CODEWITHSUNDEEP
macosterminaldylib.a
newbieMACuser
newbieMACuser

Reputation: 907

Linking .a files in Mac OSx

I have added libxxx.a in /usr/lib but when I perform otool -L myproject.so, libxxx.a was not included in the list of libraries. I have also included libxxx.a in my build file so I was thinking that I have successfully added it.

How can I like .a file?

I didn't have a problem with .dylib files though.

Upvotes: 1

Views: 2485

Answers (1)

trojanfoe
trojanfoe

Reputation: 122401

otool won't show the static library as they are included within the executable binary (a .dylib in this case). This is because static libraries are a collection of object (.o) files and it's pretty much the same as adding file1.o ... fileN.o to the linker command line and you can't see object files from otool either.

One way to check that your static library is part of the executable (other than it successfully linking) is to use the nm command which lists symbols. Providing the executable binary is not stripped, you would do something like:

$ nm /path/to/libLibrary.dylib | grep aClassOrFunctionInStaticLibrary

and the symbol being searched should have the letter t next to it, to indicate that it's part of the executable text section.

Also as mentioned by @PaulR, /usr/lib is part of the operating system and you should not add files there; use /usr/local/lib instead as /usr/local is designed for site-specific additions to the system and files there will survive an operating system update.

Upvotes: 1

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