Parted 1.6.7 libparted.so ?

[Patrick J. LoPresti]

I also had the problem with the "intl/" directory being missing, so I
just copied it from parted-1.6.6.

But now I have other questions.

During "make install", Parted adds the following files to $(libdir):

lrwxrwxrwx    1 patl     patl           19 Mar 21 08:44 libparted -> 
libparted-1.6.0.0.7
lrwxrwxrwx    1 patl     patl           19 Mar 21 08:44 libparted-1.6.0 -> 
libparted-1.6.0.0.7
-rwxr-xr-x    1 patl     patl       463267 Mar 21 08:44 libparted-1.6.0.0.7
-rw-r--r--    1 patl     patl       431896 Mar 21 08:44 libparted.a
-rwxr-xr-x    1 patl     patl          856 Mar 21 08:44 libparted.la


So, first question: Aren't shared libraries supposed to have a ".so"
extension?

Second question: Is libparted.la needed at run time, compile time, or
both?  (More generally, where should I go to learn about .la files?)

Thanks!

 - Pat