static library dependencies

[Ian Lance Taylor]

Howard Chu <hyc@highlandsun.com> writes:

> When building shared libraries you can link any dependencies into the
> shared library file, and so any application can use the shared library
> without mentioning the library's dependencies on the link line. It
> would be nice to provide the same capability for static libraries,
> otherwise build procedures need to be changed drastically depending on
> whether a library dependency is static or shared.
>
> It seems all you need to do is add a dependency list member in the ar
> archive, and extend the linker to look for this dependency list by
> default. It could be an extension of the symbol directory maintained
> by "ar rs" or some other option.
>
> Comments?

That could be done, and I believe it could even be done in a backward
compatible manner, but it would lead to the same set of issues that
arise with shared libraries.  Because archives can move around and be
renamed, you need to use a search path.

Ian