Arch Linux

mthinkcpp

Member

Registered: 2013-05-11

Posts: 23

gcc-libs vs libstdc++5 packages

As far as I can see libstdc++5 is the legacy version of libstdc++ and gcc-libs contains the latest version. Am I correct? Also I feel that it needs clarifying as a new user (to arch) would not know the difference (libstdc++5 is captioned as  "GNU Standard C++ library version 3" and gcc-libs "Runtime libraries shipped by GCC"). I only discovered it by looking at the dependences for FOSS applications. I feel that gcc-libs should be marked as supplying libstdc++. Above that I also feel that there should be a wiki page on it, I am happy to create one, I just need confirmation that my conclusions are correct (gcc-libs (GPL 3) contains a newer version of libstdc++ than libstdc++5).

masterdisaster

Member

Registered: 2013-05-12

Posts: 14

Re: gcc-libs vs libstdc++5 packages

I have checked on my system and this is what I've got:

# pacman -Ql gcc-libs | grep libstdc++.so
gcc-libs /usr/lib/libstdc++.so
gcc-libs /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6
gcc-libs /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6.0.18

and

# pkgfile -l libstdc++5 | grep libstdc++.so
extra/libstdc++5 /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.5.0.7
extra/libstdc++5 /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.5

Means your assumption is probably correct.

EDIT: Out of curiosity I have searched and found out that the last GCC release to use libstdc++5 was 3.3.1. Look at point number 3 http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/libstdc++/manual/abi.html. Users shouldn't really be concerned with libstdc++ versions because in this case the compiler should take care to install the correct library it requires.

Last edited by masterdisaster (2013-05-15 17:29:14)

mthinkcpp

Member

Registered: 2013-05-11

Posts: 23

Re: gcc-libs vs libstdc++5 packages

Okay, at least I determined it correctly, however I was trying to write a package that depended on libstdc++, so I needed to identify what to add as a dependency, which is why I felt that it should be specified that gcc-libs included it in the package provides section.

Thankyou for your quick response.