Originally to: All
At 12:17 PM 8/15/02 -0400, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: >On Thu, 15 Aug 2002, Ray Olszewski wrote: > > > It's been so long since I used a .a libraries, I didn't recall how they > > were created. They are the old-format libraries I referred to above. They > > are kept around, at least on full-size Linux installs, mainly for legacy > > reasons. Don't use them unless you have *very* unusual requirements (I > > can't even think of an example). > >In case you want to make a static executable (one that does not require >dynamic linking. Nost distro's link /sbin/ldconfig static so you can >use it to recover when you mess up your libraries and nothing woorks, >say when you try to upgrade libc and don't know how. I don't really want to argue with you, Lawson, but I do want to ask how certain you are of this interpretation. "static" is a word that means different things in different contexts, and I think you and I may have crossed two of its meanings. The ld option "--static" links in an actual copy of any needed library code to the executable during linking (instead of at runtime, via ld.so). But does ld use (or need) .a libraries to do this? Or does it just override the normal (dymanic) use of the .so libraries? I'd always assumed the latter. While the man page for ld doesn't clear this up, the Makefile for busybox includes a static option (for the exact reason you suggest above -- it's basically a rescue-disk app), but its docs only mention compiling against glibc, uClibc, and libc5, with no explicit mention of .a libraries. I could easily be the one here who is mixed up. But we should get it clear and correct on the list to protect the innocent victims, no? -- -------------------------------------------"Never tell me the odds!"-------- Ray Olszewski -- Han Solo Palo Alto, California, USA [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - <-> Gateway Information. This message originated from a Fidonet System (http://www.fidonet.org) and was gated at TCOB1 (http://www.tcob1.net) Please do not respond direct to this message but via the list - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-newbie" in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.linux-learn.org/faqs
