[fpc-pascal] Re: linux: should we hard-code versioned or unversioned shared libraries in our apps?

[Reinier Olislagers]

On 16-8-2012 5:31, Marco van de Voort wrote:
> It's not a FPC problem, it is a linux problem that apps are not
> crossdistribution distributable.  Creating a lot of drama if you see a
> minor discrepancy here 6 months after release won't benefit anyone.
> 
> Just like we had a similar drama discussions about adding fbembedded 9
> months ago, we'll just rehash this charade in 9 months for some other
> library where a new version came out or where naming changed.

Don't know what drama you refer to exactly (quick search through the
archives on fbembed showed nothing relevant) but for the Windows side:
fbembed.dll is a DLL distributed by the Firebird installer, just like
fbclient.dll (and, if you go the masochistic route, if you check the box
on installation, perhaps gds32.dll will also be installed).

I don't see how sqldb not searching for fbembed.dll by default and
letting devs search for this manually in their program for every program
makes things easier.

As for Linux: if libfbembed is distributed by the distro packages...
well, yes, it might be a "drama" to add it to ibase60.inc, but doing
things half way and leaving only libgds and libfbclient there will only
confuse things more.
Is a change every say 9 months really such a big problem? Why not add an
FPC FAQ entry (if it's not already there) stating these problems and
decisions, and say that mainstream library names will be added after
name changes, but indicate the delay you mentioned.

Either something like that or throw out the entire concept and force
devs to specify library names in every program...