Will libX11.so.6 keep its name?

[fredvs]

Hello.

Will XLibre still use libX11.so.6 as the name for the library or will you change it like OpenBSD does (libX11.so.7.106)?

[fredvs]

On OpenBSD, which uses a different so-number for each new version of libX11, when linking with the -lX11 command for the linker, the system looks for a compatible libX11.so.x.y.z library installed on the system, no matter the so number extension used.

This may be unique to Xenocara and OpenBSD but it is great.

On Linux (and other Unix-like operating systems), linking with the -lX11 command looks for a libX11.so library and only with that name without so-number.

Of course you may use -l:libX11.so.6 command to target a library with so-number in Linux but the classical way is to use -lX11 in lot of projects. (It is a few boring because some distros dont give the libX11.so symlink by default, it can be added by the system installing the libx11-dev package or create the symlink manually).

If you don't plan to change the .so number extension for each new release of XLibre, you could use only libX11.so as the name for compiling the library (and no longer libX11.so.6).

But perhaps the simplest thing would be to keep libX11.so.6 as the name when compiling, even with a new version, to avoid compromising compatibility.

[callmetango]

@fredvs Has your question above already been answered in What about libX11-xcb.so? · Issue #368 · X11Libre/xserver?

[fredvs]

@fredvs Has your question above already been answered in What about libX11-xcb.so? · Issue #368 · X11Libre/xserver?

Hmm, more or less. The question in this issue is about libX11.so(.6) and the other issue is about libX11-xcb.so(.1). So, if I understand correctly, XLibre has no intention of touching these libraries as long as Xorg continues to take care of them. And so we will have to forget about any improvements as long as Xorg maintains it. I would have preferred a fork and its support by XLibre but ok, it is not (yet) in the plans.

[callmetango]

I would have preferred a fork and its support by XLibre but ok, it is not (yet) in the plans.

I understand, but yes currently there are no plans to touch libX11 as long as X.org maintains it.