To get rid from dynamic shared linkage i should rather link library as object file i.e.
gcc <my_objects> /full/path/to/my_lib.a
. And i wonder whether in this case some unneeded object files are really discarded as they use to be under linkage via "-l" flag. I suspect it's not case because of too large output binary.
Static linkage will always give you a bigger object file than dynamic linkage.
If the library is well constructed (lots of individual modules), then you should only get what you need.
You could try things like
$ size a.out
text data bss dec hex filename
1542 520 16 2078 81e a.out
$ ls -l a.out
-rwxrwxr-x 1 sc sc 8480 2013-01-07 16:52 a.out
$ strip a.out
$ ls -l a.out
-rwxrwxr-x 1 sc sc 6216 2013-01-08 18:53 a.out
But bear in mind that a stripped executable is nigh on impossible to debug.
If you dance barefoot on the broken glass of undefined behaviour, you've got to expect the occasional cut.
If at first you don't succeed, try writing your phone number on the exam paper.
