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This is doc/libtool.info, produced by makeinfo version 4.13 from
./doc/libtool.texi.
INFO-DIR-SECTION GNU programming tools
START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
* Libtool: (libtool). Generic shared library support script.
END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
INFO-DIR-SECTION Individual utilities
START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
* libtool-invocation: (libtool)Invoking libtool.
Running the `libtool' script.
* libtoolize: (libtool)Invoking libtoolize. Adding libtool support.
END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
This file documents GNU Libtool 2.4.2
Copyright (C) 1996-2011 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or
any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover
Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU
Free Documentation License".

File: libtool.info, Node: Top, Next: Introduction, Prev: (dir), Up: (dir)
Shared library support for GNU
******************************
This file documents GNU Libtool, a script that allows package developers
to provide generic shared library support. This edition documents
version 2.4.2.
*Note Reporting bugs::, for information on how to report problems
with GNU Libtool.
* Menu:
* Introduction:: What the heck is libtool?
* Libtool paradigm:: How libtool's view of libraries is different.
* Using libtool:: Example of using libtool to build libraries.
* Invoking libtool:: Running the `libtool' script.
* Integrating libtool:: Using libtool in your own packages.
* Other languages:: Using libtool without a C compiler.
* Versioning:: Using library interface versions.
* Library tips:: Tips for library interface design.
* Inter-library dependencies:: Libraries that depend on other libraries.
* Dlopened modules:: `dlopen'ing libtool-created libraries.
* Using libltdl:: Libtool's portable `dlopen' wrapper library.
* Trace interface:: Libtool's trace interface.
* FAQ:: Frequently Asked Questions
* Troubleshooting:: When libtool doesn't work as advertised.
* Maintaining:: Information used by the libtool maintainer.
* GNU Free Documentation License:: License for this manual.
* Combined Index:: Full index.
--- The Detailed Node Listing ---
Introduction
* Motivation:: Why does GNU need a libtool?
* Issues:: The problems that need to be addressed.
* Other implementations:: How other people have solved these issues.
* Postmortem:: Learning from past difficulties.
Using libtool
* Creating object files:: Compiling object files for libraries.
* Linking libraries:: Creating libraries from object files.
* Linking executables:: Linking object files against libtool libraries.
* Debugging executables:: Running GDB on libtool-generated programs.
* Installing libraries:: Making libraries available to users.
* Installing executables:: Making programs available to users.
* Static libraries:: When shared libraries are not wanted.
Linking executables
* Wrapper executables:: Wrapper executables for some platforms.
Invoking `libtool'
* Compile mode:: Creating library object files.
* Link mode:: Generating executables and libraries.
* Execute mode:: Debugging libtool-generated programs.
* Install mode:: Making libraries and executables public.
* Finish mode:: Completing a library installation.
* Uninstall mode:: Removing installed executables and libraries.
* Clean mode:: Removing uninstalled executables and libraries.
Integrating libtool with your package
* Autoconf macros:: Autoconf macros exported by libtool.
* Makefile rules:: Writing `Makefile' rules for libtool.
* Using Automake:: Automatically supporting libtool.
* Configuring:: Configuring libtool for a host system.
* Distributing:: What files to distribute with your package.
* Static-only libraries:: Sometimes shared libraries are just a pain.
Configuring libtool
* LT_INIT:: Configuring `libtool' in `configure.ac'.
* Configure notes:: Platform-specific notes for configuration.
Including libtool in your package
* Invoking libtoolize:: `libtoolize' command line options.
* Autoconf and LTLIBOBJS:: Autoconf automates LTLIBOBJS generation.
Using libtool with other languages
* C++ libraries:: Writing libraries for C++
* Tags:: Tags
Library interface versions
* Interfaces:: What are library interfaces?
* Libtool versioning:: Libtool's versioning system.
* Updating version info:: Changing version information before releases.
* Release numbers:: Breaking binary compatibility for aesthetics.
Tips for interface design
* C header files:: How to write portable include files.
Dlopened modules
* Building modules:: Creating dlopenable objects and libraries.
* Dlpreopening:: Dlopening that works on static platforms.
* Linking with dlopened modules:: Using dlopenable modules in libraries.
* Finding the dlname:: Choosing the right file to `dlopen'.
* Dlopen issues:: Unresolved problems that need your attention.
Using libltdl
* Libltdl interface:: How to use libltdl in your programs.
* Modules for libltdl:: Creating modules that can be `dlopen'ed.
* Thread Safety in libltdl:: Registering callbacks for multi-thread safety.
* User defined module data:: Associating data with loaded modules.
* Module loaders for libltdl:: Creating user defined module loaders.
* Distributing libltdl:: How to distribute libltdl with your package.
Frequently Asked Questions about libtool
* Stripped link flags:: Dropped flags when creating a library
Troubleshooting
* Libtool test suite:: Libtool's self-tests.
* Reporting bugs:: How to report problems with libtool.
The libtool test suite
* Test descriptions:: The contents of the old test suite.
* When tests fail:: What to do when a test fails.
Maintenance notes for libtool
* New ports:: How to port libtool to new systems.
* Tested platforms:: When libtool was last tested.
* Platform quirks:: Information about different library systems.
* libtool script contents:: Configuration information that libtool uses.
* Cheap tricks:: Making libtool maintainership easier.
Porting libtool to new systems
* Information sources:: Where to find relevant documentation
* Porting inter-library dependencies:: Implementation details explained
Platform quirks
* References:: Finding more information.
* Compilers:: Creating object files from source files.
* Reloadable objects:: Binding object files together.
* Multiple dependencies:: Removing duplicate dependent libraries.
* Archivers:: Programs that create static archives.
* Cross compiling:: Issues that arise when cross compiling.
* File name conversion:: Converting file names between platforms.
* Windows DLLs:: Windows header defines.
File name conversion
* File Name Conversion Failure:: What happens when file name conversion fails
* Native MinGW File Name Conversion:: MSYS file name conversion idiosyncrasies
* Cygwin/Windows File Name Conversion:: Using `cygpath' to convert Cygwin file names
* Unix/Windows File Name Conversion:: Using Wine to convert Unix paths
* LT_CYGPATH:: Invoking `cygpath' from other environments
* Cygwin to MinGW Cross:: Other notes concerning MinGW cross

