From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
Message-ID: <685d6d98ac9115a3d0bba2ca16553d8d@proxima.alt.za>
To: 9fans@cse.psu.edu
Date: Thu,  6 Apr 2006 08:14:19 +0200
From: lucio@proxima.alt.za
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Subject: [9fans] Warning of incompatibility
Topicbox-Message-UUID: 30c062dc-ead1-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025

I've been running my auth server on an i486SX for a long, long time,
without any trouble, other than when I distractedly run "awk" or "man"
which I know need the floating point unit to work and crash the server
solidly.

Then, in the last few days, all binaries on the fileserver were
"pulled" from "sources", presumably in line with the updated C
compilers, if there was any announcement made as to any other reason
for a system-wide recompilation, I missed it (9fans would benefit from
an -announce list, I think; I'm willing to volunteer a
majordomo/mailman server I have authority over, if so desired).

It took a day or so for me to notice that the auth server was out of
action.  As it also served DHCP, TFTP and DNS for my office network,
the results were pretty awkward.

Evidently, the new binaries are incompatible with oldish versions even
of 4ed Plan 9 kernels.  In addition to incompatible binaries, the
"pcnet" driver also does not dovetail properly with the new kernel, so
I had to add a (guess what?) 3Com adapter to the server.  Which meant
I needed a "9load" without "elnk3".  This in turn requires removal of
the 3c589 driver as well, for the record; I'm not sure if this isn't
useful in this particular instance, but the dependency ought to be
better documented or, preferably, eliminated).

One more thing I noticed, is that there is a dependency on ICMP6 in
the kernel that seems unnecessary.  I presume ICMP-4 and ICMP-6 are
too tightly coupled.

In summary, if you're running an older kernel (I would guess since the
memory-model changes), be careful about updating the run time
binaries.  That said, I'd like a "pcauth" configuration that contains
all the essential binaries in the kernel and only the necessary
runtime files on a RAM disk, along the lines of the installation
image.  I guess it's my turn to put some effort into this unless
somebody has done it already?

Is there a "proto" file out there for a minimal self-contained auth
server configuration?

++L