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sharable libraries with linux [message #6223] Thu, 16 May 1996 00:00 Go to next message
g9426092 is currently offline  g9426092
Messages: 1
Registered: May 1996
Junior Member
I'm considering purchasing a copy of IDL for linux but have one or two
concerns about it in regards to linking to sharable libraries.

1. I notice that the demo version is in an a.out binary format. Most
distributions of Linux are moving to an ELF binary format, making it
somewhat tedious to work with IDL under linux.

2. Neither linkimage, nor call_external seem to be supported under
linux, and the callable method of interacting with IDL (i.e. from a
compiled C program) won't work because the demo doesn't come with any
idl library to link against.

So my questions are these: Does RSI support ELF versions of linux, or do
they intend to in the future, and is there something I've overlooked as far
as getting additional code into the linux version of IDL.

TIA

Jeremy
Re: sharable libraries with linux [message #6269 is a reply to message #6223] Thu, 23 May 1996 00:00 Go to previous message
tferro is currently offline  tferro
Messages: 6
Registered: May 1996
Junior Member
My understanding was that their support was somewhat tied into the
the fact that the stable version of Linux, 1.2.13, didn't have the
full ELF support and was lacking some things. I think RSI hoped to
wait until the next stable release. With 2.0 coming soon, maybe they
will be able to more fully support Linux. I'd be very glad if they
would just get a real license manager. Having to renew all the licenses
every six months is a real drag.

- Tony Ferro
---------
Anthony J. Ferro aferro@as.arizona.edu
Steward Observatory, NICMOS Project Ph: (520) 621-8683
University of Arizona FAX: (520) 621-1891
Tucson, AZ 85721 http://merlin.as.arizona.edu/~tferro/
---------
Re: sharable libraries with linux [message #6281 is a reply to message #6223] Wed, 22 May 1996 00:00 Go to previous message
marq is currently offline  marq
Messages: 12
Registered: February 1996
Junior Member
Hi,

I'm working with IDL 4.0.1b on Linux...

J.D. Gill (g9426092@mcmail.cis.McMaster.CA) wrote:
: I'm considering purchasing a copy of IDL for linux but have one or two
: concerns about it in regards to linking to sharable libraries.

: 1. I notice that the demo version is in an a.out binary format. Most
: distributions of Linux are moving to an ELF binary format, making it
: somewhat tedious to work with IDL under linux.

True. They do not ship a ELF version, and people at CREASO (the german
seller of IDL) told me they will not do so with the 4.0.1 version.

: 2. Neither linkimage, nor call_external seem to be supported under
: linux, and the callable method of interacting with IDL (i.e. from a
: compiled C program) won't work because the demo doesn't come with any
: idl library to link against.

True as well. The reason is that the old a.out format for shared libraries
needs unique addresses for every single routine, regardless of the library
it's stored in. Thus, all the important shared libraries had some kind
reserved address spaces. It made building new shared libraries without
letting register their address space somewhat dangerous, as it always
was possible that some official library used these addresses as well. And
it makes call_external or linkimage, say, difficult, as there is no
standardized way on how to link these old libraries dynamically.

: So my questions are these: Does RSI support ELF versions of linux, or do
: they intend to in the future, and is there something I've overlooked as far
: as getting additional code into the linux version of IDL.

No; the current version of Linux IDL does neither support ELF nor dynamic
linking. Trusting the people from Creaso, this will change ``probably
with the next version''.

If anyone knows better, please tell me; I would need call_externals
like hell...

Regards from Berlin,

Chris Marquardt (marq@strat01.met.fu-berlin.de)
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