File: libtool.info, Node: Introduction, Next: Libtool paradigm, Prev: Top, Up: Top
1 Introduction
**************
In the past, if you were a source code package developer and wanted to
take advantage of the power of shared libraries, you needed to write
custom support code for each platform on which your package ran. You
also had to design a configuration interface so that the package
installer could choose what sort of libraries were built.
GNU Libtool simplifies your job by encapsulating both the
platform-specific dependencies, and the user interface, in a single
script. GNU Libtool is designed so that the complete functionality of
each host type is available via a generic interface, but nasty quirks
are hidden from the programmer.
GNU Libtool's consistent interface is reassuring... users don't need
to read obscure documentation in order to have their favorite source
package build shared libraries. They just run your package `configure'
script (or equivalent), and libtool does all the dirty work.
There are several examples throughout this document. All assume the
same environment: we want to build a library, `libhello', in a generic
way.
`libhello' could be a shared library, a static library, or both...
whatever is available on the host system, as long as libtool has been
ported to it.
This chapter explains the original design philosophy of libtool.
Feel free to skip to the next chapter, unless you are interested in
history, or want to write code to extend libtool in a consistent way.
* Menu:
* Motivation:: Why does GNU need a libtool?
* Issues:: The problems that need to be addressed.
* Other implementations:: How other people have solved these issues.
* Postmortem:: Learning from past difficulties.

File: libtool.info, Node: Motivation, Next: Issues, Up: Introduction
1.1 Motivation for writing libtool
==================================
Since early 1995, several different GNU developers have recognized the
importance of having shared library support for their packages. The
primary motivation for such a change is to encourage modularity and
reuse of code (both conceptually and physically) in GNU programs.
Such a demand means that the way libraries are built in GNU packages
needs to be general, to allow for any library type the package installer
might want. The problem is compounded by the absence of a standard
procedure for creating shared libraries on different platforms.
The following sections outline the major issues facing shared library
support in GNU, and how shared library support could be standardized
with libtool.
The following specifications were used in developing and evaluating
this system:
1. The system must be as elegant as possible.
2. The system must be fully integrated with the GNU Autoconf and
Automake utilities, so that it will be easy for GNU maintainers to
use. However, the system must not require these tools, so that it
can be used by non-GNU packages.
3. Portability to other (non-GNU) architectures and tools is
desirable.

File: libtool.info, Node: Issues, Next: Other implementations, Prev: Motivation, Up: Introduction
1.2 Implementation issues
=========================
The following issues need to be addressed in any reusable shared library
system, specifically libtool:
1. The package installer should be able to control what sort of
libraries are built.
2. It can be tricky to run dynamically linked programs whose
libraries have not yet been installed. `LD_LIBRARY_PATH' must be
set properly (if it is supported), or programs fail to run.
3. The system must operate consistently even on hosts that don't
support shared libraries.
4. The commands required to build shared libraries may differ wildly
from host to host. These need to be determined at configure time
in a consistent way.
5. It is not always obvious with what prefix or suffix a shared
library should be installed. This makes it difficult for
`Makefile' rules, since they generally assume that file names are
the same from host to host.
6. The system needs a simple library version number abstraction, so
that shared libraries can be upgraded in place. The programmer
should be informed how to design the interfaces to the library to
maximize binary compatibility.
7. The install `Makefile' target should warn the package installer to
set the proper environment variables (`LD_LIBRARY_PATH' or
equivalent), or run `ldconfig'.

File: libtool.info, Node: Other implementations, Next: Postmortem, Prev: Issues, Up: Introduction
1.3 Other implementations
=========================
Even before libtool was developed, many free software packages built and
installed their own shared libraries. At first, these packages were
examined to avoid reinventing existing features.
Now it is clear that none of these packages have documented the
details of shared library systems that libtool requires. So, other
packages have been more or less abandoned as influences.

File: libtool.info, Node: Postmortem, Prev: Other implementations, Up: Introduction
1.4 A postmortem analysis of other implementations
==================================================
In all fairness, each of the implementations that were examined do the
job that they were intended to do, for a number of different host
systems. However, none of these solutions seem to function well as a
generalized, reusable component.
Most were too complex to use (much less modify) without understanding
exactly what the implementation does, and they were generally not
documented.
The main difficulty is that different vendors have different views of
what libraries are, and none of the packages that were examined seemed
to be confident enough to settle on a single paradigm that just _works_.
Ideally, libtool would be a standard that would be implemented as
series of extensions and modifications to existing library systems to
make them work consistently. However, it is not an easy task to
convince operating system developers to mend their evil ways, and
people want to build shared libraries right now, even on buggy, broken,
confused operating systems.
For this reason, libtool was designed as an independent shell script.
It isolates the problems and inconsistencies in library building that
plague `Makefile' writers by wrapping the compiler suite on different
platforms with a consistent, powerful interface.
With luck, libtool will be useful to and used by the GNU community,
and that the lessons that were learned in writing it will be taken up by
designers of future library systems.

