drop Linux a.out support?

In hints/linux.sh I find 44 lines starting:

else
    cat <<'EOM' >&4

You don't have an ELF gcc.  I will use dld if possible.  If you are
using a version of DLD earlier than 3.2.6, or don't have it at all, you
should probably upgrade. If you are forced to use 3.2.4, you should
uncomment a couple of lines in hints/linux.sh and restart Configure so
that shared libraries will be disallowed.

EOM
    lddlflags="-r $lddlflags"
    # These empty values are so that Configure doesn't put in the
    # Linux ELF values.
    ccdlflags=' '
    cccdlflags=' '
    ccflags="-DOVR_DBL_DIG=14 $ccflags"
    so='sa'
    dlext='o'
    nm_so_opt=' '
    ## If you are using DLD 3.2.4 which does not support shared libs,
    ## uncomment the next two lines:
    #ldflags="-static"
    #so='none'


Is it safe to remove these? Or at least, should we threaten it in
perl520delta.pod, and do it once v5.20.1 is out?
Are any (current) Linux systems still on a.out?

Heck, I think we can actually cull 86 lines, including the test for ELF, as
the ELF part before the else doesn't actually set anything.


(Meanwhile, I find that the Internet says that AmigaOS 4 is ELF. Previous
versions were a.out, but 3.whatever is over 10 years old)

Nicholas Clark

• drop Linux a.out support? by Nicholas Clark
• Re: drop Linux a.out support? by Aaron Crane