I have a library called A.a, and its .hpp file called A.hpp. When programs need to use this library, they #include "A.hpp", and get linked to it like this: g++ test1.cpp A.a -o test1. I'd like to be able to only compile it like this g++ test1.cpp -o test1, without explicitly typing A.a in there, just like I don't need to explicitly link my program with iostream. How can I achieve this?
It can be done on Visual C++ (the compiler can embed some linker options in object files, requests to link a library being one of those that are possible).
Gcc (and, to my knowledge, clang) do not have such a feature. You have to provide the libraries on the command line; there is no way around it (build tools are not technically a way around it; they also put the libraries onto the command lines they use to run the linker).
Related
I want to hide as much information as I can from ldd, so I'm learning how to statically link in libraries instead of dynamically linking them. I've read from another stackoverflow post that the correct syntax is
g++ -ldynamiclib -o exe files.cpp staticlib.a
Thus, my current compilation code looks like this:
STATIC_LIB=""
STATIC_LIB="$STATIC_LIB ${PATH}/libcrypto.a"
STATIC_LIB="$STATIC_LIB ${PATH}/libdl-2.5.so" // I couldn't find the .a version for this, so I tried doing it this way, and have also tried doing just -ldl
STATIC_LIB="$STATIC_LIB ${PATH}/libstdc++.a"
STATIC_LIB="$STATIC_LIB ${PATH}/libgcc.a"
STATIC_LIB="$STATIC_LIB ${PATH}/libc.a"
g++ -g -I${INCLUDE_PATH} -o executable file1.cpp file2.cpp $STATIC_LIB
I've confirmed with ldd that this way works for libcrypto, as it is an external library that I brought in. However, this does not work at all for everything else, and I can still see them being listed when I use ldd. Does anyone knows the correct way of doing this?
P.S. I've also tried several other alternatives such as including -static, or using -Wl,-Bstatic, and I couldn't get either of those to work. Not sure if it's my syntax or if it's just not possible.
Those libraries libstdc++, libgcc and libc are special in that they're very fundamental to the running of any program compiled with gcc. Special gcc options exist if you want to link them statically, namely -static-libstdc++ and -static-libgcc.
Note that you should really know what you're doing if you choose these options. It can create portability problems for your program, many of which express themselves in unintuitive ways.
I have read several posts on stack overflow and read about dynamic linking online. And this is what I have taken away from all those readings -
Dynamic linking is an optimization technique that was employed to take full advantage of the virtual memory of the system. One process can share its pages with other processes. For example the libc++ needs to be linked with all C++ programs but instead of copying over the executable to every process, it can be linked dynamically with many processes via shared virtual pages.
However this leads me to the following questions
When a C++ program is compiled. It needs to have references to the C++ library functions and code (say for example the code of the thread library). How does the compiler make the executable have these references? Does this not result in a circular dependency between the compiler and the operating system? Since the compiler has to make a reference to the dynamic library in the executable.
How and when would you use a dynamic library? How do you make one? What is the specific compiling command that is used to produce such a file from a standard *.cpp file?
Usually when I install a library, there is a lib/ directory with *.a files and *.dylib (on mac-OSX) files. How do I know which ones to link to statically as I would with a regular *.o file and which ones are supposed to be dynamically linked with? I am assuming the *.dylib files are dynamic libraries. Which compiler flag would one use to link to these?
What are the -L and -l flags for? What does it mean to specify for example a -lusb flag on the command line?
If you feel like this question is asking too many things at once, please let me know. I would be completely ok with splitting this question up into multiple ones. I just ask them together because I feel like the answer to one question leads to another.
When a C++ program is compiled. It needs to have references to the C++
library functions and code (say for example the code for the library).
Assume we have a hypothetical shared library called libdyno.so. You'll eventually be able to peek inside it using using objdump or nm.
objdump --syms libdyno.so
You can do this today on your system with any shared library. objdump on a MAC is called gobjdump and comes with brew in the binutils package. Try this on a mac...
gobjdump --syms /usr/lib/libz.dylib
You can now see that the symbols are contained in the shared object. When you link with the shared object you typically use something like
g++ -Wall -g -pedantic -ldyno DynoLib_main.cpp -o dyno_main
Note the -ldyno in that command. This is telling the compiler (really the linker ld) to look for a shared object file called libdyno.so wherever it normally looks for them. Once it finds that object it can then find the symbols it needs. There's no circular dependency because you the developer asked for the dynamic library to be loaded by specifying the -l flag.
