Re: Java policy and ABI changes
manfred@mosabuam.com wrote:
> I could not agree more. I assume you mean the packager needs to
> reference the right version of a library.
That too, but also the _user_ who runs third-party code using the library,
and needs to set the classpath.
> I actually have a question about that. What do we need the symlink
> without the version for. It actually looks dangerous to me to have
> that.
It is, but I guess it's convenient, so we just hope it doesn't break on
upgrades...
Wonder if it would be possible to use the alternatives system to provide the
symlink? Then it could be controlled by the sysadmin.
>> Note that I'm not suggesting we should package several versions of
>> libraries. That should be avoided, but when necessary there should be a
>> way to do it.
>
> Would it be possible for one package to actually create different
> versions?
No, not in a sane way. Each package comes from one source release.
> Otherwise it would need to be possible to have different
> versions of the same package installed at the same time without file
> conflicts
If multiple ABIs are needed simultaneously, then the package names must
differ. I.e. libfoo0-java, libfoo1-java etc.
I don't think there has been much pressure to support different versions
though. Usually we just package the latest version available. We should
probably take care to check API/ABI compatibility on each upgrade.
Marcus
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