Hi Axel,
b) Link libnet.so to libnetwork.so (as done with libbind.so and libsocket.so), and determine at runtime if the compatibility layer should be used or not.
b) would be much easier to do and reduce the network related libraries a bit more. I'm also thinking about moving libnetapi.so (and libbnetapi.so) into libnetwork.so as well.
I'd vote for (b). The simplest solution is often the best.
Did you check a few BONE binaries for not being linked against libnet.so?
Bye, Waldemar Kornewald