How and when would you use a dynamic library? How do you make one? As in what
is the specific compiling command that is used to produce such a file from a
standard .cpp file
Create a file called DynoLib.cpp
#include "DynoLib.h"
DynamicLib::DynamicLib() {}
int DynamicLib::square(int a) {
return a * a;
}
Create a file called DynoLib.h
#ifndef DYNOLIB_H
#define DYNOLIB_H
class DynamicLib {
public:
DynamicLib();
int square(int a);
};
#endif
Compile them to be a shared library as follows. This is linux specific...
g++ -Wall -g -pedantic -shared -std=c++11 DynoLib.cpp -o libdyno.so
You can now inspect this object using the command I gave earlier ie
objdump --syms libdyno.so
Now create a file called DynoLib_main.cpp that will be linked with libdyno.so and use the function we just defined in it.
#include "DynoLib.h"
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main(void) {
DynamicLib *lib = new DynamicLib();
std::cout << "Square " << lib->square(1729) << std::endl;
return 1;
}
Compile it as follows
g++ -Wall -g -pedantic -L. -ldyno DynoLib_main.cpp -o dyno_main
./dyno_main
Square 2989441
You can also have a look at the main binary using nm. In the following I'm seeing if there is anything with the string square in it ie is the symbol I need from libdyno.so in any way referenced in my binary.
nm dyno_runner |grep square
U _ZN10DynamicLib6squareEi
The answer is yes. The uppercase U means undefined but this is the symbol name for our square method in the DynamicLib Class that we created earlier. The odd looking name is due to name mangling which is it's own topic.
How do I know which ones to link to statically as I would with a regular
.o file and which ones are supposed to be dynamically linked with?
You don't need to know. You specify what you want to link with and let the compiler (and linker etc) do the work. Note the -l flag names the library and the -L tells it where to look. There's a decent write up on how the compiler finds thing here
gcc Linkage option -L: Alternative ways how to specify the path to the dynamic library
Or have a look at man ld.
What are the -L and -l flags for? What does it mean to specify
for example a -lusb flag on the command line?
See the above link. This is from man ld..
-L searchdir
Add path searchdir to the list of paths that ld will search for
archive libraries and ld control scripts. You may use this option any
number of times. The directories are searched in the order in which
they are specified on the command line. Directories specified on the
command line are searched before the default directories. All -L
options apply to all -l options, regardless of the order in which the
options appear. -L options do not affect how ld searches for a linker
script unless -T option is specified.`
If you managed to get here it pays dividends to learn about the linker ie ld. It plays an important job and is the source of a ton of confusion because most people start out dealing with a compiler and think that compiler == linker and this is not true.
The main difference is that you include static linked libraries with your app. They are linked when you build your app. Dynamic libraries are linked at run time, so you do not need to include them with your app. These days dynamic libraries are used to reduce the size of apps by having many dynamic libraries on everyone's computer.
Dynamic libraries also allow users to update libraries without re-building the client apps. If a bug is found in a library that you use in your app and it is statically linked, you will have to rebuild your app and re-issue it to all your users. If a bug is found in a dynamically linked library, all your users just need to update their libraries and your app does not need an update.
I have an already built library made of this files:
A bunch of headers.
A .so file (libmylib.so).
I want to compile a c++ program (sample.cpp), where I included the headers, and where I need to use the library. This is what I've done, and it's working:
Put the headers in usr/local/include.
Put the .so file in usr/local/lib.
Compile the program in this way: g++ sample.cpp -lmylib.
My question is: why is it not working if I omit -lmylib from the last line?
Is there a way to install the library such that I don't need to put it every time in the g++ command?
Thank you.
What libs are used by default depends on some setting in the compiler/linker,
but it´s not "every lib in usr/local/lib" or any directory, just some specific names
(or even just a single one). Call g++ -v or g++ -dumpspecs to list it (and more stuff)
So, either rebuild your compiler with your own lib list, or specify it manually everytime.
This problem is not specific to Fubi, but a general linker issue. These past few days (read as 5) have been full of linking errors, but I've managed to narrow it down to just a handful.
I'm trying to compile Fubi (Full Body Interaction framework) under the Linux environment. It has only been tested on Windows 7, and the web is lacking resources for compiling on a *nix platform.