File: libtool.info, Node: Libtool paradigm, Next: Using libtool, Prev: Introduction, Up: Top
2 The libtool paradigm
**********************
At first, libtool was designed to support an arbitrary number of library
object types. After libtool was ported to more platforms, a new
paradigm gradually developed for describing the relationship between
libraries and programs.
In summary, "libraries are programs with multiple entry points, and
more formally defined interfaces."
Version 0.7 of libtool was a complete redesign and rewrite of
libtool to reflect this new paradigm. So far, it has proved to be
successful: libtool is simpler and more useful than before.
The best way to introduce the libtool paradigm is to contrast it with
the paradigm of existing library systems, with examples from each. It
is a new way of thinking, so it may take a little time to absorb, but
when you understand it, the world becomes simpler.

File: libtool.info, Node: Using libtool, Next: Invoking libtool, Prev: Libtool paradigm, Up: Top
3 Using libtool
***************
It makes little sense to talk about using libtool in your own packages
until you have seen how it makes your life simpler. The examples in
this chapter introduce the main features of libtool by comparing the
standard library building procedure to libtool's operation on two
different platforms:
`a23'
An Ultrix 4.2 platform with only static libraries.
`burger'
A NetBSD/i386 1.2 platform with shared libraries.
You can follow these examples on your own platform, using the
preconfigured libtool script that was installed with libtool (*note
Configuring::).
Source files for the following examples are taken from the `demo'
subdirectory of the libtool distribution. Assume that we are building a
library, `libhello', out of the files `foo.c' and `hello.c'.
Note that the `foo.c' source file uses the `cos' math library
function, which is usually found in the standalone math library, and not
the C library (*note Trigonometric Functions: (libc)Trig Functions.).
So, we need to add `-lm' to the end of the link line whenever we link
`foo.lo' into an executable or a library (*note Inter-library
dependencies::).
The same rule applies whenever you use functions that don't appear in
the standard C library... you need to add the appropriate `-lNAME' flag
to the end of the link line when you link against those objects.
After we have built that library, we want to create a program by
linking `main.o' against `libhello'.
* Menu:
* Creating object files:: Compiling object files for libraries.
* Linking libraries:: Creating libraries from object files.
* Linking executables:: Linking object files against libtool libraries.
* Debugging executables:: Running GDB on libtool-generated programs.
* Installing libraries:: Making libraries available to users.
* Installing executables:: Making programs available to users.
* Static libraries:: When shared libraries are not wanted.

File: libtool.info, Node: Creating object files, Next: Linking libraries, Up: Using libtool
3.1 Creating object files
=========================
To create an object file from a source file, the compiler is invoked
with the `-c' flag (and any other desired flags):
burger$ gcc -g -O -c main.c
burger$
The above compiler command produces an object file, usually named
`main.o', from the source file `main.c'.
For most library systems, creating object files that become part of a
static library is as simple as creating object files that are linked to
form an executable:
burger$ gcc -g -O -c foo.c
burger$ gcc -g -O -c hello.c
burger$
Shared libraries, however, may only be built from
"position-independent code" (PIC). So, special flags must be passed to
the compiler to tell it to generate PIC rather than the standard
position-dependent code.
Since this is a library implementation detail, libtool hides the
complexity of PIC compiler flags and uses separate library object files
(the PIC one lives in the `.libs' subdirectory and the static one lives
in the current directory). On systems without shared libraries, the
PIC library object files are not created, whereas on systems where all
code is PIC, such as AIX, the static ones are not created.
To create library object files for `foo.c' and `hello.c', simply
invoke libtool with the standard compilation command as arguments
(*note Compile mode::):
a23$ libtool --mode=compile gcc -g -O -c foo.c
gcc -g -O -c foo.c -o foo.o
a23$ libtool --mode=compile gcc -g -O -c hello.c
gcc -g -O -c hello.c -o hello.o
a23$
Note that libtool silently creates an additional control file on each
`compile' invocation. The `.lo' file is the libtool object, which
Libtool uses to determine what object file may be built into a shared
library. On `a23', only static libraries are supported so the library
objects look like this:
# foo.lo - a libtool object file
# Generated by ltmain.sh (GNU libtool) 2.4.2
#
# Please DO NOT delete this file!
# It is necessary for linking the library.
# Name of the PIC object.
pic_object=none
# Name of the non-PIC object.
non_pic_object='foo.o'
On shared library systems, libtool automatically generates an
additional PIC object by inserting the appropriate PIC generation flags
into the compilation command:
burger$ libtool --mode=compile gcc -g -O -c foo.c
mkdir .libs
gcc -g -O -c foo.c -fPIC -DPIC -o .libs/foo.o
gcc -g -O -c foo.c -o foo.o >/dev/null 2>&1
burger$
Note that Libtool automatically created `.libs' directory upon its
first execution, where PIC library object files will be stored.
Since `burger' supports shared libraries, and requires PIC objects
to build them, Libtool has compiled a PIC object this time, and made a
note of it in the libtool object:
# foo.lo - a libtool object file
# Generated by ltmain.sh (GNU libtool) 2.4.2
#
# Please DO NOT delete this file!
# It is necessary for linking the library.
# Name of the PIC object.
pic_object='.libs/foo.o'
# Name of the non-PIC object.
non_pic_object='foo.o'
Notice that the second run of GCC has its output discarded. This is
done so that compiler warnings aren't annoyingly duplicated. If you
need to see both sets of warnings (you might have conditional code
inside `#ifdef PIC' for example), you can turn off suppression with the
`-no-suppress' option to libtool's compile mode:
burger$ libtool --mode=compile gcc -no-suppress -g -O -c hello.c
gcc -g -O -c hello.c -fPIC -DPIC -o .libs/hello.o
gcc -g -O -c hello.c -o hello.o
burger$

