[Exim-dev] Re: libpcre dependencies [was Re: Bug reporting a…

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Author: Nico Erfurth
Date:  
To: Andreas Metzler
CC: exim-dev
Old-Topics: Re: Bug reporting and monitoring [Was Re: [Exim-dev] Code quality measurements and automated checks]
Subject: [Exim-dev] Re: libpcre dependencies [was Re: Bug reporting and monitoring]
Andreas Metzler wrote:

> The problem with this is:
> - it is a waste of resources, especially memory (the dynamically linked
> library is shared between multiple exim instances)


The exim memory used for the exim binary itself is also shared between
instances. Also the version shipped with exim is stripped down to the
necessary stuff, so it's less overhead (at least it was so when I
checked it the last time).

> - It makes security updates a PITA. If there ever is a security
> problem in pcre you'll need to issue updates for every package
> statically linking against it, instead of just for the library
> package. There wa a problem in zlib about a year ago iirc that
> nicely illustated this.


Exim ALWAYS links against its own pcre library, and Philip also suggests
that. So, unless you patched around to make it link against a system
installed libpcre, the dependency is useless.

Nico