link a library I wrote with pthread library

Question

This is actually part of an assignment. Basically, we need to write a library, which will be linked against test programs the professor writes, like so:

gcc -o libexample.o -c libexample.c
ar rvs libexample.a libexample.o

#later
gcc -o test test.c -L . -lexample

The thing is that libexample uses POSIX semaphores, which needs linking with the pthread library when generating the final executable. Without changing the way test program compiles, is there a way to package the pthread library with libexample.a?

Thanks!

The problem is that a static library is not a stand-alone entity, it's just an archive (that's what the `.a` extension stand for) of object files. — Some programmer dude, Mar 28 '15 at 12:23

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 28 '15 at 20:31

Without changing the way test program compiles, is there a way to package the pthread library with libexample.a?

No.

Are you restricted to supplying just the single libexample.a file?

If not (and if you are using GNU linker), a possible solution is to provide libexample.a as linker script, which will link against e.g. libexample_code.a containing your object files and add -lpthread.

link a library I wrote with pthread library

1 Answers1