Versioning and Scoped Libraries

Versioning and scoping are related enhancements to the link editor in the Solaris operating environment. Developers of dynamic objects can use these technologies to define sequential versions of a dynamic object's binary interface within the object and reduce global symbols to local scope. These capabilities provide the means to control interface evolution across software releases, inherit global symbols from previous versions, record version dependencies, and describe internal implementation changes.

Versioning and scoping enable developers to provide stable interfaces for program development, achieve standards compliance, and protect implementation changes (such as bug fixes) from the object's public interface. An added benefit can be reduced object size and runtime relocation cost, which can improve an application's runtime performance.

For the Solaris 2.6 operating environment, the system libraries take advantage of this technology and have been both scoped and versioned.

For more information, see Linker and Libraries Guide.