We really don't need to be running ldconfig(8) on every boot. No, really.

[Jason Thorpe <thorpej%me.com@localhost>]

Hey folks, this morning I filed this:

    https://gnats.netbsd.org/60600

TL;DR - it’s largely a waste to run ldconfig(8) on every boot on platforms that once had a.out shared libraries because NetBSD adopted ELF more than 20 years ago, and even the platforms that were stragglers got their cute little pointy green hats way more than a decade ago.  As such, I would assert that the presence of a.out shared libraries is vanishingly rare, and this rarity means the costs that must be paid to run ldconfig(8) are boot time are not worth the benefit for the overwhelming majority of people who are using such platforms (note this is of NO consequence to amd64 or aarch64 users; y’all have never had a.out shared libraries - consider yourselves lucky).

I’d like to change the default to ldconfig=NO.  This can save a considerable amount of time at boot on an I/O-constrained machine (especially if makemandb(8) is also running in the background as it does on every boot, which also makes my blood boil but that’s a separate discussion).

Of course, people who need / want to pay the cost of running ldconfig(8) at boot are certainly free to do so, but I don’t think the cost should be paid by everyone.

Ok, discuss!

-- thorpej