Linked by Thom Holwerda on Thu 5th Nov 2009 23:05 UTC
As we all know, Mac OS X has support for what is called 'fat binaries'. These are binaries that can carry code for for instance multiple architectures - in the case of the Mac, PowerPC and x86. Ryan Gordon was working on an implementation of fat binaries for Linux - but due to the conduct of the Linux maintainers, Gordon has halted the effort.
Thread beginning with comment 393116
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
Member since:2005-07-12
I have to agree with the kernel guys and Ulrich here. There is a much better way to do it
[..]
This way, you can very easily and simply delete the binaries you don't need, no patches are needed, and it is still user-friendly.
[..]
This way, you can very easily and simply delete the binaries you don't need, no patches are needed, and it is still user-friendly.
I don't know about FatELF but deleting unwanted binary code is no problem at all with universal binaries on OS X (implementing similar functionality for FatELF should be easy):
The lipo command creates or operates on ``universal'' (multi-architecture) files. It only ever produces one output file, and never alters the input file. The operations that lipo performs are: listing the architecture types in a universal file; creating a single universal file from one or more input files; thinning out a single universal file to one specified architecture type; and extracting, replacing, and/or removing architectures types from the input file to create a single new universal output file.
Since the binary code part is normaly small compared with other resources (sound files, pictures, translations, etc.), thinning out a binary is normally not worth the time (except maybe if you run under very restricted condition like a mobile phone).
However, Linux fanboys simple forget a common use case under Mac OS: copying a application from one system to another. E. g. you copy a universal binary app from a PPC-64 bit system to a x86-32 bit system - a simple drag and drop operation (or use cp if you prefer that). With universal binaries, no problem at all. Everything works. From the user perspective, the system behaves as expected (why should there be any difference between copying a data file or a application binary?).
Compare this with the sad situation under Linux ..
As long as Linux developers care more for HD space an 'the one true way'-wars that ends up in a mess under /usr/<whatever>, the year of Linux on the desktop will occur the same year as commercial fusion power arrives (whenever you ask, it's always another 50 years in the future
. The system adminstrators approach most Linux fanboys adopt may work for server environments or their own tiny world, but not for the masses ..
Member since:2009-10-04
I don't know about FatELF but deleting unwanted binary code is no problem at all with universal binaries on OS X (implementing similar functionality for FatELF should be easy)
Yes, it is certainly possible and easy to make a command to remove unneeded binaries, but why would you do that when there is a much simpler solution. Power users can selectively delete binaries (e.g. delete arm and powerpc, but keep i686 and x86_64). And their could still be an easy command or menu option for those who don't know or care what architecture they have.
However, Linux fanboys simple forget a common use case under Mac OS: copying a application from one system to another. E. g. you copy a universal binary app from a PPC-64 bit system to a x86-32 bit system - a simple drag and drop operation (or use cp if you prefer that). With universal binaries, no problem at all. Everything works. From the user perspective, the system behaves as expected (why should there be any difference between copying a data file or a application binary?).
Um... couldn't you do this with the shell script solution too? As long as you don't delete any binaries, it will act exactly the same as universal binaries on OSX.
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/19/13 23:02 UTC, submitted by M.Onty
"Microsoft has sensationally abandoned its controversial plans to restrict the sharing of XBox One games, and has also removed daily online authentication requirements for its forthcoming console", reports The Guardian. They had no choice. Still a good move.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/19/13 22:28 UTC
"A snippet of code in the Steam digital distribution platform has revealed that Valve may be planning to let users easily share their games with friends in the future. The Verge has verified the code's authenticity, which was originally spotted by a member of the NeoGAF gaming forum; the code references a 'shared game library' and a notification that would alert a user when their games are currently in use by a borrower." This would change the, uh, game.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:33 UTC
Official Apple statement on PRISM and privacy: "Regardless of the circumstances, our Legal team conducts an evaluation of each request and, only if appropriate, we retrieve and deliver the narrowest possible set of information to the authorities. In fact, from time to time when we see inconsistencies or inaccuracies in a request, we will refuse to fulfill it." This is basically Apple re-publishing their earlier statement in a more official manner. You either believe it, or you don't.
