protobuf, protoc versioning

[stemann]

It seems there were some confusion regarding the version numbering scheme of the protobuf project, the protobuf C++ library, and the libprotobuf-dependent protoc compiler, in #8658 (protoc_jll v26.1), and in particular in #9584 (protoc_jll v105.28.2).

It seems that the protobuf project, and protoc compiler is versioned using major version number >= 21, since protobuf C++ library version 3.21.0: https://protobuf.dev/support/version-support/

And in addition, using major versions > 3, since minor versions v16.2, v.18.3, v19.5, v20.2 (also tagged as v3.x.y, e.g. v3.16.2).

IIUC, #8658 was right (wrt. to the package name and the package version - reflecting the proper protoc compiler version).

Would it be right to migrate to having two JLL's, e.g. protoc_jll containing only the protoc compiler, and protobuf_cpp_jll containing the protobuf C++ library?

An attempt at an overview - and a suggested versioning plan:

flowchart LR

    protobuf_cpp_v3_16_1[protobuf_cpp v3.16.1]
    protobuf_cpp_v3_16_2[protobuf_cpp v3.16.2]
    protobuf_cpp_v3_18_2[protobuf_cpp v3.18.2]
    protobuf_cpp_v3_18_3[protobuf_cpp v3.18.3]
    protobuf_cpp_v3_19_4[protobuf_cpp v3.19.4]
    protobuf_cpp_v3_19_5[protobuf_cpp v3.19.5]
    protobuf_cpp_v3_20_1[protobuf_cpp v3.20.1]
    protobuf_cpp_v3_20_2[protobuf_cpp v3.20.2]
    protobuf_cpp_v3_20_3[protobuf_cpp v3.20.3]
    protobuf_cpp_v3_21_0[protobuf_cpp v3.21.0]
    protobuf_cpp_v4_22_0[protobuf_cpp v4.22.0]

    protoc_v3_16_1[protoc v3.16.1]
    protoc_v16_2[protoc v16.2]
    protoc_v3_18_2[protoc v3.18.2]
    protoc_v18_3[protoc v18.3]
    protoc_v3_19_4[protoc v3.19.4]
    protoc_v19_5[protoc v19.5]
    protoc_v3_20_1[protoc v3.20.1]
    protoc_v20_2[protoc v20.2]
    protoc_v20_3[protoc v20.3]
    protoc_v21_0[protoc v21.0]
    protoc_v22_0[protoc v22.0]

    protoc_v3_16_1 --> protobuf_cpp_v3_16_1
    protoc_v16_2 --> protobuf_cpp_v3_16_2
    protoc_v3_18_2 --> protobuf_cpp_v3_18_2
    protoc_v18_3 --> protobuf_cpp_v3_18_3
    protoc_v3_19_4 --> protobuf_cpp_v3_19_4
    protoc_v19_5 --> protobuf_cpp_v3_19_5
    protoc_v3_20_1 --> protobuf_cpp_v3_20_1
    protoc_v20_2 --> protobuf_cpp_v3_20_2
    protoc_v20_3 --> protobuf_cpp_v3_20_3
    protoc_v21_0 --> protobuf_cpp_v3_21_0
    protoc_v22_0 --> protobuf_cpp_v4_22_0

Loading

References:

• https://protobuf.dev/support/version-support/
• https://protobuf.dev/support/cross-version-runtime-guarantee/

[stemann]

@eschnett What do you think?

[stemann]

Err... protoc/libprotoc depends on libprotobuf and not vice versa. (edit: first post was updated to reflect the proper relation - with protoc depending on libprotobuf/protobuf_cpp)

ldd /mnt/bin/protoc
# ...
        libprotoc.so.3.16.0.0 => /mnt/bin/../lib/libprotoc.so.3.16.0.0 (0x00007f75a6400000)
        libprotobuf.so.3.16.0.0 => /mnt/bin/../lib/libprotobuf.so.3.16.0.0 (0x00007f75a6000000)
# ...

ldd /mtn/lib/libprotoc.so.3.16.0.0
# ...
        libprotobuf.so.3.16.0.0 => /mnt/lib/libprotobuf.so.3.16.0.0 (0x00007f54f5800000)
# ...

ldd /mnt/lib/libprotobuf.so.3.16.0.0
# ...

ldd /mnt/lib/libprotobuf-lite.so.3.16.0.0
# ...