Paul Slootman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> On Mon 05 Oct 1998, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> > On 05-Oct-98 Paul Slootman wrote:
> > > Do you really mean _all_ other packages? AFAIK you can have libjpegg6a
> > > and libjpeg6b installed together (I didn't find a libjpegg6b package).
> > > Additionally, isn't it that so that those packages that use imlib and
> > > depend on libjpegg6a, depend on libjpegg6a only because imlib does?
> > >
> >
> > No. Look at the output of 'imlib-config --libs' sometime.
>
> Yes, I see:
>
> -L/usr/lib -lImlib -ljpeg -ltiff -lgif -lpng -lz -lm -L/usr/X11R6/lib -lSM
> -lICE -lX11 -lXext
>
> > Because imlib is used on more platforms than just linux, and on other
> > platforms, linking shared libs to shared libs doesn't always work.
>
> Then the question may well be that as it is supported on linux, why
> is 'imlib-config --libs' invoking all those libraries on linux? It
> may be necessary on other platforms, but as you implicitly say, it's
> not on linux.
1. What if libImlib is a static library? Even on Linux,
`imlib-config' has to list out the libraries it depend on.
2. Nothing prevents the Debian `imlib' maintainer from modifying the
installed `imlib-config' so that it doesn't list the whole lot of
shared libraries that libImlib depends on. This, due to a fortunate
set of circumstances
a. The ELF shared library format allows such shared library
dependencies to be expressed.
b. The GNU ld uses the listed dependencies while linking against the
shared library. (Others may not -- the .so dependencies may only
be used by the run-time/dynamic loader)
c. The .so file has been built with the Debian version of `libtool'
which passes inter-library dependencies down to the linker.
d. The Debian package contains only shared libraries.
Whether it is worth the trouble is up to the package maintainer.
`{glib,gtk,gnome,imlib,...}-config' were invented since not every system
has this fortunate coincidence of circumstances.
- Hari
--
Raja R Harinath ------------------------------ [EMAIL PROTECTED]
"When all else fails, read the instructions." -- Cahn's Axiom
"Our policy is, when in doubt, do the right thing." -- Roy L Ash
