[palata]

> If Linux dependency management worked well, there would be no need or appetite for docker.

I kindly disagree here. Linux dependency management does work well. The problem is the bad libraries that don't do semver properly, and the users who still decide to use bad libraries.

If people stopped using libraries that break ABI compatibility, then the authors of those libraries would have to do it properly, and it would work. The reason it doesn't work is really just malpractice.

[zaphar]

If Linux dependency management works well in theory but not in practice then it doesn't work. It works in nix because it can literally use multiple minor versions of a library when it needs to with no problem. Most distro's can't or won't do that.

You can call it malpractice but it's not going to stop so in practice you need a way to deal with it.

[palata]

Well, by calling it "malpractice", I say that it works for "true professionals". Then we could say that "it doesn't work in practice if people who don't know what they are doing cannot use it", of course.

The question then is where we want to put the bar. I feel like it is too low, and most software is too bad. And I don't want to participate in making tooling that helps lowering the bar even more.

[palata]

And by the way it does work really well for good software. Actually most Linux distros use a system package manager and have been doing it for decades.

So I think it would be more accurate to say that "it doesn't work for lower quality software". And I agree with that.

[SAI_Peregrinus]

Semver only controls API compatibility, not ABI compatibility. You can make an ABI break in a Semver minor (or patch) version update. Semver is nice, but it's not enough for ensuring compatibility when dynamic linking.

[palata]

SONAME is here for ABI compatibility, right?