4 ms·
Why does a "default" need to exist at all at the system level? Why not just have various versions available and have version decisions be local to the software
by spion 6y ago
Why does a "default" need to exist at all at the system level? Why not just have various versions available and have version decisions be local to the software being developed/used.
- riquito 6y agoSecurity. By having defaults the operative system can share the most secure minor version of that library (or multiple major if necessary). When you have a copy of a library for each program then most of your programs will end up using obsolete or unsecure dependencies.
- saagarjha 6y agoPlus it also cuts down on disk space usage.
- ori_b 6y agoIt doesn't. Just don't install it if you don't want it.
- mattkrause 6y agoIt doesn't, strictly speaking, and in fact, it barely does. It's usually just a symlink from libwhatever.latest.version.number to libwhatever.so, on the theory that you probably want the latest version of the library (with all its improvements and bugfixes). There's sometimes an intermediate symlink to the newest major versions too (libwhatever.latest.so, libwhatever.2.so), to avoid breaking changes.