File: libtool.info, Node: Linking libraries, Next: Linking executables, Prev: Creating object files, Up: Using libtool
3.2 Linking libraries
=====================
Without libtool, the programmer would invoke the `ar' command to create
a static library:
burger$ ar cru libhello.a hello.o foo.o
burger$
But of course, that would be too simple, so many systems require that
you run the `ranlib' command on the resulting library (to give it
better karma, or something):
burger$ ranlib libhello.a
burger$
It seems more natural to use the C compiler for this task, given
libtool's "libraries are programs" approach. So, on platforms without
shared libraries, libtool simply acts as a wrapper for the system `ar'
(and possibly `ranlib') commands.
Again, the libtool control file name (`.la' suffix) differs from the
standard library name (`.a' suffix). The arguments to libtool are the
same ones you would use to produce an executable named `libhello.la'
with your compiler (*note Link mode::):
a23$ libtool --mode=link gcc -g -O -o libhello.la foo.o hello.o
*** Warning: Linking the shared library libhello.la against the
*** non-libtool objects foo.o hello.o is not portable!
ar cru .libs/libhello.a
ranlib .libs/libhello.a
creating libhello.la
(cd .libs && rm -f libhello.la && ln -s ../libhello.la libhello.la)
a23$
Aha! Libtool caught a common error... trying to build a library
from standard objects instead of special `.lo' object files. This
doesn't matter so much for static libraries, but on shared library
systems, it is of great importance. (Note that you may replace
`libhello.la' with `libhello.a' in which case libtool won't issue the
warning any more. But although this method works, this is not intended
to be used because it makes you lose the benefits of using Libtool.)
So, let's try again, this time with the library object files.
Remember also that we need to add `-lm' to the link command line because
`foo.c' uses the `cos' math library function (*note Using libtool::).
Another complication in building shared libraries is that we need to
specify the path to the directory in which they (eventually) will be
installed (in this case, `/usr/local/lib')(1):
a23$ libtool --mode=link gcc -g -O -o libhello.la foo.lo hello.lo \
-rpath /usr/local/lib -lm
ar cru .libs/libhello.a foo.o hello.o
ranlib .libs/libhello.a
creating libhello.la
(cd .libs && rm -f libhello.la && ln -s ../libhello.la libhello.la)
a23$
Now, let's try the same trick on the shared library platform:
burger$ libtool --mode=link gcc -g -O -o libhello.la foo.lo hello.lo \
-rpath /usr/local/lib -lm
rm -fr .libs/libhello.a .libs/libhello.la
ld -Bshareable -o .libs/libhello.so.0.0 .libs/foo.o .libs/hello.o -lm
ar cru .libs/libhello.a foo.o hello.o
ranlib .libs/libhello.a
creating libhello.la
(cd .libs && rm -f libhello.la && ln -s ../libhello.la libhello.la)
burger$
Now that's significantly cooler... Libtool just ran an obscure `ld'
command to create a shared library, as well as the static library.
Note how libtool creates extra files in the `.libs' subdirectory,
rather than the current directory. This feature is to make it easier
to clean up the build directory, and to help ensure that other programs
fail horribly if you accidentally forget to use libtool when you should.
Again, you may want to have a look at the `.la' file in order to see
what Libtool stores in it. In particular, you will see that Libtool
uses this file to remember the destination directory for the library
(the argument to `-rpath') as well as the dependency on the math
library (`-lm').
---------- Footnotes ----------
(1) If you don't specify an `rpath', then libtool builds a libtool
convenience archive, not a shared library (*note Static libraries::).

