libfam0 and libfam0c102 for Debian ---------------------------------- The fam source package produces both libfam0 and libfam0c102 library packages to resolve a dependency problem left from the g++ 4.0 ABI transition. The story goes like this: A long long time ago, Debian went through the g++ 3.2 transition. The fam library package was renamed from libfam0 to libfam0c102, and then people discovered that the name change was completely unnecessary because libfam does not export any C++ symbols. The maintainer decided to be nice and made libfam0c102 Provide libfam0. * Version 2.7.0-7 contains libfam0c102, which Provides libfam0. The g++ 4.0 ABI transition kicks in, so we changed the name of the library package to libfam0. Packages that Depends on libfam0c102 are rebuilt to depend on libfam0. * Version 2.7.0-7.1 contains libfam0. We made the same discovery all over again. Since, like the previous maintainer, I also wanted to be nice and save people some work, I made libfam0 Provide libfam0c102. This move caused a stir on -devel. * Version 2.7.0-8 contains libfam0, which Provides libfam0c102. But there is a problem. Suppose that libfam0c102 is installed on a system to satisfy a dependency on it. The package will also satisfy the libfam0 dependency because it Provides libfam0. As a result, the system will not upgrade to the new fam packages. This is bad because the system will not receive any security updates to libfam. So I decided to make fam produce both libfam0 and libfam0c102 to smooth the upgrade path, and that is the while story. IF WE GO THROUGH ANOTHER C++ TRANSITION, PLEASE LEAVE FAM AS IS AND AVOID ALL THE TROUBLES WE HAVE WENT THROUGH. -- Chuan-kai Lin , Tue, 2 May 2006 21:59:51 -0700