Re: Issues with library version numbers

[Brian Cameron <Brian Cameron Sun COM>]

> 	For goodness sake Brian. You've just logged a bunch of bugs saying that
> GNOME maintainers have been breaking the library ABI and that we should
> bump the soname on all these libraries ....
>
> 	Sorry, I really have to wonder what planet you're on.
>
> 	I don't have the time to verify every removed symbol you've identified,
> but the removed symbol you identified in GConf was merely accidently
> exported and, at a glance, it looks that way with the bonobo ones. The
> GConf symbol was never part of the public API, never in an installed
> header etc.

Oh, Mark, give me a break.  It is clearly a bug that library version numbers
aren't being updated properly for some modules, and a breakage of release
team process.  I'm not suggesting that ABI has been broken.  Further review
is necessary to determine if there are any serious problems.

I listed the added/removed interfaces in the bugs just to highlight that
change has happened in the libraries and therefore the number should have
been bumped with more consideration.  In the bugs I tried to point out
that only the removed interfaces affected whether the major or minor
number should be bumped.

> 	If you actually want to be helpful, go through each of these removed
> symbols and check if they were ever actually public APIs. You remember I
> did this last time you claimed that gtk+/pango/glib etc. all broke their
> ABIs willy nilly ... and in that case it turned out that the only
> *public* API removed was one that was added by a Sun patch.

I think you are referring to this bug, which was reported by David Brown
at Sun:

  http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=151167

I have shared similar reports with Owen Taylor before they started
using abicheck in glib/GTK+ which I think helped to remove some private
symbols from being exported from these libraries.  Private symbols
really shouldn't be exported in libraries at all.  I think that the
way glib/GTK+ use LIBTOOL_EXPORT_OPTIONS and abicheck help to avoid
exporting private symbols.  Bala and I are currently working to help
add these features to the Platform libraries that currently do not
use them.

I don't think I or anyone at Sun ever claimed that any libraries have
changed their interfaces willy/nilly.  I believe I have always stated that
I think that the GNOME team does a good job maintaining interface
stability.  However, when issues such as this are noticed, they need
to be pointed out and reviewed.

But you are missing the point, I was never suggesting that the removal
of private interfaces breaks ABI.  I was pointing out that not updating
library version numbers is a bug and a breakage of release team process.

> 	I shudder to think how much of people's time you're wasting with these
> bugs.

You make it sound like I filed hundreds of bugs.  I only filed bugs against
GConf, gnome-vfs and bonobo components.  Both you and Michael Meeks
responded almost immediately.

Brian