Ryan Gordon Wants To Bring Universal Binaries To Linux

wisesifu writes "One of the interesting features of Mac OS X is its 'universal binaries' feature that allows a single binary file to run natively on both PowerPC and Intel x86 platforms. While this comes at a cost of a larger binary file, it's convenient on the end-user and on software vendors for distributing their applications. While Linux has lacked such support for fat binaries, Ryan Gordon has decided this should be changed."

Comments

Re:We need 1-file installs

[John Hasler]

> It's dead simple. We need something like this in Linux.

"aptitude install " (or the pointy-clicky equivalent) works for me.

oh boy, just pack all archs on a .deb

[C0vardeAn0nim0]

you know, just trick the good ol' .DEB package format to include several archs, then let to dpkg decide wich binaries to extract.

is not that in linux the binaries are one big blob with binaries, libs, images, videos, heplfiles, etc. all ditributed in as a single "file" which is actualy a directory with metadata that the finder hides as being a "program file".

being able to copy a binary ELF from one box to another doesn't guarantee it'll work, specially if it's GUI apps that may require other support files, so fat binaries in linux would be simply a useless gimmick. either distribute fat .DEBs, or just do the Right Thing(tm): distribute the source.