Binaries themselves know which version of a shared library they depend on, and request it specifically. You can use ldd to show the dependencies; mine for ls are:

> ldd =ls
    linux-gate.so.1 =>  (0xb784e000)
    librt.so.1 => /lib/librt.so.1 (0xb782c000)
    libacl.so.1 => /lib/libacl.so.1 (0xb7824000)
    libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0xb76dc000)
    libpthread.so.0 => /lib/libpthread.so.0 (0xb76c3000)
    /lib/ld-linux.so.2 (0xb784f000)
    libattr.so.1 => /lib/libattr.so.1 (0xb76bd000)

As you can see, it points to e.g. libpthread.so.0, not just libpthread.so.

The reason for the symbolic link is for the linker. When you want to link against libpthread.so directly, you give gcc the flag -lpthread, and it adds on the lib prefix and .so suffix automatically. You can't tell it to add on the .so.0 suffix, so the symbolic link points to the newest version of the lib to faciliate that

Binaries themselves know which version of a shared library they depend on, and request it specifically. You can use ldd to show the dependencies; mine for ls are:

$ ldd /bin/ls
    linux-gate.so.1 =>  (0xb784e000)
    librt.so.1 => /lib/librt.so.1 (0xb782c000)
    libacl.so.1 => /lib/libacl.so.1 (0xb7824000)
    libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0xb76dc000)
    libpthread.so.0 => /lib/libpthread.so.0 (0xb76c3000)
    /lib/ld-linux.so.2 (0xb784f000)
    libattr.so.1 => /lib/libattr.so.1 (0xb76bd000)

As you can see, it points to e.g. libpthread.so.0, not just libpthread.so.

The reason for the symbolic link is for the linker. When you want to link against libpthread.so directly, you give gcc the flag -lpthread, and it adds on the lib prefix and .so suffix automatically. You can't tell it to add on the .so.0 suffix, so the symbolic link points to the newest version of the lib to faciliate that