Re: versuffixes for different platforms

[Ralf Wildenhues]

Hello Jan,

* Jan Engelhardt wrote on Tue, Jan 06, 2009 at 04:12:57AM CET:
> 
> I noticed that different platforms get different filenames, e.g.
> for "-version-info 16:0:2":
> 
> Linux, libfoo.so.14.2.0
> NetBSD, libfoo.so.16.0
> FreeBSD, libfoo.so.16

> What is the rationale behind omitting $age and $revision on FreeBSD, and 
> using $current.0 on NetBSD?

Libtool is just adjusting to local custom and semantics, with respect to
placement, set, and ordering of the numbers.  The values are chosen in
such a way that the libtool numbering scheme semantics (see the manual)
works as good as possible with the system semantics.

For the latter, there is typically more than one possibility for such
a mapping, and I can't say that libtool's choice has always been the
smartest (in terms of user surprise about different major versions),
but changing the numbering scheme once it has been fixed is a pretty
sure recipe for compatibility disaster.

You will notice that there are other, more haphazard differences between
shared library semantics between systems than the numbering scheme.

Cheers,
Ralf