How to link a lot of C++ object files without using too much memory?

Question

I am writing a C++ program that uses a lot of data internally. This data is distributed over roughly 5000 source code files. When I run make, all these files compile to object code flawlessly. However, when I want to link everything together into one executable my computer runs out of memory.

• How can I split this task into smaller ones? Is it, for example, possible to link a subset of the object files into another object file and therefore reduce the number of object files that need to be linked in the end?
• Where can I learn on how to set up a compilation process of very large projects?

Any hints are greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Compile your code into a static library. Then compile against the library which should include only what you need in the final executable.

If you are working with GCC take a look at the AR options. Static library is an archive which you can combine and extract as needed.