On Wed, Aug 28, 2002 at 07:24:44 -0400, Colin Walters wrote: > On Wed, 2002-08-28 at 06:15, J.H.M. Dassen (Ray) wrote: > > So? Let's fix the root cause of that problem then, by having a libpng2-dev > > package that can coexist with libpng3-dev. > > [...] > > > - include png(conf).h from /usr/include/png2 rather than /usr/include > > - link "-lpng2" rather than "-lpng" > > Woah, woah. This is a bad idea. These kinds of things have to be done > upstream. We're not going to patch all of the hundreds of packages > which use libpng2 to link with -lpng2.
Indeed we're not. The only packages which need to be changed are those that we as Debian developers (primarily meaning Christian as the maintainer of the GNOME1 core) feel ought to be buildable on systems that also need to have libpng3-dev installed. If you look at the patch, libpng2-dev is left unchanged and is still as (un)usable as it is now. If you don't care about your packages not being buildable when libpng3-dev is installed (e.g. you don't have libpng3-dev installed or you build your packages using sbuild or pbuilder or you don't consider switching between -dev sets a hassle), you don't have to change anything. You only need to use libpng2-altdev (and make the changes I listed) if you want them to be buildable on a system that has libpng3-dev installed. Altdev packages are a proven solution (see e.g. the libc5 -> libc6 transition) for Debian package maintainers (and in some cases, users) to be able to build packages against older libraries. > And besides, people do development with software that's not in Debian; we > have to provide them with a sane environment. They can install libpng2-dev or libpng3-dev at their choice and don't have to care about libpng2-altdev's existance in any way. Ray -- THEY planted The Lone Gunmen to MIND CONTROL the public into seeing TRUTH SEEKERS as CONSPIRACY NUTS.
