ldconfig didn't remove a symlink when a library was deleted

Question

I made a specified config file which indicated my specified dynamic library path under /etc/ld.so.conf.d/ and ran the ldconfig command.

After that, one symbolic link to my specified dynamic library was automatically generated. I guess it was the normal behaviour for ldconfig.

The problem is that if I delete my config file which was put in /etc/ld.so.conf.d/ and my specified dynamic library, and then run the ldconfig command, the symbolic link wasn't deleted by ldconfig.

I'd like to know if this was the normal behaviour for ldconfig and how can I work around this problem.

Solution

ldconfig is completely depending on the specified config file you put in /etc/ld.so.conf.d or specified in /etc/ld.so.conf file.

If you delete some dynamic libraries which have already been cached in ldconfig, and then the symbol links which created by ldconfig will be deleted automatically if you ran the ldconfig after your deletion.

But if you delete your specified config file as well before you ran the ldconfig command, the broken symbol links can't be deleted.

Comments

[Zanna]

Hmm I find some pages saying that ldconfig should remove symlinks when updating if appropriate but no clear examples...

[FPanda]

Would you like to share some of the links ? @Zanna

[Zanna]

here and here (halfway down - "How Do I Delete a Library Path?"

[FPanda]

So user should delete the symbol link by themselves? OMG...

[mchid]

Sure, if you don't want them anymore and they are useless, go ahead and delete the symbolic links.