Re: Shared libraries and symlinks

[Richard Braakman <dark@xs4all.nl>]

Torsten Landschoff wrote:
> On Tue, Mar 16, 1999 at 01:34:49PM +0100, BROWN Nick wrote:
>  
> > Currently my problem (we're getting to the question now :-} ) is the
> > symlink.  I need to provide a symlink libqt.so.1 to the file libqt.so.1.42.
> > But this has to be after the shared library file in the archive.  Can anyone
> > supply an example of a rules file which does this ?  Section 12 of the
> > packaging manual is rather obscure in this area.  Better still, could
> > someone provide an example rules file for a shared library binary ?
> 
> *ARG* Don't set this symlink! libqt.so.1 is generated by ldconfig - that is
> what it is used for. It scans /usr/lib/ for .so.x.y.z files and links the
> highest versions so that .so.x -> .so.x.y and .so.x.y -> .so.x.y.z, where y
> and z are the highest numbers with that prefix.
> 
> You should call ldconfig from the postinst.

You should call ldconfig from the postinst, *AND* install the symlink
it wants to make.  Otherwise, you leave dangling symlinks when the package
is removed.

Richard Braakman