Hi,
I have a question about compiling and linking using gcc:
What does a file name with a suffix '.a' represent?
If I have multiple .c and .h files, how can I link them together?
How can I create the .a file?
The articles I read were broad and ddnt target the above questions.
Thanks.
.a = static object code library.
Basically it's a bunch of object files compressed into one archive.
You can compile and link multiple .c files into an executable using:
gcc one.c two.c three.c -o main.exe
(Note: Make sure only one of them have a main function)
(Double Note: You don't need to put the .h files here, they are included in your c file, and thus do not need to be "compiled" or "linked")
To make an object file, just do
gcc -c one.c
-c says to generate an object file.
To make a static object code library (or .a), you need an archiving utility like ar - Linux Command - Unix Command
Last edited by Phenax; 03-13-2011 at 12:23 AM.
Originally Posted by Plato
Thank you. It worked. I appreciate it.
Question: Do i need to add a .exe prefix (main.exe). is it enough to just leave it (main).
If you are on Windows: You need the exe prefix. Windows uses file extensions to determine filetype I believe.
If you are on a Unix-like operating system (Linux, *BSD, etc): You can name it anything you want. If it won't execute, try setting the executable flag (chmod +x filename).
Yes Windows actively uses the suffix (a "prefix" comes before) also called an Extension to determine what to do with a file. Only certain types (.exe, .com) are directly executable. The remainder are processed by the "file associations" system to know which executable to load in order to deal with the file.
It's pretty cool really... on a properly configured system you can run the whole computer just by clicking on files...
The only exception being that you usually need to launch the executable to create a new file.
Last edited by CommonTater; 03-13-2011 at 05:34 AM.