Now, like I mentioned above, I had a plethora of linking problems that dealt mostly with incorrect g++ flags. Fubi requires OpenNI and NITE ( as well as OpenCV, if you want ) in order to provide it's basic functionality. I've been able to successfully compile both samples from the OpenNI and NITE frameworks.
As far as I understand, Fubi is a framework, thus I would need to compile a shared library and not a binary file.
When I try to compile it as a binary file using the following command
g++ *.cpp -lglut -lGL -lGLU -lOpenNI -lXnVNite_1_5_2 -I/usr/include/nite -I/usr/include/ni -I/usr/include/GL -I./GestureRecognizer/ -o FubiBin
and I get the output located here. (It's kind of long and I did not want to ruin the format)
If I instead compile into object files (-c flag), no errors appear and it builds the object files successfully. Note, I'm using the following command:
g++ -c *.cpp -lglut -lGL -lGLU -lOpenNI -lXnVNite_1_5_2 -I/usr/include/nite -I/usr/include/ni -I/usr/include/GL -I./GestureRecognizer/
I then am able to use the ar command to generate a statically linked library. No error [probably] occurs (this is only a guess on my end) because it has not run through the linker yet, so those errors won't appear.
Thanks for being patient and reading all of that. Finally, question time:
1) Is the first error regarding the undefined reference to main normal when trying to compile to a binary file? I searched all of the files within that folder and not a single main function exists.
2) The rest of the undefined reference errors complain that they cannot find the functions mentioned. All of these functions are located in .cpp and .h files in the subdirectory GestureRecognizer/ which is a subdirectory of the path I'm compiling in. So wouldn't the parameter -I./GestureRecognizer/ take care of this issue?
I want to be sure that when I do create the shared library that I won't have any linking issues during run-time. Would all of these errors disappear when trying to compile to a binary file if they were initially linked properly?
You are telling the compiler to create an executable in the first invocation and an executable needs a main() function, which it can't find. So no, the error is not normal. In order to create a shared library, use GCC's "-shared" option for that. Trying some test code here, on my system it also wants "-fPIC" when compiling, but that might differ. Best idea is to dissect the compiler and linker command lines of a few other libraries that build correctly on your system.
In order to add the missing symbols from the subdirs, you have to compile those, too: g++ *.cpp ./GestureRecognizer/*.cpp .... The "-I..." only tells the compiler where to search when it finds an #include .... I wouldn't be surprised if this wasn't even necessary, many projects use #include "GestureRecognizer/Foo.h" to achieve that directly.
BTW:
Consider activating warnings when running the compiler ("-W...").
You can split between compiling ("-c") and linking. In both cases, use "g++" though. This should decrease your turnaround time when testing different linker settings.
I'm attempting to design a shared library of shared libraries using g++ with hopes of simplifying my compile scripts and easing my update process in the future, but I'm still novice at best with GNU tools and writing libraries, at that. Can anyone provide advice on whether the following idea is possible with g++?
For convenience, consider the following file system layout:
main.cpp
libraryX/
libraryX/libX.so
libraryX/libraryY/
libraryX/libraryY/libY.so
libraryX/libraryZ/
libraryX/libraryZ/libZ.so
My goal is to be able to link indirectly using cascading relative paths. For instance, main.cpp links to libraryX/libX.so, which links to libraryY/libY.so and libraryZ/libZ.so. Is it possible to only link main.cpp to libX.so and use functions defined in libY.so and libZ.so?
If so, could you provide an example of the flags one would need to do so? I've been trying variations of the following command using various sources from Google to no avail:
g++ -shared -fPIC -Wl-rpath=libraryX -LlibraryX -lX.so main.o -o executable
Any guidance or references are greatly appreciated.
Don't do this (even if you can figure out how).
When you link against -lX, the static linker must know all other shared libraries that are "part of this link". Since -lY is not on the link line, the static linker will either give you an error, or it must somehow figure out where libY.so is coming from. For the latter, it has to replicate the RPATH search that the runtime loader will perform. This replication is error prone (the static linker may not use the exact same algorithm) and best avoided.
Finally, your command line is totally wrong: -shared means you ask the linker for a shared library, but you are clearly trying to link an executable. You generally should not use -fPIC when linking an executable. Also, -Wl-rpath=... should be -Wl,-rpath=... (the comma is important).