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Xref: sserve comp.os.linux:30773 comp.os.386bsd.questions:947 Newsgroups: comp.os.linux,comp.os.386bsd.questions Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!news.Hawaii.Edu!ames!saimiri.primate.wisc.edu!usenet.coe.montana.edu!news.u.washington.edu!serval!luke.eecs.wsu.edu!hlu From: hlu@luke.eecs.wsu.edu (HJ Lu) Subject: Re: 386bsd, linux: which runs more out of the box? Message-ID: <1993Mar23.085058.13670@serval.net.wsu.edu> Sender: news@serval.net.wsu.edu (USENET News System) Organization: Washington State University! References: <C4BowL.DK3@undergrad.math.waterloo.edu> <1ome2o$1lu6@hal.gnu.ai.mit.edu> Date: Tue, 23 Mar 93 08:50:58 GMT Lines: 32 In article <1ome2o$1lu6@hal.gnu.ai.mit.edu> mycroft@hal.gnu.ai.mit.edu (Charles Hannum) writes: > >In article <C4BowL.DK3@undergrad.math.waterloo.edu> >wgsteven@mobius08.math.uwaterloo.ca (Warren Stevens) writes: >> >> I'm thinking of installing Linux and/or 386bsd, and i have some >> pretty bizzare tastes in software i will want to run -- definately >> not your run-of-the-mill type stuff. Which system will give me the >> least hassle when i try and compile the source code? > >I've had almost no trouble using over 100 free packages under 386BSD. >Most of them compile with no changes at all; a few require minor >editing; a very few require slightly more work. > I don't know if you count gcc 2.3.3 or not. strtod () in the 386bsd C library is very broken. It is not very easy to compile gcc 2.3.3 or any floating pointer numbers without a working strtod (). I learned it the hard way when I first ported gcc 1.9x to Linux. FYI, I was using a strtod () similar to the one in 386bsd at that time. If you want to do any serious FP work, I suggest you get a better strtod () like the one in the Linux C library. Also the Linux math lib is fine tuned for 387. >Overall, it's very easy to port programs written for BSD or POSIX >systems to 386BSD. > Linux can do POSIX, SYSV and most of BSD. H.J.