libpng for Debian ----------------- There have been changes in the way libpng is handled. Currently, there are 2 versions of libpng in Debian at a time : libpng10 and libpng12, formerly known as libpng2 and libpng3. * The libpng10-0 and libpng12-0 packages contain the runtime for apps built with these new libraries. * libpng2 and libpng3 contain compatibility symlinks to let apps built with older versions work correctly. * libpng10-dev and libpng12-dev are the corresponding development packages. You should only use libpng10-dev to build packages using gdk-imlib1. * libpng2-dev and libpng3-dev provide compatibility symlinks to build applications still build-depending on those. A package linking with libpng should use as build-depends : * libpng-dev for small packages not depending on other libraries which use or may use libpng. * libpng10-dev for packages also linking with gdk-imlib1 or gnome 1. * libpng12-dev for packages also linking with SDL, Gnome 2, Qt, or any other library using libpng12. This version diverges from upstream in 3 ways : 1) the library is explicitly linked with -lm -lz 2) is just a compatibility symlink 3) symbols are versioned -- Junichi Uekawa , Mon Oct 28 2002 12:27:54 -- Josselin Mouette , Tue Jun 10 2003 18:16:17 +0200