[Mono-list] RE: [Gtk-sharp-list] DllImport on *.so files

[Gustavo Ramos]

> There are three sets of libraries P/Invoke is used against:
>
> *) system libraries those version basically never changes (but the
> version may well be system-specific), like libc. Those should be handled
> by the default mono install or by whoever packages mono for a system.
> *) helper C libraries maintained together with their managed assembly:
> these are under the direct control of the assembly developer, so no
> issue here.
> *) other libraries like libgtk+ that are maintained sanely (they change
> the lib version when the ABI changes): it should be documented which ABI
> version the P/Invoke calls where intended for.
>
> I ignored libraries which are not maintained correctly: in that case all
> bets are off.
>
> lupus
>
I agree totally with you. These issues are not particular to mono. Rather,
the lack of signature information is inherent to the existing executable
formats and/or compilers and friends (lib tools, etc).

The .net framework is designed to deal with all those problems, but it will
work just with libraries written entirely in managed code. The sooner we get
a very complete and reliable managed class library, the better for all us.

eureko