Re: *DO* dynamically link distributed executables

Rick Campbell wrote: Quite possibly. Most .deb and .rpm packages are built from the stock source distribution by someone who uses the target distribution themselves, rather than from some common binary. In addition, the different versions may have been configured differently, or even patched to deal with shadow passwords, PAM etc. I don't think that it's particularly realistic to think of `Linux' as an OS in the same sense as commercial Unices. RedHat, Debian, Slackware etc may use the same kernel, and may all use the GNU tools, but the different camps don't seem particularly concerned about going their own way when they feel like it (glibc, PAM, KDE/Gnome, BSD/SysV init scripts, ...). Inter-distribution compatibility can sometimes seem to be more a matter coincidence than an explicit goal. -- Glynn Clements <glynn(a)sensei.co.uk&gt;