Re: Instructions: Linking of shared oracle libraries !!!

hbergh_at_nl.oracle.com (Herbert vd Bergh) writes:

>I feel especially uncomfortable about things like adding dummy
>variables to your libraries.

	So do I. But advantanges obtained from use of shared libraries
	just makes the temptation too big. In older Oracle versions
	(that we have in real use, this new one was just on development
	system) no kludges were required for working shared libraries.

	I must admit that person trying to link libraries him/herself
	must have a lot of experience from shared library schemes.  
	However, If one knows what one is doing, there should be no
	problems, becouse modern shared libraries don't change 
	Oracle's functionality in any way -- code is just linked
	into shared library instead of each program.

>Then there's the performance penalty shared libs give you on some machines.
>This can mean slower execution, increased memory usage or slower startup
>time. That may be the reason Oracle doesn't want to use shared libs on your
>platform.

	This maybe true. However, in a company building very large
	applications (one system may contain 200-300 programs
	most of them using oracle) it is very uncomfortable to
	tell explain customers why each program takes 1 to 2 megabytes
	of disc space. With shared libraries, such program can be reduced
	to 10% of it's original size (and it is possible to utilize 
	advanced features of operating systems fully -- like loading
	application code from shared library to running process).

	When I have spoken for the possible slowness, increased memory
	useage I have been hit back with this: WHY THE OPERATING SYSTEM
	THEN USES SHARED LIBS FOR ALMOST ALL UTILITIES ?? WHY
	THIS PRODUCT XYZ USES SHARED LIBS ??

>If you find that you absolutely need shared libs on your platform, you
>should report it to Oracle support. If there's enough demand, they may
>consider to support it in a future release.

	Maybe Oracle could ship both archive and shared libraries. 
	That would give application developers freedom of choice.
	I think most software developers are capable of making the
	choice themselves -- but currently there is only one possibility.

		Regards, Ari

		PS. One more interesting thing: Oracle seems to supply
		    some .DLL files (=shared libraries) with
		    Windows NT & Windows 3.x versions. Maybe the Windows folks
		    could talk with Unix folks at Oracle ...

--
 	... These opinions are mine -- not those I work for ...

	Ari Suutari			ari_at_tahko.lpr.carel.fi
	Lappeenranta
	Finland