Library naming conventions

Question

There are two popular naming conventions:

1. vc90/win64/debug/foo.dll
2. foo-vc90-win64-debug.dll

Please discuss the problems/benefits associated with either approach.

I am also wondering if it is possible to expose meta-data (i.e. compiler, platform, build-type) in approach #1 in an easy to use, cross-platform manner.

Answer 1

#2 is good for distribution, where several variation will be packaged in the same folder/zip file together. However, you probably don't want all that information in the file name itself, as it make it difficult to vary those via parameters to your makefile/csproj/nant script etc. It would be easier to have several files called "foo" in different folders (where you can decide the folder structure)

Answer 2

For .NET assemblies, you can store this information in the assembly itself:

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000142.html

I'm not familiar enough with other assembly types to know what they provide.