr.

The point is, this offset depends on sizeof(FILE)!  The application's
compiled-in idea of sizeof(FILE) must match the layout of the __sF
array, or you're screwed.

And this is independent of the dynamic linker, as far as I can see.

					der Mouse

			       mouse@rodents.montreal.qc.ca
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