Of course it is. One is the actual library, the other the header files and .so link. And without the .so link the compiler will not find the library to link. But the point is that on openSUSE it does not try to link that library in at all.
Any Arch or Fedora people around? Would be curious to know if they need it.
Indeed. Just making sure that you are aware, which you clearly are, plus adding that info for the less-linux-savvy forum members that might run into the same issue.