[syslinux] "Cannot execute binary file" with several distros

[Nazo]

On 8/23/06, H. Peter Anvin <hpa at zytor.com> wrote:
> Nazo wrote:
> > Lately I've been finding that most versions of Syslinux no longer work
> > in the various linux distros I use them in (primarily Mandriva 2006
> > and Finnix.)  When I try to run binaries such as the extlinux it
> > produces the error "bash: ./extlinux/extlinux: cannot execute binary
> > file" which it says for each of the major binaries.  As nearly as I
> > can tell, everything but the scripts in fact.  At first I thought the
> > problem was on the side of the distro (and it may technically be in
> > some ways) but the fact that it has happened in more than one makes me
> > wonder about that.  In the case of things like Mandriva I can just
> > simply recompile, no big deal, but, in the case of live distros like
> > Finnix I'm simply stuck.  They usually come with an old version of
> > Syslinux, but, as I said, it's an old version.  Also, they seem to
> > neglect to include other stuff such as extlinux in some cases or the
> > standard com32 files in most cases (I'm addicted to menu.c32 and its
> > simplicity.)
> >
> > Any idea what is causing the problem and what, if anything, I can do
> > to get it working in my rescue disc where I can't rebuild it but can't
> > use Mandriva libraries either?
> >
>
> FWIW, I'm going to try to make it so it's possible to build a statically
> linked version of extlinux against klibc (this is currently not
> possible; it's possible with the syslinux unix installer, however.)
>
>         -hpa
>

Alright.  I suspected it was something along these lines.  Primarily
I'm just curious because I had been using many different versions of
Syslinux with many different versions of Finnix (eg what I'm primarily
using for rescue/repair) for a long time now and only just recently
ran into this trouble.  I'm guessing that some major library (klibc
perhaps?) has changed in the recent past and they have essentially all
become "desynced" so to speak.  Unfortunately, while rebulding works
great for Mandriva, live distros like Finnix rarely have a compiler.
Perhaps I might rig up something with Ubuntu or something similar for
actually getting Syslinux installed, but then I'll have to keep two
discs on hand since there's no way I could squeeze Ubuntu into my
"Ultimate Boot DVD."  I do hope you can figure out some way to make it
possible to statically link, but, in the meantime at least I know that
the issue isn't something that is going to magically go away.  Thanks
for the quick response.