Creating a static library that depends on other libraries

I'm certain this can't be the easiest way, but this is what I did:

Code:

- created a directory for each of the libraries I needed, for example:
   - ./dep/curl, ./dep/ssl, etc...
- copied to the above dirs the corresponding static libraries
- unarchived each library, for example:
   - cd ./dep/curl && ar vx libcurl.a
- Compiled my static library I created to object files
- Executed the following command to complete the new static library:
   - ar rcs mylib.a *.o ./dep/curl/*.o ./dep/ssl/*.o (and so on with the other dependencies)

This worked and created a static library I am successfully using. I'm just wondering if there is a better way to do this while still not having to rely on any of the dependencies beign present on the box that will use the static library I created. Thanks.

Originally Posted by maverickbu

This worked and created a static library I am successfully using. I'm just wondering if there is a better way to do this while still not having to rely on any of the dependencies beign present on the box that will use the static library I created. Thanks.

First be aware you may be violating the licenses of those libraries by doing this, since you are producing a binary distribution. But assuming you've worked that out (have a plan to distribute source code), and if you're going to be doing a binary distribution anyway, why not just distribute the independent .a files? There's no need to merge them together.

If this is for your own use (you won't distribute it), then I guess what you're doing here is probably the best way to go. By exploding and then recreating the archive you maintain the identity of the individual object files, which makes a huge difference in linker efficiency as well as smaller final binaries.

If you're looking for a single command to "cook" the whole thing down into a single archive, the following comes close:

Code:

ld --whole-archive *.o ./dep/curl/libcurl.a ./dep/ssl/libssl.a [etc] -r -o unified.o

This rolls every symbol in all the listed objects and archives into a single, huge object file. This is probably NOT a good way to do this though.

Like brewbuck, I'm a bit confused as to the purpose of this. Just adding a bunch of libraries into a megalibrary serves very little purpose, and just makes a huge unwieldly library - what's the point?

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Mats