> I think
> realisticly we could bump the version numbers, and then have a "compat" library
> distribution, which contains older libraries for programs that expect them. 

Check out pkgsrc/emulators/compat*.  (Thanks to tv@netbsd.org for
doing the right thing... 8-)


> Thus if I have a machine which has a ton of user bins for like 1.1, or
> 0.9-current (which I do.. and I'm slowly hacking things over, and making them
> work again) then I can install the libs and at least have things work in the
> intermn. It would probably take some form of maintinence however to keep the
> older libs compiling and working properly however..

two points:

(1) -current is your own problem.  You run -current, it's up to you to
keep the right shared libs around if you need them.

(2) Why bother compiling.  Just pull them out of old releases.



Now if only the package tools were 'easily accessible' during system
installation, so you could easily decide to install those packages...
8-)


cgd