I have the cairo-1.2.4  that comes from SL5, and need to install the
newer cairo in order to build poppler, which in turn is required for
TeXLive.  I don't have trouble building the new cairo, and planned to
install that and leave the old one as well.

But it doesn't work.

# rpm -ivh cairo-1.4.10-2sl5.x86_64.rpm
Preparing...                ########################################### [100%]
        file /usr/lib64/libcairo.so.2 from install of
cairo-1.4.10-2sl5 conflicts with file from package cairo-1.2.4-3.el5

See the links created by ldconfig:


# ls -la libcairo*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 305056 Apr  3  2007 libcairojava-1.0.so
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root  54008 Apr  3  2007 libcairojni-1.0.so
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root     17 Dec  5 15:57 libcairo.so -> libcairo.so.2.9.2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root     17 Dec  5 15:57 libcairo.so.2 -> libcairo.so.2.9.2
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 431288 Nov 29 11:11 libcairo.so.2.9.2

It is a little bit confusing to me that the newer cairo still uses the
old soname.  Shouldn't it step up to libcairo.so.3 or something, in
order to install both at same time?

[root@pols110 x86_64]# rpm -qilp cairo-1.4.10-2sl5.x86_64.rpm
Name        : cairo                        Relocations: (not relocatable)
Version     : 1.4.10                            Vendor: (none)
Release     : 2sl5                          Build Date: Wed 05 Dec
2007 02:27:06 PM CST
Install Date: (not installed)               Build Host: pols110.pols.ku.edu
Group       : System Environment/Libraries   Source RPM:
cairo-1.4.10-2sl5.src.rpm
Size        : 1544504                          License: LGPL/MPL
Signature   : (none)
URL         : http://cairographics.org
Summary     : A vector graphics library
Description :
Cairo is a vector graphics library designed to provide high-quality
display and print output. Currently supported output targets include
the X Window System, OpenGL (via glitz), in-memory image buffers, and
image files (PDF, PostScript, and SVG).  Cairo is designed to produce
identical output on all output media while taking advantage of display
hardware acceleration when available (eg. through the X Render
Extension or OpenGL).
/usr/lib64/libcairo.so.2
/usr/lib64/libcairo.so.2.11.5
/usr/share/doc/cairo-1.4.10
/usr/share/doc/cairo-1.4.10/AUTHORS
/usr/share/doc/cairo-1.4.10/BIBLIOGRAPHY
/usr/share/doc/cairo-1.4.10/BUGS
/usr/share/doc/cairo-1.4.10/COPYING
/usr/share/doc/cairo-1.4.10/COPYING-LGPL-2.1
/usr/share/doc/cairo-1.4.10/COPYING-MPL-1.1
/usr/share/doc/cairo-1.4.10/ChangeLog
/usr/share/doc/cairo-1.4.10/NEWS
/usr/share/doc/cairo-1.4.10/PORTING_GUIDE
/usr/share/doc/cairo-1.4.10/README
/usr/share/doc/cairo-1.4.10/ROADMAP
/usr/share/doc/cairo-1.4.10/TODO

I can't just uninstall cairo-1.2.4, because it appears there are about
50 programs that are linked against it.

What do  you think? give up on the dream of replaciing tetex with
TeXLive?  Its kindof an overdue change, really.

-- 
Paul E. Johnson
Professor, Political Science
1541 Lilac Lane, Room 504
University of Kansas