[Mono-devel-list] Red Hat 9 + LD_ASSUME_KERNEL => Monodevelop fails to load

[Jonathan Pryor]

On Thu, 2004-08-26 at 10:55, Colin Beckingham wrote:
> Following the release notes for install of Firebird rdbms 1.5 on redhat 
> 9 includes an instruction to add a parameter LD_ASSUME_KERNEL=2.2.5 to 
> /etc/profile. This is to do with Native POSIX Thread Library components 
> in RH9. (I don't really understand this, just repeating for info.)
> 
> If I do this then Monodevelop will start to load (mono splash icon) and 
> then stop. Remove the LD_ASSUME_KERNEL and it starts properly again.

It sounds like MonoDevelop and Firebird are incompatible, then.

MonoDevelop (IIRC) is integrated with the Mono Debugger.  The Mono
Debugger *requires* NPTL (restricting its use to Red Hat 9 or Linux 2.6
kernels).

Firebird, on the other hand, *cannot* use NPTL (hence the
LD_ASSUME_KERNEL=2.2.5 requirement).

Consequently, you can't use MonoDevelop and Firebird at the same time.

<snip/>

> Is this a bug or am I missing something? Thanks.

It's arguably a bug, but where the bug lies can be debated.  Some could
argue it's in MonoDevelop/Mono Debugger & its NPTL requirement.  I would
argue it's in Firebird, and its requirement for an ancient kernel; it
really should be updated to operate on Linux 2.6 without an
LD_ASSUME_KERNEL requirement.

In any event, it's unfortunate that MonoDevelop and Firebird are
incompatible with each other, but I don't think that will change in the
immediate future.

 - Jon