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I am new to the C language and unix as this question may imply.
This question was asked of me and my initial thought was why not.
Q: Can a C Source compiled executable be ported from one Unix box to another.
If anyone can confirm or deny my initial thoughts with some details it would be greatly appreciated.
Statically compiled or dynamic? What kinds of libraries were used etc? I guess the answer is, "It depends."
Most likely the answer is no. Not only might static vs dynamic libraries matter, but what version of the library you use and what target architecture that library was compiled for. It also depends on what hardware you're running on, what flavor of Unix you're using and what version of the kernel you're using. And those are only the issues with the most basic C programs.
It's not generally possible, but it can work in some cases.
Most importantly, the architectures must be compatible -- you can't execute SPARC code on an x86 for instance. If the architectures are compatible, the system call API/ABI must be compatible as well. If the system call API/ABI is compatible, any dynamic dependencies (shared objects) must also be compatible.
For instance, you can run FreeBSD executables on Linux, and you can run Linux executables on FreeBSD, in certain cases. Also consider Wine, which runs Windows executables on Linux.
Some really hairy stuff is going on behind the scenes to actually make that work. It's a last-resort sort of thing.
A: Sure:Quote:
Originally Posted by CTGEO33
If your code is 100% standard C, then of course you can.Code:#include<stdio.h>
int main( void )
{
printf( "Hello World!\n" );
return 0;
}
Quzah.
The second Unix box should be of the same architecture as the first. Even then, it's still not guaranteed to work.