Re: Regarding the ".a" files

bill yan wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> I only see ".a" library files for lablgtk2. Does that mean user only can
> staticly link their programs to those libraries? If like that, when
> lablgtk2 will support dynamically linking? Thanks in advance.

Ocaml does not currently support dynamic linking of Ocaml code
but I understand this is coming in version 3.11.

The ".a" libraries you see for liblgtk2 are the Ocaml parts of
the bindings to libgtk2 etc. The C parts of the underlying libraries
can still be dynamically linked.

For instance, ldd for an application I've written looks like this:

        linux-gate.so.1 =>  (0xb7f58000)
        libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0 => /usr/lib/libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0 (0xb7bc4000)
        libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0 => /usr/lib/libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0 (0xb7b40000)
        libatk-1.0.so.0 => /usr/lib/libatk-1.0.so.0 (0xb7b25000)
        libgdk_pixbuf-2.0.so.0 => /usr/lib/libgdk_pixbuf-2.0.so.0 (0xb7b0d000)
        libm.so.6 => /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libm.so.6 (0xb7ae8000)
        libpangocairo-1.0.so.0 => /usr/lib/libpangocairo-1.0.so.0 (0xb7adf000)
        libfontconfig.so.1 => /usr/lib/libfontconfig.so.1 (0xb7ab5000)
        libXext.so.6 => /usr/lib/libXext.so.6 (0xb7aa7000)
        libXrender.so.1 => /usr/lib/libXrender.so.1 (0xb7a9e000)
        libXinerama.so.1 => /usr/lib/libXinerama.so.1 (0xb7a9b000)
        libXi.so.6 => /usr/lib/libXi.so.6 (0xb7a93000)
        libXrandr.so.2 => /usr/lib/libXrandr.so.2 (0xb7a8d000)
        libXcursor.so.1 => /usr/lib/libXcursor.so.1 (0xb7a84000)
        libXcomposite.so.1 => /usr/lib/libXcomposite.so.1 (0xb7a81000)
        libXdamage.so.1 => /usr/lib/libXdamage.so.1 (0xb7a7d000)
        libpango-1.0.so.0 => /usr/lib/libpango-1.0.so.0 (0xb7a40000)
        libcairo.so.2 => /usr/lib/libcairo.so.2 (0xb79de000)
        libX11.so.6 => /usr/lib/libX11.so.6 (0xb78f7000)
        libXfixes.so.3 => /usr/lib/libXfixes.so.3 (0xb78f2000)
        libgobject-2.0.so.0 => /usr/lib/libgobject-2.0.so.0 (0xb78b6000)
        libgmodule-2.0.so.0 => /usr/lib/libgmodule-2.0.so.0 (0xb78b1000)
        libdl.so.2 => /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libdl.so.2 (0xb78ad000)
        libglib-2.0.so.0 => /usr/lib/libglib-2.0.so.0 (0xb77fc000)
        libc.so.6 => /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libc.so.6 (0xb76ad000)
        /lib/ld-linux.so.2 (0xb7f59000)
        libpangoft2-1.0.so.0 => /usr/lib/libpangoft2-1.0.so.0 (0xb7686000)
        libfreetype.so.6 => /usr/lib/libfreetype.so.6 (0xb7618000)
        libz.so.1 => /usr/lib/libz.so.1 (0xb7603000)
        libexpat.so.1 => /usr/lib/libexpat.so.1 (0xb75e2000)
        libXau.so.6 => /usr/lib/libXau.so.6 (0xb75df000)
        libpng12.so.0 => /usr/lib/libpng12.so.0 (0xb75bc000)
        libpixman-1.so.0 => /usr/lib/libpixman-1.so.0 (0xb7592000)
        libstdc++.so.6 => /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6 (0xb749f000)
        libgcc_s.so.1 => /lib/libgcc_s.so.1 (0xb7494000)
        libxcb-xlib.so.0 => /usr/lib/libxcb-xlib.so.0 (0xb7492000)
        libxcb.so.1 => /usr/lib/libxcb.so.1 (0xb747a000)
        libselinux.so.1 => /lib/libselinux.so.1 (0xb7460000)
        libpcre.so.3 => /usr/lib/libpcre.so.3 (0xb7439000)
        libpthread.so.0 => /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libpthread.so.0 (0xb7421000)
        libXdmcp.so.6 => /usr/lib/libXdmcp.so.6 (0xb741c000)

As you can see, dynamic linking is being used for the C libraries.

HTH,
Erik
-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Erik de Castro Lopo
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"I'm not even an atheist so much as I am an antitheist; I not
only maintain that all religions are versions of the same
untruth, but I hold that the influence of churches, and the
effect of religious belief, is positively harmful."
-- Christopher Hitchens in "Letters to a Young Contrarian" 2001