binaries and libries in /lib /bin depends on/usr

[Patrice Dumas]

Hello,

I was under the impression that the commands and libraries in /bin and
/lib were meant to be usable without /usr mounted. Is it right?
However rpm which is a rather important command requires libraries
in /usr/lib:

[dumas at patoune lib]$ ldd /bin/rpm | grep usr
        librpm-4.4.so => /usr/lib/librpm-4.4.so (0x006ca000)
        librpmdb-4.4.so => /usr/lib/librpmdb-4.4.so (0x007ba000)
        librpmio-4.4.so => /usr/lib/librpmio-4.4.so (0x005cd000)
        libpopt.so.0 => /usr/lib/libpopt.so.0 (0x00534000)
        libsqlite3.so.0 => /usr/lib/libsqlite3.so.0 (0x0066a000)
        libelf.so.1 => /usr/lib/libelf.so.1 (0x002c5000)
        libbeecrypt.so.6 => /usr/lib/libbeecrypt.so.6 (0x00556000)
        libneon.so.25 => /usr/lib/libneon.so.25 (0x00596000)
        libz.so.1 => /usr/lib/libz.so.1 (0x0029a000)
        libbz2.so.1 => /usr/lib/libbz2.so.1 (0x00a90000)
        libstdc++.so.6 => /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6 (0x053e6000)
        libgssapi_krb5.so.2 => /usr/lib/libgssapi_krb5.so.2 (0x004d2000)
        libkrb5.so.3 => /usr/lib/libkrb5.so.3 (0x002fd000)
        libk5crypto.so.3 => /usr/lib/libk5crypto.so.3 (0x00374000)
        libkrb5support.so.0 => /usr/lib/libkrb5support.so.0 (0x002f7000)

Some libs in /lib also need other libs in /usr, in my setup, there is
(avoiding some dups):
libcrypto.so.0.9.8a
        libz.so.1 => /usr/lib/libz.so.1 (0x0029a000)
libnss_wins.so
        libldap-2.3.so.0 => /usr/lib/libldap-2.3.so.0 (0x00880000)
        liblber-2.3.so.0 => /usr/lib/liblber-2.3.so.0 (0x00a96000)
        libgssapi_krb5.so.2 => /usr/lib/libgssapi_krb5.so.2 (0x00295000)
        libkrb5.so.3 => /usr/lib/libkrb5.so.3 (0x002ae000)
        libk5crypto.so.3 => /usr/lib/libk5crypto.so.3 (0x00a15000)
        libkrb5support.so.0 => /usr/lib/libkrb5support.so.0 (0x00460000)
        libsasl2.so.2 => /usr/lib/libsasl2.so.2 (0x001f5000)
        libz.so.1 => /usr/lib/libz.so.1 (0x00211000)
and libssl.so.0.9.8a
        libgssapi_krb5.so.2 => /usr/lib/libgssapi_krb5.so.2 (0x004d2000)
        libkrb5.so.3 => /usr/lib/libkrb5.so.3 (0x002fd000)
        libk5crypto.so.3 => /usr/lib/libk5crypto.so.3 (0x00374000)
        libz.so.1 => /usr/lib/libz.so.1 (0x0029a000)
        libkrb5support.so.0 => /usr/lib/libkrb5support.so.0 (0x002f7000)

Why aren't those libs in /lib? Are they too big, or do they require
things in /usr/lib /usr/share such that it isn't really worth having
them in /lib? In that case I fail to see why they are in /lib (except
maybe for libnss_*).

--
Pat