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The state of binary compatibility on Linux and how to address it

(jangafx.com)
196 points generichuman | 1 comments | 01 Apr 25 22:22 UTC | HN request time: 0.212s | source
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James_K ◴[02 Apr 25 00:50 UTC] No.43552753[source]▶
Here's a thought: just distribute source code. ABI issues should be mostly fixed. Most computers can compile source code fast enough for the user not to notice and cache the results so that it's never a problem again. If you want optimised code, you can do a source to source optimisation then zip and minify the file. You could compile such a library to approximately native speeds without much user-end lag using modern JIT methods, and maybe even run LTO in a background thread so that the exectuables outdo dynamically linked ones.
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RedShift1 ◴[02 Apr 25 01:24 UTC] No.43552904[source]▶
I hate compiling. 9/10 something goes wrong. Sometimes I can fix it, other times I just abandon the effort and use something else. These days I just use packages or docker images and if that doesn't work out I'm moving on, ain't nobody got time for this. You really can't expect people who just want to use their computers and don't even know what a compiler is to get involved in a process like that.
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1. James_K ◴[02 Apr 25 06:53 UTC] No.43554263[source]▶
The idea is that software would only be shipped if it actually works, and part of this would be ensuring it compiles. I'm not suggesting we use Make files or some other foul approach like that. Code should ideally be distributed as a single zip file with an executable header that triggers it to be unpacked in some cache directory by a program analogous to the linker, and compiled by the simple process of compiling all source files. Additionally this could be sped up drastically by having the compiler be a single executable with uniform flags across files. Header files could be parsed once and shared between build threads in parallel, which alone would safe much work on the part of the compiler. If this still proves insufficient, a language with superior semantics to C could be chosen which can be compiled faster. Most code these days shipped is JS which is compiled on the user's computer. This would be an order of magnitude improvement on that from a performance perspective.