Re: Binary compatiblity

["Chris, the Young One" <reply_(_at_)_hedgee_(_dot_)_com>]

On Mon, Jul 31, 2000 at 11:33:33AM -0800, Alex Charyna wrote:
! 1) Are binaries between Free/Net/Open BSDs compatible?  Or do they run
! in emulation?  I've looked through the FAQs, and only saw an answer in
! reference to Netscape, which basically says, "emulation".

I think OpenBSD and NetBSD binaries are natively compatible. FreeBSD
requires emulation. The Netscape used in the ports collection is the
BSD/OS version, which also requires emulation.

! 2) How similar/dissimilar are the BSD sources for software? If I get a
! FreeBSD port, and compile it, will it compile smoothly?

In many cases, yes. But this is not a guarantee, especially if FreeBSD
internals are depended on. The location of soundcard.h is different
between OpenBSD and FreeBSD, and some packages only check the FreeBSD
(and Linux) locations.

If you can find a package in the OpenBSD ports collection, it's probably
better to use that. I know I don't practise what I preach, but oh well.

	---Chris K.
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