[bf1942] BF2 server discussion

[Michael Ressen]

-> -----Original Message-----
-> From: Andreas Fredriksson [mailto:andreas.fredriksson at dice.se]  
-> 
-> 
-> Hey guys,
-> I'm going over the linkage problems again with the 
-> Battlefield 2 server.
-> 
-> I thought maybe we could have this discussion now rather than at ship
-> :-)
-> 
-> I would like to maintain only one binary this time; so the 
-> following alternatives are available for the linux release:
-> 
-> 1) Ship with a dynamically linked version and require 
-> libstdc++ >= some recent version.
-> 
-> Pros: Simple turnaround for releases (this is what I'm developing on)
-> Cons: Reduces backwards compatibility
-> 
-> 2) Ship with dynamically linked version and provide 
-> libraries so that you can set LD_LIBRARY_PATH to the 
-> "compat" directory provided with BF2.
-> 
-> Pros: Similar to #1.
-> Cons: License considerations for shipping gcc shared objects.
-> 
-> 3) Link statically.
-> 
-> Pros: Easy.
-> Cons: Breaks horribly on many systems.
-> 
-> 4) Link on stone-age era machine to get libc right and link 
-> statically with libstdc++.
-> 
-> Pros: Best compatibility.
-> Cons: A pain to maintain and increases turnaround time. Also 
-> a borderline legal case.
-> 
-> So the question to this list is; what is the minimum ABI 
-> version I can sensibly require for this product? Remember 
-> that we're looking at a 2005 release date. Supporting all 
-> the old Red Hats are a lot of pain.
-> 
-> I'm also doing an unsupported native FreeBSD build this time 
-> around; currently based on 4.10-STABLE, would the version 5 
-> series be a better choice?
-> 
-> Comments and suggestions are welcome.
-> 
-> Andreas Fredriksson
-> ==============================
-> Programmer, Battlefield II
-> 
-> There are 10 types of people in the world -- those who 
-> understand binary and those who don't.
-> 

#2 should be just fine, and I don't think there's a legal prob there since the
objects are already in distribution.   

Best news yet is BSD binaries.   I agree with Steven & G8 that 5.x is the best
way to go.

/BA
Michigan Burbs