Arch Linux

draetsch

Member

Registered: 2004-02-25

Posts: 21

(not) so similar libraries

Hi,

I have a general question concerning libraries.
I want to run Houdini Apprentice on my AL Machine but it wants libdb.so.2

What is this thing about different libraries like libdb.so (libdb.so.2 3 5 a.s.o).

Thanks to everyone who can enlighten me and to everyone who made this cool distro.

farphel

Forum Fellow

From: New Hampshire - USA

Registered: 2003-09-18

Posts: 250

Website

Re: (not) so similar libraries

A library ending in .so is a shared library (like a dll on Winblows).  The executable dynamically loads the library during run-time.  The trailing number (.so.2) is the version number.  Your app wants an older version of libdb and doesn't recognize the newer version you have installed (v4).  A library ending in .a is a static library that can be built into an executable.

You can try and fool your application and create a soft link like this:

ln -s /usr/lib/libdb-4.2.so /usr/lib/libdb.so.2

If the v4 library is backwards compatible with v2, then your app should work.

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Xentac

Forum Fellow

From: Victoria, BC

Registered: 2003-01-17

Posts: 1,797

Website

Re: (not) so similar libraries

libdb has a history of not being backwards compatible.  Especially across two major versions.  Good luck

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draetsch

Member

Registered: 2004-02-25

Posts: 21

Re: (not) so similar libraries

That sounds like fun, eh?

What options do I have then? Is it possible to install two different versions of the same library? In my opinion this is better than exchange the later version since some packages seem dependend of the new version.