Add --disable-major-minor-libraries configure optionfw/no-symlinks

This option can be used to increase compatibility with package managers.
The name was choosen to avoid confusion with all the different versions
(glibc release, soname versions, symbol versions).

This patch makes all uses of -$(version).so conditional on the new
$(major-minor-libraries) flag.  The alternative install targets write
the implementation DSOs directly to the locations determined by their
sonames, skipping the creation of an intermediate symbolic link.

install-symbolic-link in Makerules is updated not to require the
$(symbolic-link-list) file because it may not exist in
--disable-major-minor-libraries mode.

I verified that by default, the install tree is the same as before
on x86_64-linux-gnu except for the changes in the manual.

1 files changed, 10 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/INSTALL b/INSTALL
index 392537cc5c..6d61f396ac 100644
--- a/INSTALL
+++ b/INSTALL
@@ -181,6 +181,16 @@ if 'CFLAGS' is specified it must enable optimization.  For example:
      RELRO and a read-only global offset table (GOT), at the cost of
      slightly increased program load times.
 
+'--disable-major-minor-libraries'
+     Do not install shared objects under file names that contain the
+     major and minor version of the GNU C Library.  By default, such
+     names are used, and the names defined by the ABI are provided as
+     symbolic links only.  This causes problems with certain package
+     managers during library upgrades and (in particular) downgrades, so
+     this option can be used to install these shared objects directly
+     under their ABI-defined names, without an additional indirection
+     via symbolic links.
+
 '--enable-pt_chown'
      The file 'pt_chown' is a helper binary for 'grantpt' (*note
      Pseudo-Terminals: Allocation.) that is installed setuid root to fix