kernel headers

carlocci · 2008-09-07 12:47:40

Why is the glibc headers package called kernel-headers?
Shouldn't it be called "glibc-headers" or something similar?

Thanks in advance for clearing it out.

Onwards · 2008-09-10 15:57:50

glibc has it's own headers (try: pacman -Ql glibc | less).; there is no glibc-headers pkg. Kernel headers are different and they expose definitions that could be used in user-space as well (though normal C progs won't need them. They are required in certain cases though...).
There is a reason for them to be provided for user-space use though. It's a long topic (and I don't know much). Please visit this link for further info (do read he comments).
http://lwn.net/Articles/113349/

Last edited by Onwards (2008-09-10 15:58:26)

carlocci · 2008-09-10 21:53:48

thank you for your reply.

So if I understood correctly, glibc headers are used by userspace programs, headers in kernel-headers are used by userspace programs in order to interface with the kernel and then the headers inside the kernel26 package are used to build modules.

Why then kernel-headers are upgraded with glibc and not with kernel updates?

Onwards · 2008-09-20 23:45:47

carlocci wrote:

Why then kernel-headers are upgraded with glibc and not with kernel updates?

Sorry for such a late response (I was lost somewhere )

I haven't really noticed the timing of kernel-headers and glibc releases (as to whether they are always in sync or not). But I am sure of one thing; a new kernel release (not bugfix releases, but a stable release e.g 2.6.27) would always have it's unique kernel-headers with it, because of the changes that went into the new kernel...

Last edited by Onwards (2008-09-20 23:46:38)

Arch Linux

#1 2008-09-07 12:47:40

kernel headers

#2 2008-09-10 15:57:50

Re: kernel headers

#3 2008-09-10 21:53:48

Re: kernel headers

#4 2008-09-20 23:45:47

Re: kernel headers

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