[Vm-dev] why would a unix vm try to load libasound when the commando line is either squeak -help or squeak -vm-sound-null?

[tim Rowledge]

> On 2021-09-27, at 7:42 PM, David T. Lewis <lewis at mail.msen.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> For the Unix VM, Ian designed a system of loadable VM modules. These
> are analogous to the VM plugins (FilePlugin et al) except that they
> are loaded directly by the VM executable itself before the image is
> loaded. These modules are used to provide support for subsystems
> such as sound and display.

Exactly - which was one of the reasons I got puzzled by the apparent insistence on loading libasound...

> 
> Try `./bin/squeak -vm-sound-null -h` instead, see below for explanation
> of why this might work.

It's making no difference at all; I've even tried ./bin/squeak -vm-sound-oss -help to see if it makes any difference. It gets a bit weirder though. One the 'old' machine where things work decently

`./bin/squeak -vm-sound-oss -help
Usage: ./bin/squeak [<option>...] [<imageName> [<argument>...]]
       ./bin/squeak [<option>...] -- [<argument>...]
options begin with single -, but -- prefix is silently accepted
vm-sound-NAS tryLoading /srv/squeakbuildfactory/bin/vm-sound-NAS.so: dlopen: libaudio.so.2: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

ALSA <option>s:` etc etc

On the 'new ' set up 
` ./bin/squeak -vm-sound-oss -help
./bin/squeak: error while loading shared libraries: libasound.so.2: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory'
ie as before.

It's as if sometihng in whatever config/make environment created this particular VM had some clause explicitly linking to libasound. But even that doesn't provide any reason why one side complains about libasound and then runs anyway, whilst the other complains and dies!

I guess I'll try a new VM etc tomorrow, see if that makes any difference. Whodathunk simply moving a file could cause so much bother?

tim
--
tim Rowledge; tim at rowledge.org; http://www.rowledge.org/tim
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