Hi,
I’m looking for advices on how to deploy the plugin I’m working on.
The development environment is XCode 2.1 and Mac OS X 10.4.1.
The deployment environment should comprise as many platforms as possible but now I’m focusing on Mac OS X support.
My plugin uses some native libraries through JNI.
The dependency layout is:
MyPlugin → jmagick.jar → libJMagick.jnilib → libMagick → Image Magick’s support libraries (called delegates) like libpng, libjepg and others
On my machine the libraries are installed in the default path /usr/local/lib/ and all works.
My problem is: where should I install the libraries in the deployment machines?
SOLUTION 1:
Inside an “ad hoc” directory, for example /Library/Application Support/MyPlugin/, in order to have the absolute control and a simple way to uninstall them.
PROBLEM 1:
Is it possible, and how, to instruct the dynamic linker dyld to load my libraries instead of the libraries installed in /usr/lib/ or /usr/local/lib/?
SOLUTION 2:
In the standard directory, that is /usr/local/lib.
With this solution no problems with the dynamic linker that already knows how to look.
PROBLEM 2:
What should I do if in /usr/local/lib/ there is the library that I need to install, but its version number isn’t the one I have tested my plugin against?
If it’s lower I could update it, but in this way I may break some application that rely on some features no more available in the new library.
If it’s major I cannot be sure that my plugin will work.
Is it possible to install and make cohabit two or more versions of the same library?
If yes, how can I instruct the dynamic linker on which version I want to link against?
SOLUTION 3:
I could compile static libraries instead of dynamic libraries.
PROBLEM 3:
libJMagick.jnilib must be a shared library and I cannot build it if I statically bound the others libraries, can I?