Re: [PATCH for mm] Remove iBCS support

David Newall
2008-01-20T04:46:17Z

Andi Kleen wrote:
> On Sun, Jan 20, 2008 at 12:57:29PM +1030, David Newall wrote:
>
>> compatibility. This is a sleeping giant for Linux. There are plenty of
>>
>
> Interesting choice of words.
>
KFC and Dominoes use SCO for their cash registers, to pick just two
enormous future opportunities.

> But it does not make sense for all Linux kernels to always check for iBCS executables
> when they don't have to code to run them anyways.
>

I don't suppose you're suggesting this will make a big difference. Even
if every exec did nothing but immediately exit, it still wouldn't make
much difference.

Likewise, I take your point about proper iBCS support (and I suppose
it's really iBCS2 that we're talking about.) My concern is that
removing this now gains almost nothing, 2 strcmp per exec is as close to
nothing as anything, but it sends a message with which I disagree. The
message should be that Linux is good for, well the same things FreeBSD
is, and includes running Solaris and SCO binaries. This is a major
simplification of the story, I know, but still hits the plot highlights.