CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c++linuxgccstatic-linkingstatic-initialization
Gene Vincent
Gene Vincent

Reputation: 5469

How to force gcc to link unreferenced, static C++ objects from a library

I'm using a C++ library that can be built as either a shared or a static library. This library uses a factory technique, where static objects register themselves when the program starts and the static objects get created.

This works fine as long as the shared library is used. When the static version is used, none of the static objects get included into the final program (because they aren't referenced directly) and thus their functionality isn't available.

Is there a way to force gcc to include all static objects from a library when linking?

The library is Open Source and I could modify it, if that helps.

Upvotes: 30

Views: 16161

Answers (2)

PA314159
PA314159

Reputation: 125

Use:

g++ -u <SYMBOL_NAME> ...

Note that -u is lowercase

Upvotes: 3

nos
nos

Reputation: 229058

You can use -Wl,--whole-archive -lyourlib , see the manpage for ld for more info.

Any static libraries mentioned after -Wl,--whole-archive on the command line gets fully included, you can turn this off again too if you need to , as in e.g. -Wl,--whole-archive -lyourlib -Wl,--no-whole-archive -lotherlib

Upvotes: 31

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