Re: Bug#83419: where are libssl09 and libssl095a?

[Brian May <bam@debian.org>]

>>>>> "Luca" == Luca Filipozzi <lfilipoz@emyr.net> writes:

    Luca> It really is upstream's numbering convention that is causing
    Luca> us (or, at least, me) all this confusion. For example, if
    Luca> they release 0.9.7 and it *only* contains bug fixes but no
    Luca> interface changes, should the soname change? No, it
    Luca> shouldn't. But with their convention (and with how they have
    Luca> structured their build system), it will.

I am not sure if they use libtool or not, but you might want to point
them to the libtool documentation. It gives helpful hints on the
correct way of doing this.

See <URL:http://www.gnu.org/software/libtool/manual.html#Versioning>.
I think this is worth reading for anybody confused about shared
library versions (although the concept that a shared library can
support interfaces, say between 5 to 19 confuses me - how is the
implemented?).

In particular, note:

"Never try to set the interface numbers so that they correspond to the
release number of your package. This is an abuse that only fosters
misunderstanding of the purpose of library versions. Instead, use the
-release flag (see Release numbers), but be warned that every release
of your package will not be binary compatible with any other
release. "
-- 
Brian May <bam@debian.org>