File: libtool.info, Node: Linking executables, Next: Debugging executables, Prev: Linking libraries, Up: Using libtool
3.3 Linking executables
=======================
If you choose at this point to "install" the library (put it in a
permanent location) before linking executables against it, then you
don't need to use libtool to do the linking. Simply use the appropriate
`-L' and `-l' flags to specify the library's location.
Some system linkers insist on encoding the full directory name of
each shared library in the resulting executable. Libtool has to work
around this misfeature by special magic to ensure that only permanent
directory names are put into installed executables.
The importance of this bug must not be overlooked: it won't cause
programs to crash in obvious ways. It creates a security hole, and
possibly even worse, if you are modifying the library source code after
you have installed the package, you will change the behaviour of the
installed programs!
So, if you want to link programs against the library before you
install it, you must use libtool to do the linking.
Here's the old way of linking against an uninstalled library:
burger$ gcc -g -O -o hell.old main.o libhello.a -lm
burger$
Libtool's way is almost the same(1) (*note Link mode::):
a23$ libtool --mode=link gcc -g -O -o hell main.o libhello.la
gcc -g -O -o hell main.o ./.libs/libhello.a -lm
a23$
That looks too simple to be true. All libtool did was transform
`libhello.la' to `./.libs/libhello.a', but remember that `a23' has no
shared libraries. Notice that Libtool also remembered that
`libhello.la' depends on `-lm', so even though we didn't specify `-lm'
on the libtool command line(2) Libtool has added it to the `gcc' link
line for us.
On `burger' Libtool links against the uninstalled shared library:
burger$ libtool --mode=link gcc -g -O -o hell main.o libhello.la
gcc -g -O -o .libs/hell main.o -L./.libs -R/usr/local/lib -lhello -lm
creating hell
burger$
Now assume `libhello.la' had already been installed, and you want to
link a new program with it. You could figure out where it lives by
yourself, then run:
burger$ gcc -g -O -o test test.o -L/usr/local/lib -lhello -lm
However, unless `/usr/local/lib' is in the standard library search
path, you won't be able to run `test'. However, if you use libtool to
link the already-installed libtool library, it will do The Right Thing
(TM) for you:
burger$ libtool --mode=link gcc -g -O -o test test.o \
/usr/local/lib/libhello.la
gcc -g -O -o .libs/test test.o -Wl,--rpath \
-Wl,/usr/local/lib /usr/local/lib/libhello.a -lm
creating test
burger$
Note that libtool added the necessary run-time path flag, as well as
`-lm', the library libhello.la depended upon. Nice, huh?
Notice that the executable, `hell', was actually created in the
`.libs' subdirectory. Then, a wrapper script (or, on certain
platforms, a wrapper executable *note Wrapper executables::) was
created in the current directory.
Since libtool created a wrapper script, you should use libtool to
install it and debug it too. However, since the program does not depend
on any uninstalled libtool library, it is probably usable even without
the wrapper script.
On NetBSD 1.2, libtool encodes the installation directory of
`libhello', by using the `-R/usr/local/lib' compiler flag. Then, the
wrapper script guarantees that the executable finds the correct shared
library (the one in `./.libs') until it is properly installed.
Let's compare the two different programs:
burger$ time ./hell.old
Welcome to GNU Hell!
** This is not GNU Hello. There is no built-in mail reader. **
0.21 real 0.02 user 0.08 sys
burger$ time ./hell
Welcome to GNU Hell!
** This is not GNU Hello. There is no built-in mail reader. **
0.63 real 0.09 user 0.59 sys
burger$
The wrapper script takes significantly longer to execute, but at
least the results are correct, even though the shared library hasn't
been installed yet.
So, what about all the space savings that shared libraries are
supposed to yield?
burger$ ls -l hell.old libhello.a
-rwxr-xr-x 1 gord gord 15481 Nov 14 12:11 hell.old
-rw-r--r-- 1 gord gord 4274 Nov 13 18:02 libhello.a
burger$ ls -l .libs/hell .libs/libhello.*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 gord gord 11647 Nov 14 12:10 .libs/hell
-rw-r--r-- 1 gord gord 4274 Nov 13 18:44 .libs/libhello.a
-rwxr-xr-x 1 gord gord 12205 Nov 13 18:44 .libs/libhello.so.0.0
burger$
Well, that sucks. Maybe I should just scrap this project and take up
basket weaving.
Actually, it just proves an important point: shared libraries incur
overhead because of their (relative) complexity. In this situation, the
price of being dynamic is eight kilobytes, and the payoff is about four
kilobytes. So, having a shared `libhello' won't be an advantage until
we link it against at least a few more programs.
* Menu:
* Wrapper executables:: Wrapper executables for some platforms.
---------- Footnotes ----------
(1) However, you should avoid using `-L' or `-l' flags to link
against an uninstalled libtool library. Just specify the relative path
to the `.la' file, such as `../intl/libintl.la'. This is a design
decision to eliminate any ambiguity when linking against uninstalled
shared libraries.
(2) And why should we? `main.o' doesn't directly depend on `-lm'
after all.

File: libtool.info, Node: Wrapper executables, Up: Linking executables
3.3.1 Wrapper executables for uninstalled programs
--------------------------------------------------
Some platforms, notably those hosted on Windows such as Cygwin and
MinGW, use a wrapper executable rather than a wrapper script to ensure
proper operation of uninstalled programs linked by libtool against
uninstalled shared libraries. The wrapper executable thus performs the
same function as the wrapper script used on other platforms, but allows
to satisfy the `make' rules for the program, whose name ends in
`$(EXEEXT)'. The actual program executable is created below .libs, and
its name will end in `$(EXEEXT)' and may or may not contain an `lt-'
prefix. This wrapper executable sets various environment values so
that the program executable may locate its (uninstalled) shared
libraries, and then launches the program executable.
The wrapper executable provides a debug mode, enabled by passing the
command-line option `--lt-debug' (see below). When executing in debug
mode, diagnostic information will be printed to `stderr' before the
program executable is launched.
Finally, the wrapper executable supports a number of command line
options that may be useful when debugging the operation of the wrapper
system. All of these options begin with `--lt-', and if present they
and their arguments will be removed from the argument list passed on to
the program executable. Therefore, the program executable may not
employ command line options that begin with `--lt-'. (In fact, the
wrapper executable will detect any command line options that begin with
`--lt-' and abort with an error message if the option is not
recognized). If this presents a problem, please contact the Libtool
team at the Libtool bug reporting address <bug-libtool@gnu.org>.
These command line options include:
`--lt-dump-script'
Causes the wrapper to print a copy of the wrapper _script_ to
`stdout', and exit.
`--lt-debug'
Causes the wrapper to print diagnostic information to `stdout',
before launching the program executable.
For consistency, both the wrapper _script_ and the wrapper
_executable_ support these options.

