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For a real statically-linked linux system, the main issue is GPU support: you must relink all apps _really using_ a GPU, that to include the required GPU driver

For a real statically-linked linux system, the main issue is GPU support: you must relink all apps _really using_ a GPU, that to include the required GPU drivers. With sound, alsa, it is fine since there is IPC/shared-memory based mixing that whatever the playback/capture devices [dmix/dsnoop]. Static linking is reasonable. (pulseaudio[012] IPC interfaces are bloaty kludges, hardly stable in time, 0..1..2.., not to be trusted compared to the hardcore stability of alsa one able to do a beyond good enough job *and* _real_ in-process low latency hardware access at the same time). x11 and wayland are IPC based, then no issue here neither. But for the GPU, we would need a wayland vulkan3D-inspired set of IPC/shared-memory interfaces (with a 3D enabled wayland compositor). For compute, the interfaces would be de-coupled from the wayland compositor (shared dma-buffers). The good part of this would be to free our system interfaces from the ultra complex ELF (one could choose an excrutiatingly simple executable file format, aka a modern executable file format, but will need compilers/linkers support to help legacy support). There is a middle ground though: everything statically linked, except the apps requiring the GPU driver (for that ELF is grotesquely overkill), still provided as a shared library.

stefan_ 3y ago
To be fair ELF is complex mostly because of relocations, which are not purely to support shared libraries but also the nowadays ubiquitous PIE. But GPU drivers is a good point; I don't believe you can even statically link them today, you would only be statically linking a shim that tries to find the real driver at runtime.
- sylware 3y ago
  I am exploring an executable file format of my own (excrutiatingly simple, basically userland syscalls) which is only PIE, and until now, the main real "issue" (not really) is actually the lack of support from compilers for static relative global data init (handled by ELF... which is not there anymore). About the shared libs, well, they are the utility shared libs, and the system interface shared libs. With a mostly statically linked elf/linux distro, all the utility libs would be statically linked, and the system interface shared libs would be statically linked if they have an IPC/shared-mem interface. In the end, only the GPU driver is an issue, namely would stay a shared libs.
AshamedCaptain 3y ago
I ponder which kind of malaise would push one to dismiss ELF as "ultra complex" and at the same time propose pervasive IPC through the entire system including Vulkan calls through IPC.

stefan_ 3y ago

To be fair ELF is complex mostly because of relocations, which are not purely to support shared libraries but also the nowadays ubiquitous PIE. But GPU drivers is a good point; I don't believe you can even statically link them today, you would only be statically linking a shim that tries to find the real driver at runtime.

sylware 3y ago
I am exploring an executable file format of my own (excrutiatingly simple, basically userland syscalls) which is only PIE, and until now, the main real "issue" (not really) is actually the lack of support from compilers for static relative global data init (handled by ELF... which is not there anymore). About the shared libs, well, they are the utility shared libs, and the system interface shared libs. With a mostly statically linked elf/linux distro, all the utility libs would be statically linked, and the system interface shared libs would be statically linked if they have an IPC/shared-mem interface. In the end, only the GPU driver is an issue, namely would stay a shared libs.

AshamedCaptain 3y ago

I ponder which kind of malaise would push one to dismiss ELF as "ultra complex" and at the same time propose pervasive IPC through the entire system including Vulkan calls through IPC.