Archive:PackagingDrafts/LibtoolArchives

Changelog

0.1: first try
0.2: kde runtime is patchable (yay), +SHOULD: move essential .la files to -devel pkgs.
0.3: change -devel/.la files to MUST

NOTE: Proposal has been withdrawn for consideration. Well-said by spot: "Opening this door (to let in .la files), even just a teeny crack, will let bad packages slide right through."

Motivation

(AFAICT) The intent of the original guideline was to avoid problematic libtool archives[[FootNote(For further reading, see also [1] ) , those used in linking, not necessarily those used for loadable modules, plugins, etc...

While .la files outside of $LD_LIBRARY_PATH SHOULD be ok to omit, (AFAIK) keeping them causes no harm either, so shouldn't be a MUST to remove. Problem is, there are quite a few software packages that require .la files for proper function (including some kde bits, though this is being worked on).

Current guideline

• MUST: Packages must NOT contain any .la libtool archives, these should be removed in the spec.

Proposal

• SHOULD: Packages SHOULD not contain any .la libtool archives, if possible (ie, it doesn't break the proper function of the package). The intent is to avoid including .la files associated with shared libraries.

• MUST: If .la libtool archives in $LD_LIBRARY_PATH[[FootNote(ie, locations searchable by ld.so (see /etc/ld.so.conf). In general, this includes %{_libdir} and /%{_lib})] cannot be excluded, they MUST be included in -devel (with associated .so symlink).