binary distribution for shared libraries?

[Ed Hartnett]

Howdy all!

I'm converting the open source netcdf scientific data package to
libtool, and I have a question.

We had been in the habit of releasing binaries with each release for
each of the 6 or 7 systems we support (Linux, AIX, Sun, Irix, Mac OSX,
Cygwin, etc.)

Is it possible/advisable to release shared libraries as binaries?

Won't the built-in directory names cause a problem? In other words, if
I build the shared library to be installed in /usr/local/lib, and the
user downloads it and puts it somewhere else, that would cause the
library to not load, correct?

Any comments on distributing shared libraries in binary would be most
appreciated. Most of our users have downloaded the binaries rather
than building from source, and we would like to be able to continue
doing that, if possible.

Thanks!

Ed

-- 
Ed Hartnett  -- address@hidden