Re: libtool 1.5 used in serveez package

[Max Bowsher]

Bob Friesenhahn wrote:
> On Sun, 25 May 2003, stefan wrote:
>
>> This message indicates that libtool is not able/does not want to link the
>> static archive libiberty.a to the libserveez.dll.  This worked perfectly
>> with 1.4.2.  When looking at the magic_regex_expr ('file_magic ^x86
>> archive import|^x86 DLL') in libtool.m4 one can get the impression that
>> windows dlls are now allowed to be linked against other dlls only.
Static
>> archives are not allowed anymore.  Has this some reason?
>
> It was a bug to allow Windows DLLs to link against static libraries
> other than those delivered with the compiler.  1.5 fixes this bug.
>
> The reason why it is a bad idea to link DLLs with the static library
> is that the symbols from the static library are auto-imported similar
> to those intended to be exposed by the DLL. This can cause problems if
> two DLLs a program depends on link against the same static library,
> particularly if the static libraries are different versions.  Either
> there are duplicate symbols, or the result is ambigious.

If 1.4 was too permissive, I think 1.5 is too strict. There are many cases
where it is harmless to link a static lib into a DLL.

Would I be right in saying that, as long as no functions from the static lib
are exported by the finished DLL, there is no problem? Unfortunately, I
don't think there is any way to easily enforce that.


Max.