File: libtool.info, Node: Debugging executables, Next: Installing libraries, Prev: Linking executables, Up: Using libtool
3.4 Debugging executables
=========================
If `hell' was a complicated program, you would certainly want to test
and debug it before installing it on your system. In the above
section, you saw how the libtool wrapper script makes it possible to run
the program directly, but unfortunately, this mechanism interferes with
the debugger:
burger$ gdb hell
GDB is free software and you are welcome to distribute copies of it
under certain conditions; type "show copying" to see the conditions.
There is no warranty for GDB; type "show warranty" for details.
GDB 4.16 (i386-unknown-netbsd), (C) 1996 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
"hell": not in executable format: File format not recognized
(gdb) quit
burger$
Sad. It doesn't work because GDB doesn't know where the executable
lives. So, let's try again, by invoking GDB directly on the executable:
burger$ gdb .libs/hell
GNU gdb 5.3 (i386-unknown-netbsd)
Copyright 2002 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
GDB is free software, covered by the GNU General Public License,
and you are welcome to change it and/or distribute copies of it
under certain conditions. Type "show copying" to see the conditions.
There is no warranty for GDB. Type "show warranty" for details.
(gdb) break main
Breakpoint 1 at 0x8048547: file main.c, line 29.
(gdb) run
Starting program: /home/src/libtool/demo/.libs/hell
/home/src/libtool/demo/.libs/hell: can't load library 'libhello.so.0'
Program exited with code 020.
(gdb) quit
burger$
Argh. Now GDB complains because it cannot find the shared library
that `hell' is linked against. So, we must use libtool in order to
properly set the library path and run the debugger. Fortunately, we can
forget all about the `.libs' directory, and just run it on the
executable wrapper (*note Execute mode::):
burger$ libtool --mode=execute gdb hell
GNU gdb 5.3 (i386-unknown-netbsd)
Copyright 2002 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
GDB is free software, covered by the GNU General Public License,
and you are welcome to change it and/or distribute copies of it
under certain conditions. Type "show copying" to see the conditions.
There is no warranty for GDB. Type "show warranty" for details.
(gdb) break main
Breakpoint 1 at 0x8048547: file main.c, line 29.
(gdb) run
Starting program: /home/src/libtool/demo/.libs/hell
Breakpoint 1, main (argc=1, argv=0xbffffc40) at main.c:29
29 printf ("Welcome to GNU Hell!\n");
(gdb) quit
The program is running. Quit anyway (and kill it)? (y or n) y
burger$

File: libtool.info, Node: Installing libraries, Next: Installing executables, Prev: Debugging executables, Up: Using libtool
3.5 Installing libraries
========================
Installing libraries on a non-libtool system is quite
straightforward... just copy them into place:(1)
burger$ su
Password: ********
burger# cp libhello.a /usr/local/lib/libhello.a
burger#
Oops, don't forget the `ranlib' command:
burger# ranlib /usr/local/lib/libhello.a
burger#
Libtool installation is quite simple, as well. Just use the
`install' or `cp' command that you normally would (*note Install
mode::):
a23# libtool --mode=install cp libhello.la /usr/local/lib/libhello.la
cp libhello.la /usr/local/lib/libhello.la
cp .libs/libhello.a /usr/local/lib/libhello.a
ranlib /usr/local/lib/libhello.a
a23#
Note that the libtool library `libhello.la' is also installed, to
help libtool with uninstallation (*note Uninstall mode::) and linking
(*note Linking executables::) and to help programs with dlopening
(*note Dlopened modules::).
Here is the shared library example:
burger# libtool --mode=install install -c libhello.la \
/usr/local/lib/libhello.la
install -c .libs/libhello.so.0.0 /usr/local/lib/libhello.so.0.0
install -c libhello.la /usr/local/lib/libhello.la
install -c .libs/libhello.a /usr/local/lib/libhello.a
ranlib /usr/local/lib/libhello.a
burger#
It is safe to specify the `-s' (strip symbols) flag if you use a
BSD-compatible install program when installing libraries. Libtool will
either ignore the `-s' flag, or will run a program that will strip only
debugging and compiler symbols from the library.
Once the libraries have been put in place, there may be some
additional configuration that you need to do before using them. First,
you must make sure that where the library is installed actually agrees
with the `-rpath' flag you used to build it.
Then, running `libtool -n finish LIBDIR' can give you further hints
on what to do (*note Finish mode::):
burger# libtool -n finish /usr/local/lib
PATH="$PATH:/sbin" ldconfig -m /usr/local/lib
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Libraries have been installed in:
/usr/local/lib
To link against installed libraries in a given directory, LIBDIR,
you must use the `-LLIBDIR' flag during linking.
You will also need to do one of the following:
- add LIBDIR to the `LD_LIBRARY_PATH' environment variable
during execution
- add LIBDIR to the `LD_RUN_PATH' environment variable
during linking
- use the `-RLIBDIR' linker flag
See any operating system documentation about shared libraries for
more information, such as the ld and ld.so manual pages.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
burger#
After you have completed these steps, you can go on to begin using
the installed libraries. You may also install any executables that
depend on libraries you created.
---------- Footnotes ----------
(1) Don't strip static libraries though, or they will be unusable.

