# dpkg manual page - deb-shlibs(5)
#
# Copyright © 1996 Michael Shields <shields@crosslink.net>
# Copyright © 2008 Zack Weinberg <zackw@panix.com>
#
# This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
# the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
# (at your option) any later version.
#
# This is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
# GNU General Public License for more details.
#
# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
# along with this program.  If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.

=encoding utf8

=head1 NAME

deb-shlibs - Debian shared library information file

=head1 SYNOPSIS

B<debian/shlibs>, B<debian/>I<binary-name>B<.shlibs>, B<DEBIAN/shlibs>

=head1 DESCRIPTION

B<shlibs>
files map shared library names and versions
(I<SONAMEs>)
to dependencies suitable for a package control file.
There is one entry per line.
Blank lines are B<not> allowed.
Lines beginning
with a B<#> character are considered commentary, and are ignored.
All other lines must have the format:

=over

[I<type>B<:>]
I<library>
I<version>
I<dependencies>

=back

The I<library> and I<version> fields are whitespace-delimited,
but the I<dependencies> field extends to the end of the line.
The
I<type> field is optional and normally not needed.

The I<dependencies> field has the same syntax as the B<Depends>
field in a binary control file, see L<deb-control(5)>.

=head1 SONAME FORMATS

The SONAME formats supported are:

=over

I<name>.so.I<version>

=back

and

=over

I<name>-I<version>.so

=back

where I<name> is usually prefixed by B<lib>.

The former tends to be used by shared libraries with stable interfaces.
The latter by shared libraries with unstable interfaces, where the whole
version becomes part of the SONAME and needs to be specified in full
when linking against those libraries.

=head1 EXAMPLES

The
B<shlibs>
file for a typical library package, named
I<libcrunch1>,
that provides one library whose SONAME is
I<libcrunch.so.1>,
might read

=over

 libcrunch 1 libcrunch1 (>= 1.2-1)

=back

The I<dependencies>
must mention the most recent version of the package that added new
symbols to the library: in the above example, new symbols were added to
version 1.2 of
I<libcrunch>.
This is not the only reason the dependencies might need to be
tightened.

=head1 SEE ALSO

L<deb-control(5)>,
L<deb-symbols(5)>,
L<dpkg-shlibdeps(1)>.