Can I remove lib-elf.so.1?

[Erik Trulsson]

On Wed, Jun 25, 2003 at 11:52:55PM -0600, Geoffrey T. Falk wrote:
> I am cleaning up my 4-STABLE system. After a fresh installworld, I am
> looking at files that did not get touched by the install. Is it safe to
> remove all such files?

No, it is not always safe.  Some files are only updated if the new file
is different from the old file.  
The include files are an example of this as to avoid fooling makefiles
into believing that stuff need to be recompiled when it is just the
date of an include file that has changed and not its contents.

> 
> In particular, I am looking at /usr/libexec/lib-elf.so.1, which has the
> schg flag set. I am afraid to remove this for fear of making my system
> unbootable. Could somebody please reassure me that it is ok to noschg
> and remove this old file?

There shouldn't be any file named /usr/libexec/lib-elf.so.1 so if you
actually have one it is safe to remove it (and time to start
investigating where it came from), but if you actually meant
/usr/libexec/ld-elf.so.1  then you should *NOT* remove it.

/usr/libexec/ld-elf.so.1 is needed for running any dynamically linked
programs. It is not quite as critical as /sbin/init or /kernel but
nearly so.
It is precisely because this file is so critical that it is not
updated unless it has actually changed.

In general the few files that have the schg flag set has it for good
reasons.


-- 
<Insert your favourite quote here.>
Erik Trulsson
ertr1013 at student.uu.se