

Fat ELF binaries for multiple architectures on Linux (and possibly others) - there
http://icculus.org/fatelf/

======
cnvogel
I hate to sound overly pessimistic, and I really appreciate the nice idea of
having a more intelligent binary format. But I really cannot see the point of
having "fat" binaries. Programs under Linux (and other unixy operating
systems) already come in package files (debs under Debians, pkg under xBSD,
rpms under RedHats etc.). The distinction about which binary to install could
easily be done at install time, with a suitably extended package format. This
would be much easier to accomplish, and wouldn't need changes to core
components. And while I see the geek-value of having a multi-platform bootable
CD (USB-stick, harddisk, ...) it's hardly news: AFS (the network filesystem)
had "magic" symlinks that make /afs/your.site/bin and .../lib point to a
architecture-specific directory for a long time. So if needed it could easily
be solved by that, or some of the emerging userspace or merging filesystems
available under Linux and the BSDs.

~~~
antonovka
I'm not so convinced that a centralized distribution authority that introduces
a significant turn-around time (months or even years), patches the software as
they see fit, and enforces their own licensing ethos is the best model for
programmers to get their software to end-users/consumers.

Of course, there are two good reasons 'fatelf' has not been implemented
before, and it has nothing to do with packages:

[http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=b3wiAAAAEBAJ&dq=5...](http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=b3wiAAAAEBAJ&dq=5432937)

[http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=MQQnAAAAEBAJ&dq=5...](http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=MQQnAAAAEBAJ&dq=5604905)

~~~
fungi
run your own repo or distribute your own packages from your own website, no
need to be centralised.

~~~
antonovka
That's way, way, way more complicated than:

1) Build a binary, put it on a DMG

2) User clicks download link, drags to any directory they want.

Trying to build packages that continue to work across releases and as
libraries get updated and packages change -- and operate in a compatible
manner with the built-in packages -- is surprisingly difficult.

Why don't more people do it? The only 3rd-party packages I come across are
RedHat RPMs, and half the time, they're broken. I almost never come across 3rd
party apt/yum repositories run by corporations, and the few times I have,
they've been very broken (remember Ximian?
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ximian>)

------
etherealG
that seems like a pretty good idea, has anyone ever thought of this on the
ELF-based platforms before?

