Stubby is a tool that enables programmers and packagers to add transparent support for optional run-time dynamic linking of shared libraries. This allows for the creation of applications that can gain additional functionality if a library is present, but that does not fail to load if the library is not installed. (Unless a function in that library is called.)
Stubby works by creating functions with the same names as the corresponding library functions. The first time one of these stub functions is called, the corresponding library is loaded. If the library cannot be loaded, the abort() function is called to terminate the program. Otherwise, the function is located and called with the same arguments as given to the stub function.
Stubby is licensed under the GPL, but the code it outputs is in the public domain. It requires the glib library to compile and run.
For more information, please view the man page.
The current version is 1.0 which was released 7 December 1999.
All released versions are still available on the web.
Stubby is maintained by Tom Rothamel <software page, or to Tom's top page.