Re: [boost] Library names in system layout on linux

Subject: Re: [boost] Library names in system layout on linux
From: Andrey Semashev (andrey.semashev_at_[hidden])
Date: 2008-11-09 12:37:15

Vladimir Prus wrote:
> Andrey Semashev wrote:

>>> Recall, we're talking about --layout=system, which is explicitly meant for
>>> system integrators. So it's not a "small suffix", it is "incompatible with
>>> system naming of libraries".
>> Is it? AFAIK, there are no specific requirements on the library name
>> itself (by which I mean everything between 'lib' and '.so' or '.a'). It
>> can be 'boost_filesystem' or 'boost_filesystem_mt' - I don't see much
>> difference for packaging purpose.
>>
>>> There is zillion ways to compile any library,
>>> so this matter is not specific to boost.
>>> It is known that compiled versions of some Boost libraries have different ABI
>>> in ST and MT mode. But then, Boost is not one library of such kind.
>> But why introduce the danger of misuse, especially when there is no such
>> problem now?
> 
> The problem now is that names used by boost libraries don't follow system conventions,
> so a random user, to build against Boost, should use:
> 
>         -lboost_filesystem-<bunch-on-random-tags>

No, just -lboost_filesystem-mt.

> It is a big problem in practice.

Well, I guess that's subjective, but that 'mt' suffix is no problem for
me, and I would rather have it in order not to mess with library name
clashes.