I'm pleased to announce the release of Linux-AFS 1.2.13. This
long-awaited release of AFS for Linux/i386 fixes the problem of
running ELF binaries out of AFS. If you are in the US, then your
site can obtain Linux-AFS from transarc.
To obtain Linux-AFS, you first need to get tokens in the transarc.com
AFS cell. If you are a site contact you can do this yourself. If you
are not a site contact, then you will have to determine who your site
contact is and talk to that person to obtain Linux-AFS. Once you have
tokens in the transarc cell, cd into the directory:
/afs/transarc.com/public/afs-contrib/bin/linux.client
Included therein is the Linux-AFS 1.2.13 package (afs-1.2.13.tar.gz),
a README file, and a Notes file for this release (Notes-1.2.13). You
should obtain all three files for your site, and make sure your users
read the included information. If you want libraries and headers, you
can look in the "dest" subdirectory, and you will find a
transarc-style distribution. NOTE: This distribution does not contain
and up-to-date client; your clients should use the client package.
If you have any questions, please send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] If
you are not on the linux-afs mailing list and want to be, send mail to
[EMAIL PROTECTED] and one of us will add you to the list.
Regarding an ELF distibution: I do not plan to make an all-ELF
distribution of AFS for a while.. At least not until ELF becomes
EXTREMELY commonplace (which it is not). Until then, I'm sorry, but
you are going to have to at least support a.out/jump-table format.
Regarding support for Linux 1.3.x: Linus sent me mail detailing a
change in the internal readdir() functions. As a result, the current
Linux-AFS code will not work with Linux 1.3.x kernels. Moreover,
without changing the @sys value, I would not be able to use the same
code between 1.2.x and 1.3.x, which means that supporting 1.3.x would
no longer allow support 1.2.x without also changing the @sys value. I
consider this a suboptimal situation.
Therefore, since the 1.3.x kernels are experimental, and AFS works
fine with the stable 1.2.x kernels, I have very little incentive to
port to 1.3.x at this time. If someone REALLY wants AFS for 1.3.x and
can convince me that it is worth my time to work on it, I will
consider raising the priority level. However my plan at this point is
to wait until 1.3 is ready to turn into 1.4, and then I'll make an AFS
build at that time (and probably make it ELF ;-)
Please send questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED], or to me personally. Good
Luck, and Enjoy!
-derek
