Portable glibc binary package

[Shaun Jackman]

On 18 March 2015 at 08:40, Carlos O'Donell <carlos@redhat.com> wrote:
> On 03/18/2015 12:24 AM, Shaun Jackman wrote:
>> My original question remains: is it possible to compile a portable
>> glibc binary package that can be installed in a user's home directory?
>
> A runtime that can be rooted in a directory other than /?
>
> It is possible, you do so by compiling glibc with an alternate prefix.
>
> At present the prefix is not runtime configurable, but I would not
> object to patches that make it so given a configure flag. This would
> then allow you to install a completely isolated runtime in an
> untrusted location.
>
> However, why not just use chroot or pivot_root?
>
> Cheers,
> Carlos.

> At present the prefix is not runtime configurable,

Do you think that would be a lot of work? It would be a useful
feature, at least for me.

> However, why not just use chroot or pivot_root?

Those both require root privilege, I believe. The goal is to upgrade
glibc on a system such as a high-performance computing cluster where
the user does not have root access.

Cheers,
Shaun