CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c++gcclinker
kroiz
kroiz

Reputation: 1772

C++ build application with newer compiler without rebuilding the libraries

I have a C++ program that uses several libraries.
I build my application and the libraries with gcc version 4.
The libraries are built as static libraries and the header and libX.a files are added to the project.
Can I build my application with a newer gcc (for example gcc 7) without needing to rebuild also the libraries?
If I try building with the newer gcc and succeed, does it means I won't get any unexpected problems related to this later?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 333

Answers (1)

pablo285
pablo285

Reputation: 2663

As mentioned in the comments you should recompile everything when doing such a major compiler upgrade.

Successful linking does not guarantee you will not get problems at runtime. This is due to ABI incompatibility between GCC versions. You might get lucky but it's something you can't depend on in the long run.

You might try to use GCC's code generation switches to make your compiled file compatible with your old libraries by looking up what has changed since those libraries were compiled in GCC's ABI policy but I think it's just not worth the effort.

Upvotes: 1

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