How to check applications vs. libraries

[RW]

On Wed, 3 Oct 2007 14:25:18 +0200
Mel <fbsd.questions at rachie.is-a-geek.net> wrote:

> On Tuesday 02 October 2007 22:53:20 RW wrote:
> > On Tue, 2 Oct 2007 19:23:29 +0200
> >
> > Daniel Tourde <daniel.tourde at spray.se> wrote:
> > > I am used to install FreeBSD applications by using the port
> > > collection. I also update regularly (twice a month or something)
> > > the apps, using 'portupgrade -a -N' on a refreshed port
> > > collection.
> > >
> > > Here are my questions:
> > > - How can I check that the apps that have been build with certain
> > > libraries still work when some of the libs have been updated?
> > > - Is it possible then to rebuild the selected set of apps that
> > > have been 'corrupted' by the library upgrade (classicaly from
> > > liba.1 to liba.2)? If yes, how?
> >
> > Generally this doesn't cause a problem as when portupgrade upgrades
> > a library through a major revision, it puts a copy of the old
> > library into a compatibility directory.
> 
> True. /usr/local/lib/compat/pkg
> 
> > Applications that depend on updated libraries get version-bumped
> > when the library major version gets changed
> 
> Not true. Only direct dependants get version bumped and not
> consistently either. 

It only matters where there is a direct library dependency. And even
then it doesn't matter all that much because of the back-up libraries.
If you follow the UPDATING instructions for when to do   `portupgrade
-fr' and keep you ports up to date, you shouldn't need to worry. Any
residual paranoia beyond that is better satisfied by running
portmanager in pristine mode IMO.

> To recompile all dependants against the latest
> version of a library, one has to find out which port the older
> version in /usr/local/lib/compat/pkg belongs to and forcibly upgrade
> all deps of that package, using `portupgrade -fr'.
>