Re: [Boost-build] Boost library naming scheme

From: Steve M. Robbins (steve_at_[hidden])
Date: 2008-04-21 21:58:19

On Mon, Apr 21, 2008 at 09:23:46AM -0500, Rene Rivera wrote:
> > On Monday 14 April 2008 09:52:31 Rene Rivera wrote:

> >> b) That, as far as I understand, the lib*.so.X.Y.Z arrangement is to 
> >> allow for selection among possibly compatible ABIs.

> And in case I'm misinformed... The mechanics of (b) that I understand is 
> that specifying a partial version will make the linker search for the 
> closest matching library. And that specifying a complete version, the 
> linker will fall back to a latter patch revision if the one asked for is 
> not found.

Are you speaking of the mechanics on unix or of some other OS,
e.g. Windows?

The mechanics of unix are simple: 

Let application A be linked against a shared library with soname S.
At A's runtime, library /usr/lib/S is loaded.  There is no "search for
the closest matching library".

Boost uses the convention that libfoo.so.X.Y.Z has SONAME
libfoo.so.X.Y.Z so the application always loads exactly the
library it was linked with.  No heuristics.

Chimo,
-Steve