[debian-mysql] Bug#793787: Bug#793787: Bug#793787: mariadb-client-10.0: indirect dependency on libmysqlclient18

[Otto Kekäläinen]

2016-01-26 10:10 GMT+02:00 Clint Byrum <spamaps at debian.org>:
> I just want to point out that MariaDB's libmysqlclient18 is _not_ ABI
> compatible with libmysqlclient18. It has symbols in it that are not in
> libmysqlclient18. So this isn't just "you can't provide the same library",
> this is "you can't hijack a library name".

The libmariadbclient18 is indeed not 100% identical with the
libmysqlclient18 ABI, but it is compatible in all practical senses.
The mariadb.org repositories do provide a libmariadbclient package
with a MariaDB version of libmysqlclient.so.18 and all programs work
well with it. Also it should be noted that the mysql-5.5 nor mysql-5.6
never shipped a symbols file, mostly due to the fact that Oracle
libmysqlclient.so.18 isn't 100% ABI compatible with different releases
of itself. The pkg-mysql-maint mailing list has discussions about
this, but I cannot find the threads right now.

Summary: libmariadbclient18 is not available in Debian due to the
current view regarding policy, that the same
/usr/lib/*/libmysqlclient.so.18 cannot stem from the same package. One
solution would have been to rename the MariaDB version, but then
programs that link to it would need to be rewritten. If somebody
touches the code in ABI "consuming" apps, they might as well switch to
using /usr/lib/*/libmariadb.so.2 (or soon libmariadb.so.3)

 It is convenient that Clint comments this issue as he was the primary
spokesperson for the double /usr/lib/*/libmysqlclient.so.18 forbidding
view (and with very good and valid arguments).