[SOLVED] Meaning of -noarch- in the name of some slack packages.

stf92 · 02-03-2011, 05:36 AM

Hi:

'-noarch-' is a substring in the name of some slack packages. E.g., bittorrent-4.4.0-noarch-2.tgz. What's the meaning. Could anybody explain? Regards.

Sayan Acharjee · 02-03-2011, 05:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stf92

Hi:

'-noarch-' is a substring in the name of some slack packages. E.g., bittorrent-4.4.0-noarch-2.tgz. What's the meaning. Could anybody explain? Regards.

It means that the package is not limited to a certain architecture ( like x86,ppc or SPARC) and will compile and run on all architectures.

DonnieP · 02-03-2011, 05:57 AM

The files in the package are text and not binary - in the case of bittorrent, python.

stf92 · 02-03-2011, 06:34 AM

Hi:
bittorrent-4.4.0-noarch-2.tgz is certainly a binary one, as having installed it with installpkg proves. What I must understand, according to Sayan, is that the binaries contained in this package will run on more than one architecture? This is impossible!

TobiSGD · 02-03-2011, 06:49 AM

No, it is not. The bittorrent program is written in Python. Python is an interpreted language and runs on any computer that has the Python interpreter installed, regardless of its architecture. It is not a binary.

thommys · 02-03-2011, 06:53 AM

There are no binaries in this package.
only text files because bittorrent is written in python.
that means noarch.

stf92 · 02-03-2011, 07:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TobiSGD

No, it is not. The bittorrent program is written in Python. Python is an interpreted language and runs on any computer that has the Python interpreter installed, regardless of its architecture. It is not a binary.

I see. As in the old days of the basic interpreter, run by either the O.S. or firmware. It must be the astonishing speed of current CPU's what favored the return of interpreted languages. Regards.

TobiSGD · 02-03-2011, 07:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stf92

It must be the astonishing speed of current CPU's what favored the return of interpreted languages.

That, and a different approach than in the old days. In the old days the code of interpreted languages was directly interpreted. In Python, for example, the code will be compiled to a byte-code on runtime, and this byte-code will run in a virtual machine. If you run a Python application you will find files with the .pyc ending. These are the compiled instructions.
I don't know if interpreted is really the right word in this context.

stf92 · 02-03-2011, 07:54 AM

@TobiSGD: So Sayan was right after all. There _is_ compilation. And I now see the necessity to speak of byte-code as opposed to the intermediate compilation generated code. This is all very instructive. Thanks.