PIC code

[TIm Hockin <thockin@cobaltnet.com>]

hey crew.

Working on a Cobalt box, I notice that gcc compiles EVERYTHING as if
-fPIC has been requested.

1) Why?
2) Can this be changed?
3) Should this be changed?
4) How?
5) What effects would it have?

I have never seen ld complain about linking PIC and non-PIC code
before...

Thanks (pardon my ignorance - I am 4 days old with MIPS  Linux :)

Tim