From d80c8552b60d499dbec7fb37e09ab8fc4145ce2d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Daniel Baumann Date: Sun, 23 Sep 2007 10:04:22 +0200 Subject: Adding live-package 0.99.6-1. --- templates/common/doc/FAQ/html/ch-compat.en.html | 386 ++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 386 insertions(+) create mode 100644 templates/common/doc/FAQ/html/ch-compat.en.html (limited to 'templates/common/doc/FAQ/html/ch-compat.en.html') diff --git a/templates/common/doc/FAQ/html/ch-compat.en.html b/templates/common/doc/FAQ/html/ch-compat.en.html new file mode 100644 index 000000000..24b527de7 --- /dev/null +++ b/templates/common/doc/FAQ/html/ch-compat.en.html @@ -0,0 +1,386 @@ + + + + + + + + +The Debian GNU/Linux FAQ - Compatibility issues + + + + + +

+ +

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+ +

+The Debian GNU/Linux FAQ +
Chapter 3 - Compatibility issues +

+ +

3.1 On what hardware architectures/systems does Debian GNU/Linux run?

+ +

+Debian GNU/Linux includes complete source-code for all of the included +programs, so it should work on all systems which are supported by the Linux +kernel; see the Linux +FAQ for details. +

+ +

+The current Debian GNU/Linux release, 3.1, contains a complete, binary +distribution for the following architectures: +

+ +

+i386: this covers PCs based on Intel and compatible processors, +including Intel's 386, 486, Pentium, Pentium Pro, Pentium II (both Klamath and +Celeron), and Pentium III, and most compatible processors by AMD, Cyrix and +others. +

+ +

+m68k: this covers Amigas and ATARIs having a Motorola 680x0 processor +for x>=2; with MMU. +

+ +

+alpha: Compaq/Digital's Alpha systems. +

+ +

+sparc: this covers Sun's SPARC and most UltraSPARC systems. +

+ +

+powerpc: this covers some IBM/Motorola PowerPC machines, including +CHRP, PowerMac and PReP machines. +

+ +

+arm: ARM and StrongARM machines. +

+ +

+mips: SGI's big-endian MIPS systems, Indy and Indigo2; +mipsel: little-endian MIPS machines, Digital DECstations. +

+ +

+hppa: Hewlett-Packard's PA-RISC machines (712, C3000, L2000, A500). +

+ +

+ia64: Intel IA-64 ("Itanium") computers. +

+ +

+s390: IBM S/390 mainframe systems. +

+ +

+The development of binary distributions of Debian for Sparc64 (UltraSPARC +native) architectures is currently underway. +

+ +

+For further information on booting, partitioning your drive, enabling PCMCIA +(PC Card) devices and similar issues please follow the instructions given in +the Installation Manual, which is available from our WWW site at http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/installmanual. +

+ +

3.2 How compatible is Debian with other distributions of Linux?

+ +

+Debian developers communicate with other Linux distribution creators in an +effort to maintain binary compatibility across Linux distributions. Most +commercial Linux products run as well under Debian as they do on the system +upon which they were built. +

+ +

+Debian GNU/Linux adheres to the Linux Filesystem Hierarchy +Standard. However, there is room for interpretation in some of the +rules within this standard, so there may be slight differences between a Debian +system and other Linux systems. +

+ +

+Debian GNU/Linux supports software developed for the Linux Standard Base. The LSB is a +specification for allowing the same binary package to be used on multiple +distributions. Packages for the Debian Etch release must not conflict with +requirements of the LSB, v1.3. As of this writing, Debian GNU/Linux is not +formally LSB-certified. However, some Debian derived distributions are. +Discussion and coordination of efforts towards ensuring Debian meets the +requirements of the Linux Standard Base is taking place on the debian-lsb mailing list. +

+ +

3.3 How source code compatible is Debian with other Unix systems?

+ +

+For most applications Linux source code is compatible with other Unix systems. +It supports almost everything that is available in System V Unix systems and +the free and commercial BSD-derived systems. However in the Unix business such +claim has nearly no value because there is no way to prove it. In the software +development area complete compatibility is required instead of compatibility in +"about most" cases. So years ago the need for standards arose, and +nowadays POSIX.1 (IEEE Standard 1003.1-1990) is one of the major standards for +source code compatibility in Unix-like operating systems. +

+ +

+Linux is intended to adhere to POSIX.1, but the POSIX standards cost real money +and the POSIX.1 (and FIPS 151-2) certification is quite expensive; this made it +more difficult for the Linux developers to work on complete POSIX conformance. +The certification costs make it unlikely that Debian will get an official +conformance certification even if it completely passed the validation suite. +(The validation suite is now freely available, so it is expected that more +people will work on POSIX.1 issues.) +

+ +

+Unifix GmbH (Braunschweig, Germany) developed a Linux system that has been +certified to conform to FIPS 151-2 (a superset of POSIX.1). This technology +was available in Unifix' own distribution called Unifix Linux 2.0 and in +Lasermoon's Linux-FT. +

+ +

3.4 Can I use Debian packages (".deb" files) on my Red Hat/Slackware/... Linux system? Can I use Red Hat packages (".rpm" files) on my Debian GNU/Linux system?

