[Pkg-javascript-devel] Bug#770406: libv8-3.14.5: Add libv8 virtual package with dep on latest libv8-#.#.#.

[Jérémy Lal]

Le samedi 22 novembre 2014 à 13:26 -0800, Joseph Coffland a écrit :
> ../.. The problem
> stems from the fact that libv8 includes the library version in the library
> name not just in the package name.  I know this has become common (boost
> does too) but it's a PITA for packages which depend on such packages.

Actually there's a reasonable explanation for that fact :
upstream libv8 doesn't care about API compatibility between versions,
even patch-level updates can break API.
Even when API compatibility matches their version numbers, ABI
compatibility is not something upstream tries to ensure. Note that it is
more difficult to achieve with C++ libs than with C libs.
Like Boost indeed, programs depending on a given version will often
require patches to be able to be built on a later minor update, and must
all be rebuilt in any case (because of potential ABI incompatibilities).
This is a PITA - not only for debian - for all other programs depending
on libv8 and that mostly explain also why nodejs 0.10 branch was stuck
with libv8-3.14.

I hope that (kind of) rant gives you a clearer view of the situation.

Jérémy.