File: libtool.info, Node: Installing executables, Next: Static libraries, Prev: Installing libraries, Up: Using libtool
3.6 Installing executables
==========================
If you used libtool to link any executables against uninstalled libtool
libraries (*note Linking executables::), you need to use libtool to
install the executables after the libraries have been installed (*note
Installing libraries::).
So, for our Ultrix example, we would run:
a23# libtool --mode=install -c hell /usr/local/bin/hell
install -c hell /usr/local/bin/hell
a23#
On shared library systems that require wrapper scripts, libtool just
ignores the wrapper script and installs the correct binary:
burger# libtool --mode=install -c hell /usr/local/bin/hell
install -c .libs/hell /usr/local/bin/hell
burger#

File: libtool.info, Node: Static libraries, Prev: Installing executables, Up: Using libtool
3.7 Linking static libraries
============================
Why return to `ar' and `ranlib' silliness when you've had a taste of
libtool? Well, sometimes it is desirable to create a static archive
that can never be shared. The most frequent case is when you have a
set of object files that you use to build several different libraries.
You can create a "convenience library" out of those objects, and link
against that with the other libraries, instead of listing all the
object files every time.
If you just want to link this convenience library into programs, then
you could just ignore libtool entirely, and use the old `ar' and
`ranlib' commands (or the corresponding GNU Automake `_LIBRARIES'
rules). You can even install a convenience library using GNU Libtool,
though you probably don't want to and hence GNU Automake doesn't allow
you to do so.
burger$ libtool --mode=install ./install-sh -c libhello.a \
/local/lib/libhello.a
./install-sh -c libhello.a /local/lib/libhello.a
ranlib /local/lib/libhello.a
burger$
Using libtool for static library installation protects your library
from being accidentally stripped (if the installer used the `-s' flag),
as well as automatically running the correct `ranlib' command.
But libtool libraries are more than just collections of object files:
they can also carry library dependency information, which old archives
do not. If you want to create a libtool static convenience library, you
can omit the `-rpath' flag and use `-static' to indicate that you're
only interested in a static library. When you link a program with such
a library, libtool will actually link all object files and dependency
libraries into the program.
If you omit both `-rpath' and `-static', libtool will create a
convenience library that can be used to create other libtool libraries,
even shared ones. Just like in the static case, the library behaves as
an alias to a set of object files and dependency libraries, but in this
case the object files are suitable for inclusion in shared libraries.
But be careful not to link a single convenience library, directly or
indirectly, into a single program or library, otherwise you may get
errors about symbol redefinitions.
The key is remembering that a convenience library contains PIC
objects, and can be linked where a list of PIC objects makes sense;
i.e. into a shared library. A static convenience library contains
non-PIC objects, so can be linked into an old static library, or a
program.
When GNU Automake is used, you should use `noinst_LTLIBRARIES'
instead of `lib_LTLIBRARIES' for convenience libraries, so that the
`-rpath' option is not passed when they are linked.
As a rule of thumb, link a libtool convenience library into at most
one libtool library, and never into a program, and link libtool static
convenience libraries only into programs, and only if you need to carry
library dependency information to the user of the static convenience
library.
Another common situation where static linking is desirable is in
creating a standalone binary. Use libtool to do the linking and add the
`-all-static' flag.

File: libtool.info, Node: Invoking libtool, Next: Integrating libtool, Prev: Using libtool, Up: Top
4 Invoking `libtool'
********************
The `libtool' program has the following synopsis:
libtool [OPTION]... [MODE-ARG]...
and accepts the following options:
`--config'
Display libtool configuration variables and exit.
`--debug'
Dump a trace of shell script execution to standard output. This
produces a lot of output, so you may wish to pipe it to `less' (or
`more') or redirect to a file.
`-n'
`--dry-run'
Don't create, modify, or delete any files, just show what commands
would be executed by libtool.
`--features'
Display basic configuration options. This provides a way for
packages to determine whether shared or static libraries will be
built.
`--finish'
Same as `--mode=finish'.
`-h'
Display short help message.
`--help'
Display a help message and exit. If `--mode=MODE' is specified,
then detailed help for MODE is displayed.
`--help-all'
Display help for the general options as well as detailed help for
each operation mode, and exit.
`--mode=MODE'
Use MODE as the operation mode. When using libtool from the
command line, you can give just MODE (or a unique abbreviation of
it) as the first argument as a shorthand for the full
`--mode=MODE'. For example, the following are equivalent:
$ libtool --mode=execute --dry-run gdb prog.exe
$ libtool execute --dry-run gdb prog.exe
$ libtool exe --dry-run gdb prog.exe
$ libtool e --dry-run gdb prog.exe
MODE must be set to one of the following:
`compile'
Compile a source file into a libtool object.
`execute'
Automatically set the library path so that another program
can use uninstalled libtool-generated programs or libraries.
`link'
Create a library or an executable.
`install'
Install libraries or executables.
`finish'
Complete the installation of libtool libraries on the system.
`uninstall'
Delete installed libraries or executables.
`clean'
Delete uninstalled libraries or executables.
`--tag=TAG'
Use configuration variables from tag TAG (*note Tags::).
`--preserve-dup-deps'
Do not remove duplicate dependencies in libraries. When building
packages with static libraries, the libraries may depend
circularly on each other (shared libs can too, but for those it
doesn't matter), so there are situations, where -la -lb -la is
required, and the second -la may not be stripped or the link will
fail. In cases where these duplications are required, this option
will preserve them, only stripping the libraries that libtool
knows it can safely.
`--quiet'
`--silent'
Do not print out any progress or informational messages.
`-v'
`--verbose'
Print out progress and informational messages (enabled by default),
as well as additional messages not ordinary seen by default.
`--no-quiet'
`--no-silent'
Print out the progress and informational messages that are seen by
default. This option has no effect on whether the additional
messages seen in `--verbose' mode are shown.
`--no-verbose'
Do not print out any additional informational messages beyond
those ordinarily seen by default. This option has no effect on
whether the ordinary progress and informational messages enabled
by `--no-quiet' are shown.
Thus, there are now three different message levels (not counting
`--debug'), depending on whether the normal messages and/or the
additional verbose messages are displayed. Note that there is no
mechanism to diplay verbose messages, without also displaying
normal messages.
*default*
Normal messages are displayed, verbose messages are not
displayed. In addition to being the default mode, it can be
forcibly achieved by using both option `--no-verbose' and
either option `--no-silent' or option `--no-quiet'.
*silent*
Neither normal messages nor verbose messages are displayed.
This mode can be achieved using either option `--silent' or
option `--quiet'.
*verbose*
Both normal messages and verbose messages are displayed. This
mode can be achieved using either option `-v' or option
`--verbose'.
`--version'
Print libtool version information and exit.
The current `libtool' implementation is done with a shell script
that needs to be invoked by the shell which `configure' chose for
configuring `libtool' (*note The Autoconf Manual:
(autoconf)config.status Invocation.). This shell is set in the
she-bang (`#!') line of the `libtool' script. Using a different shell
may cause undefined behavior.
The MODE-ARGS are a variable number of arguments, depending on the
selected operation mode. In general, each MODE-ARG is interpreted by
programs libtool invokes, rather than libtool itself.
* Menu:
* Compile mode:: Creating library object files.
* Link mode:: Generating executables and libraries.
* Execute mode:: Debugging libtool-generated programs.
* Install mode:: Making libraries and executables public.
* Finish mode:: Completing a library installation.
* Uninstall mode:: Removing installed executables and libraries.
* Clean mode:: Removing uninstalled executables and libraries.

