[Nix-dev] I think I've found an ar archive bug

[Lluís Batlle]

2009/10/18 Tony White <tonywhite100 at googlemail.com>:
> Hi guys,
> Thanks for the replies. So libmad.a is a static library?
In the GNU world, and many of the unix world, a "static library" means
little more than putting the compiled object files into an archive. It
could be a 'zip', a tar, or 'ar'. Well, 'ar' has some features like
having an index of all the symbols in all the objects, I think (man
ranlib).
In the Microsoft and Borland compilers goes in a different way.

> Audacity wants libmad.a because it uses the .o files inside the ar
> archive as compile time dependencies and if I build it as shared on
> fedora libmad.a is created.
Yes, I think also the GNU Makefile (at least) can point to object
files inside archive files (ar), and not only to usual filesystem
files.

Regards,
Lluís.