Linked by Anonymous on 06/18/13 22:26 UTC
The open source Contiki operating system and its commercial Thingsquare distribution are making strides towards the connected home. According to a Computerworld article, a new LED light bulb manufacturer is putting small computers into their light bulbs. Each computer runs the Contiki OS, which gives each bulb an IP address and allows them to be controlled with a smartphone application. To connect the bulbs to the application, the bulbs use both Wi-Fi and the much lower power IEEE 802.15.4 mesh technology.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:25 UTC
"Google asked the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on Tuesday to ease long-standing gag orders over data requests it makes, arguing that the company has a constitutional right to speak about information it's forced to give the government. The legal filing, which cites the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech, is the latest move by the California-based tech giant to protect its reputation in the aftermath of news reports about sweeping National Security Agency surveillance of Internet traffic." Draining the ditch after the cow has drowned in it.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:45 UTC
"I can't find one person who has been using the Nexus 7 for an extended period of time, and hasn't seen a massive downgrade in performance. Just what kind of downgrade are we talking here? I cannot pick up my Nexus 7 without experiencing problems like a lag of ten seconds, or more, just to rotate the display; touches refusing to acknowledged; stuttering notification panel actions; and unresponsive apps." Fully and utterly agreed. My Nexus 7 was blazing-fast and awesome for a few months, and at some point, it just started sucking. Just like that. I've tried loads of ROMs, and nothing helps.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:32 UTC, submitted by poundsmack
A new release of the hobby operating system MenuetOS! The release notes are a bit non-descript, but you'll have to take what you can get: "updates and improvements (picview, httpc, ehci, ...)".
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:58 UTC
"The Internet is one of the most transformative technologies of our lifetimes. But for 2 out of every 3 people on earth, a fast, affordable Internet connection is still out of reach. And this is far from being a solved problem. There are many terrestrial challenges to Internet connectivity - jungles, archipelagos, mountains. There are also major cost challenges. Right now, for example, in most of the countries in the southern hemisphere, the cost of an Internet connection is more than a month's income. Solving these problems isn't simply a question of time: it requires looking at the problem of access from new angles. So today we're unveiling our latest moonshot from Google[x]: balloon-powered Internet access." Insane.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:52 UTC
"MineAssemble is a tiny bootable Minecraft clone written partly in x86 assembly. I made it first and foremost because a university assignment required me to implement a game in assembly for a computer systems course. Because I had never implemented anything more complex than a 'Hello World' bootloader before, I decided I wanted to learn about writing my own kernel code at the same time. Note that the goal of this project was not to write highly efficient hand-optimized assembly code, but rather to have fun and write code that balances readability and speed. This is primarily accomplished by proper commenting and consistent code structuring." Just cool.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 21:03 UTC
Jon Rubinstein, former CEO of Palm: "Well, I'm not sure I would have sold the company to HP. That's for sure. Talk about a waste. Not that I had any choice because when you sell a company you don't get to decide that. Obviously, the board and shareholders decide that. If we had known they were just going to shut it down and never really give it a chance to flourish, what would have been the point of selling the company? I think the deal we had with Verizon really hurt us, but who knew that at the time? These things are all hindsight."More News »
Sponsored Links
Member since:
2009-10-04
I have to agree with the kernel guys and Ulrich here. There is a much better way to do it:
$ ls foo/bin
foo
foo-arm
foo-ppc32
foo-ppc64
foo-i686
foo-x86_64
$ cat foo
#!/bin/sh
foo-`arch`
This way, you can very easily and simply delete the binaries you don't need, no patches are needed, and it is still user-friendly.
Edited 2009-11-06 00:02 UTC