Specification of DLL interface version numbers

Guys,

This is prompted by the debacle of Earnie's latest GCC release, (which
is still riddled with improperly specified dependencies -- see ticket
#2107 [https://sourceforge.net/p/mingw/bugs/2107/], and the gmane
archive thread, from MinGW-Users, to which it refers:
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.gnu.mingw.user/43204/focus=43210

The DLL interface version number, (e.g. the -2 in libmpc-2.dll), is
*not* some arbitrary number which can be pulled out of the air, and/or
manipulated at random; it is to be computed *explicitly* from the
libtool version, as /current - age/.  Particularly pertinent here are
the references to libmpc-1.0.1-*-mingw32-dll-{2,3,4}.tar, which I see in
mingw32-gcc4.xml.  Of these, libmpc-4.dll is clearly bogus, for there is
no such release.  It seems to me that libmpc-3.dll is equally bogus, in
spite of the existence of a release bearing that version number.
Examining the sources for libmpc-1.0.1-1, (which furnishes
libmpc-2.dll), and for libmpc-1.0.1-2, (which furnishes libmpc-3.dll), I
see the statement, (in both):

> This distribution is created from pristine source without patches.

Furthermore, a comparison of their respective source tarballs:

> $ sum mpc-1.0.1-*/*.tar.*
> 25042   610 mpc-1.0.1-1-mingw32/mpc-1.0.1.tar.gz
> 25042   610 mpc-1.0.1-2-mingw32/mpc-1.0.1.tar.gz

indicates that they are, in fact, identical; this is further affirmed in
the release notes for the latter:

> Differences between -1 and -2:
> None other than a packaging resolution. 

This being the case, it is 100% wrong to have incremented the interface
version number between these two releases; these are both libmpc-2.dll,
and libmpc-3.dll is completely bogus; it is to be hoped that we have not
irretrievable polluted the distribution namespace, with this bogus
release, which should never have seen the light of day.  (And please,
let's not pollute it further, with a bogus libmpc-4.dll).

-- 
Regards,
Keith.

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