+ +

+Different Linux distributions use different package formats and different +package management programs. +

You probably can:: +
+A program to unpack a Debian package onto a Linux host that is been built from +a `foreign' distribution is available, and will generally work, in the sense +that files will be unpacked. The converse is probably also true, that is, a +program to unpack a Red Hat or Slackware package on a host that is based on +Debian GNU/Linux will probably succeed in unpacking the package and placing +most files in their intended directories. This is largely a consequence of the +existence (and broad adherence to) the Linux Filesystem Hierarchy Standard. +The Alien package +is used to convert between different package formats. +
+

You probably do not want to:: +
+Most package managers write administrative files when they are used to unpack +an archive. These administrative files are generally not standardized. +Therefore, the effect of unpacking a Debian package on a `foreign' host will +have unpredictable (certainly not useful) effects on the package manager on +that system. Likewise, utilities from other distributions might succeed in +unpacking their archives on Debian systems, but will probably cause the Debian +package management system to fail when the time comes to upgrade or remove some +packages, or even simply to report exactly what packages are present on a +system. +
+

A better way:: +
+The Linux File System Standard (and therefore Debian GNU/Linux) requires that +subdirectories under /usr/local/ be entirely under the user's +discretion. Therefore, users can unpack `foreign' packages into this +directory, and then manage their configuration, upgrade and removal +individually. +
+

+ +

3.5 Is Debian able to run my old libc5 programs?

+ +

+Yes. Just install the required libc5 libraries, from the +oldlibs section (containing old packages included for +compatibility with older applications). +

+ +

3.6 Can Debian be used to compile libc5 programs?

+ +

+Yes. Install libc5-altdev and altgcc packages (from +the oldlibs section). You can find the appropriate libc5-compiled +gcc and g++ in directory +/usr/i486-linuxlibc1/bin. Put them in your $PATH variable to get +make and other programs to execute these first. +

+ +

+Be aware that libc5 environment isn't fully supported by our other packages +anymore. +

+ +

3.7 How should I install a non-Debian program?

+ +

+Files under the directory /usr/local/ are not under the control of +the Debian package management system. Therefore, it is good practice to place +the source code for your program in /usr/local/src/. For example, you might +extract the files for a package named "foo.tar" into the directory +/usr/local/src/foo. After you compile them, place the binaries in +/usr/local/bin/, the libraries in /usr/local/lib/, +and the configuration files in /usr/local/etc/. +

+ +

+If your programs and/or files really must be placed in some other directory, +you could still store them in /usr/local/, and build the +appropriate symbolic links from the required location to its location in +/usr/local/, e.g., you could make the link +

+ +

+     ln -s /usr/local/bin/foo /usr/bin/foo
+

+ +

+In any case, if you obtain a package whose copyright allows redistribution, you +should consider making a Debian package of it, and uploading it for the Debian +system. Guidelines for becoming a package developer are included in the Debian +Policy manual (see What other +documentation exists on and for a Debian system?, Section 11.1). +

+ +

3.8 Why can't I compile programs that require libtermcap?

+ +

+Debian uses the terminfo database and the ncurses +library of terminal interface routes, rather than the termcap +database and the termcap library. Users who are compiling +programs that require some knowledge of the terminal interface should replace +references to libtermcap with references to +libncurses. +

+ +

+To support binaries that have already been linked with the termcap +library, and for which you do not have the source, Debian provides a package +called termcap-compat. This provides both +libtermcap.so.2 and /etc/termcap. Install this +package if the program fails to run with the error message "can't load +library 'libtermcap.so.2'", or complains about a missing +/etc/termcap file. +

+ +

3.9 Why can't I install AccelX?

+ +

+AccelX uses the termcap library for installation. See Why can't I compile programs that require libtermcap?, +Section 3.8 above. +

+ +

3.10 Why do my old XFree 2.1 Motif applications crash?

+ +

+You need to install the motifnls package, which provides the +XFree-2.1 configuration files needed to allow Motif applications compiled under +XFree-2.1 to run under XFree-3.1. +

+ +

+Without these files, some Motif applications compiled on other machines (such +as Netscape) may crash when attempting to copy or paste from or to a text +field, and may also exhibit other problems. +

+ +