title: Confused about .so version and linking strategy when distributing a api library
body: <p>We have been porting our Java API to C++, and creating a library file (.a file) for Linux. Our API has dependency on the boost framework and also on log4cxx. (We discussed with the first user for this, and they are okay with those dependencies).</p>
  
  <p>When I compile a sample application which uses our library file, it is linking against .so files for the dependencies (libboost_system.so, libboost_thread.so, and liblog4cxx.so).  When the application runs, it needs to find the specific versioned file names for each of those .so files, e.g. liblog4cxx.so.10.</p>
  
  <p>If the user is using a newer version of boost (for example), would s/he be able to link against their local version and run with that newer version (assuming bacwards compatibility)?  Is there some other way to deal with versions/dependencies like these (i.e. do you try to link in the external referenced libraries to your own library)?</p>