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Re: Build a portable linux binary?


From: CROZIER Richard
Subject: Re: Build a portable linux binary?
Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2019 15:18:03 +0000


On 19/02/2019 14:54, Michael D Godfrey wrote:
>
>
> On 2/19/19 1:57 PM, John W. Eaton wrote:
>> I doubt that it is possible to build Octave and all dependencies as
>> static libraries.
>>
>>> The main issue with portable binaries is
>>> libc, which can't be statically linked which is why you need to build on
>>> a system with an old version of libc, and hope this is ok for all the
>>> new versions of packages downloaded by MXE. The resulting binaries
>>> should work on any system with the same or newer version of libc (I
>>> think?), unless the packages require features not present in that
>>> version of libc.
>>
>> Last year I attempted to deliver a binary built with MXE that could be
>> used on just two systems, RHEL 6 and SuSE 11.  I performed the build
>> on the SuSE system because it had the older libc of the two.  My build
>> replaced as many system libraries as possible.  In the end, I think it
>> just required libc, ld.so, and a few other very low-level system
>> libraries.  I built and distributed everything else.  I was able to
>> install and run Octave on both systems.  But the customer reported
>> issues.  In the end, I just built and delivered binaries for both of
>> the systems I wanted to support.
>>
>> jwe address@hidden
>>
>>
> This has been a long-standing problem for all "distributions". Not only
> is it hard to achieve for any one system
> (RHEL 6, and xx, and SuSE 11 are just examples) but then maintaining the
> port through system updates makes
> it a constant effort.
>
> Improving the current installation procedures from source may be more
> productive.  A script that just identifies
> all required dependencies and how to download and install them could
> help. I have not checked the current
> instructions lately but they tend to be written for people who have
> considerable knowledge. A "beginner's"
> set of instructions might help. Of course, even this would require
> constant maintenance and updating...
>
> I looked at: https://cran.cnr.berkeley.edu/ for how R handles
> distribution.  In outline it seems to have
> some good features. They support binary downloads for "Linux" (but not
> Fedora...), Mac,  and Windows.
> (No mention of RHEL...)
> For others they give some instructions for download and compile.
> However, I doubt if this works much better
> than the current Octave procedures.
>
> So, just trying to keep the current download source, install all
> dependencies, and compile procedures
> reasonably clear and up-to-date may be the best that can be done.
>
> Michael


Another option that might be interesting might be Appimage

https://appimage.org/

Regards,

Richard
The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with 
registration number SC005336.

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