Hi! On Sat, 2026-01-17 at 12:44:15 -0800, Otto Kekäläinen wrote: > > > Yes I see in > > > https://manpages.debian.org/unstable/dpkg-dev/deb-src-symbols.5.en.html > > > that his can be used, but my point here is that if the entire file is > > > only wildcards and nothing else, tracking symbols is kind of moot, > > > right? > > > > The main purpose of the symbols file is to assist in accurate dependency > > generation. That it can also be used to check whether upstreams (that > > might not have solid processes to handle library changes), have not > > messed up the their symbol modifications, it's a plus. > > I didn't quite understand what is the benefit with a symbols file that > is all wildcards. The package might as well not have any symbols file > as far as I see if it is totally void of actual symbol names.
As I mentioned above, the main purpose is to assist with accurate dependency generation, at the symbol level to be able to get the lowest possible versioned dependencies instead of having to use the version for the last ABI change in the library (with shlibs), but please see dpkg-shlibdeps(1), where the role of the symbols file (and the simpler shlibs file) is explained in more detail. Thanks, Guillem
