Re: Library packages depending on data files

[Adrian Bunk <bunk@fs.tum.de>]

On Thu, Feb 05, 2004 at 01:37:45PM +0000, Matthew Garrett wrote:
> Adrian Bunk wrote:
> >On Tue, Feb 03, 2004 at 01:10:51AM +0000, Andrew Suffield wrote:
> >> It is necessary to support having multiple ABI versions of a library
> >> installed at once.
> >
> >Why?
> 
> Because ABI breaks may be accompanied by large API breaks, and
> applications that we wish to ship may not be ported to the new API. See
> the large number of GTK 1 applications, for instance. Not all Gnome 1
> applications have been ported to Gnome 2, and refusing to support those
> on the basis that it makes testing a bit uglier for a while is foolish.
> Not to mention the closed-source applications that we wish people to be
> able to run.

I understand this problem for GNOME.

But GNOME is an exception, the vast majority of new so-versions of 
libraries don't contain large API breaks.

cu
Adrian

-- 

       "Is there not promise of rain?" Ling Tan asked suddenly out
        of the darkness. There had been need of rain for many days.
       "Only a promise," Lao Er said.
                                       Pearl S. Buck - Dragon Seed