Hello, I've written this out a few times in subthreads, so here's a
repost with step-by-step instructions on how to get the updated libpng
installed and actually working.


step-by-step guide for fixing libpng problems:
1)  emerge =libpng-1.2.1-r1
2) sh  /usr/portage/media-libs/libpng/files/libpng-update-libs.sh
2a) <get a listing of packages to rebuild>
3) emerge packages from 2a
4) sh /usr/portage/media-libs/libpng/files/libpng-update-bins.sh
4a) <get a listing of programs to rebuild>
5) emerge packages from 4a


Cumbersome steps I know, (also see my first post Thu, 4 Apr 2002 
"[gentoo-user] Libpng 1.2.1 / force rebuild" )

The main problem you are facing is that for some reason the system mixes
libraries. since the symlinks from libpng.so.2 and libpng.so.3 are
intact, I really don't understand -why- the dynamic linker loads the
wrong version of libpng. This is the core of the problem you and many
others are facing. 

The libraries generally affected are:
kdelibs  imlib  imlib2  gdk-pixbuf  imagemagick  mozilla  gnome-libs
cups gimp



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