>  > > This is what Linux did (and FreeBSD, too, I think) and it caused no end
>  > > of trouble.
>  > > 
>  > 
>  > What trouble?
> 
> Aside from "principle of least surprise" (i.e. "um, now which magic version
> of _this_ library is ELF?!"), it has caused lossage with their "ports"
> tree.
> 

Good reasoning.