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Suckless has a project to get a fully static compiled Linux environment. Unfortunately I don't know how far that have come

by iveqy 6y ago

__s 6y ago
https://sta.li https://sta.li
mforney 6y ago
I don't think stali has seen any activity in several years. As far as I know, the only completely statically linked Linux distribution that is actively developed is my own project (inspired by stali), oasis: https://github.com/oasislinux/oasis https://github.com/oasislinux/oasis
- loeg 6y ago
  Do you static-link Linux? :-)
  - mforney 6y ago
    I'm not sure what you mean here. Are you asking whether I build my kernel drivers as modules or built-in? Personally, I build my kernels without modules, but I've never heard of that technique being called "static-linking Linux".
    - loeg 6y ago
      Yes, exactly. Loadable modules are a form of dynamic linking. I've never heard it called "static-linking Linux," either, but I think static / dynamic linking is well understood, and I'm happy you understood the meaning from context.
cryptonector 6y ago
The thing that's missing is static link semantics that don't suck.
- cosmojg 6y ago
  So let's fix the problem! How can we get better semantics? Have any hypothetical solutions in mind?
  - cryptonector 6y ago
    I've outlined it already, but let me do it again for you: 1) when making a static link archive (a .a file), include a .o with a static symbol(s) whose values(s) records the metadata that ELF would have recorded, which here is: a) dependencies, b) how to find them, c) the mapfile / version-script (at least which symbols are symbolic, protected, or demoted to local, and which, if any, are interposers. 2) on final link-edits only the direct dependency -lfoo arguments should be needed, and then link-editor should find the dependencies' dependencies... by looking at the metadata recorded in the .a files. Really, it's very simple. libstool is a very bad attempt at layering this on top of the linker (recording metadata in .la files), but it doesn't work well. This functionality has to be in the linkers.
    - saagarjha 6y ago
      Is it literally called libstool…

Suckless has a project to get a fully static compiled Linux environment. Unfortunately I don't know how far that have come

by iveqy 6y ago

Suckless has a project to get a fully static compiled Linux environment. Unfortunately I don't know how far that have come

__s 6y ago

https://sta.li https://sta.li

mforney 6y ago

I don't think stali has seen any activity in several years. As far as I know, the only completely statically linked Linux distribution that is actively developed is my own project (inspired by stali), oasis: https://github.com/oasislinux/oasis https://github.com/oasislinux/oasis

loeg 6y ago
Do you static-link Linux? :-)
- mforney 6y ago
  I'm not sure what you mean here. Are you asking whether I build my kernel drivers as modules or built-in? Personally, I build my kernels without modules, but I've never heard of that technique being called "static-linking Linux".
  - loeg 6y ago
    Yes, exactly. Loadable modules are a form of dynamic linking. I've never heard it called "static-linking Linux," either, but I think static / dynamic linking is well understood, and I'm happy you understood the meaning from context.

cryptonector 6y ago

The thing that's missing is static link semantics that don't suck.

cosmojg 6y ago
So let's fix the problem! How can we get better semantics? Have any hypothetical solutions in mind?
- cryptonector 6y ago
  I've outlined it already, but let me do it again for you: 1) when making a static link archive (a .a file), include a .o with a static symbol(s) whose values(s) records the metadata that ELF would have recorded, which here is: a) dependencies, b) how to find them, c) the mapfile / version-script (at least which symbols are symbolic, protected, or demoted to local, and which, if any, are interposers. 2) on final link-edits only the direct dependency -lfoo arguments should be needed, and then link-editor should find the dependencies' dependencies... by looking at the metadata recorded in the .a files. Really, it's very simple. libstool is a very bad attempt at layering this on top of the linker (recording metadata in .la files), but it doesn't work well. This functionality has to be in the linkers.
  - saagarjha 6y ago
    Is it literally called libstool…