grib_api soname

Sending this again on the occasion of the beta release of 1.10.0 as it is still an issue:

I see that you are now starting to support shared libraries with version 1.9.18 of grib_api. Great!

However, I think you have made the unfortunate choice to use library sonames like "libgrib_api-1.9.18.so" instead of the more standard "libgrib_api.so.#" where # is the ABI version of the library. This allows updates to shared libraries for fixes, enhancements without having to recompile code that uses it if the ABI has not changed.

i.e. instead of using:

libgrib_api_la_LDFLAGS = -release $(GRIB_API_MAIN_VERSION)

use:

libgrib_api_la_LDFLAGS = -version-info $(GRIB_ABI_CURRENT):$(GRIB_ABI_REVISION):$(GRIB_ABI_AGE)

and start with all three = 0. See:

http://www.gnu.org/software/libtool/manual/html_node/Updating-version-info.html

for more information.

The tool "abi-compliance-checker" is also useful for determining when it is needed to bump the values (or giving you hints on how to avoid having to change the ABI when not needed).

Thank you for your consideration.

• Orion

( I help package grib_api for Fedora )