> The shared library would retain old
> interfaces (functions or data) after a change that requires a major
> number update - much as it does now using __RENAME - and ld.so would
> know how to retrieve the old versions for programs that were linked
> with a previous major version number.

Except, now, if you are willing to bump the major number (really, all
major numbers in the system, if you're bumping libc's), you can kill
all of the backward-compatibility bits.

That's a good thing.

I think the requirement that backward compatiblity bits work For All
Time is a very bad one.  It means that the libraries _must_ become
bloated, over time, and it means added work if interfaces change
(change the interface and change all backward compatibility bits all
the way back to the beginning of time).


I'm not at all convinced that getting rid of the notion of shared
library major numbers is at all a good thing...


cgd