File: libtool.info, Node: Compile mode, Next: Link mode, Up: Invoking libtool
4.1 Compile mode
================
For "compile" mode, MODE-ARGS is a compiler command to be used in
creating a "standard" object file. These arguments should begin with
the name of the C compiler, and contain the `-c' compiler flag so that
only an object file is created.
Libtool determines the name of the output file by removing the
directory component from the source file name, then substituting the
source code suffix (e.g. `.c' for C source code) with the library
object suffix, `.lo'.
If shared libraries are being built, any necessary PIC generation
flags are substituted into the compilation command.
The following components of MODE-ARGS are treated specially:
`-o'
Note that the `-o' option is now fully supported. It is emulated
on the platforms that don't support it (by locking and moving the
objects), so it is really easy to use libtool, just with minor
modifications to your Makefiles. Typing for example
libtool --mode=compile gcc -c foo/x.c -o foo/x.lo
will do what you expect.
Note, however, that, if the compiler does not support `-c' and
`-o', it is impossible to compile `foo/x.c' without overwriting an
existing `./x.o'. Therefore, if you do have a source file
`./x.c', make sure you introduce dependencies in your `Makefile'
to make sure `./x.o' (or `./x.lo') is re-created after any
sub-directory's `x.lo':
x.o x.lo: foo/x.lo bar/x.lo
This will also ensure that make won't try to use a temporarily
corrupted `x.o' to create a program or library. It may cause
needless recompilation on platforms that support `-c' and `-o'
together, but it's the only way to make it safe for those that
don't.
`-no-suppress'
If both PIC and non-PIC objects are being built, libtool will
normally suppress the compiler output for the PIC object
compilation to save showing very similar, if not identical
duplicate output for each object. If the `-no-suppress' option is
given in compile mode, libtool will show the compiler output for
both objects.
`-prefer-pic'
Libtool will try to build only PIC objects.
`-prefer-non-pic'
Libtool will try to build only non-PIC objects.
`-shared'
Even if Libtool was configured with `--enable-static', the object
file Libtool builds will not be suitable for static linking.
Libtool will signal an error if it was configured with
`--disable-shared', or if the host does not support shared
libraries.
`-static'
Even if libtool was configured with `--disable-static', the object
file Libtool builds *will* be suitable for static linking.
`-Wc,FLAG'
`-Xcompiler FLAG'
Pass a flag directly to the compiler. With `-Wc,', multiple flags
may be separated by commas, whereas `-Xcompiler ' passes through
commas unchanged.

File: libtool.info, Node: Link mode, Next: Execute mode, Prev: Compile mode, Up: Invoking libtool
4.2 Link mode
=============
"Link" mode links together object files (including library objects) to
form another library or to create an executable program.
MODE-ARGS consist of a command using the C compiler to create an
output file (with the `-o' flag) from several object files.
The following components of MODE-ARGS are treated specially:
`-all-static'
If OUTPUT-FILE is a program, then do not link it against any
shared libraries at all. If OUTPUT-FILE is a library, then only
create a static library. In general, this flag cannot be used
together with `disable-static' (*note LT_INIT::).
`-avoid-version'
Tries to avoid versioning (*note Versioning::) for libraries and
modules, i.e. no version information is stored and no symbolic
links are created. If the platform requires versioning, this
option has no effect.
`-bindir'
Pass the absolute name of the directory for installing executable
programs (*note Directory Variables: (standards)Directory
Variables.). `libtool' may use this value to install shared
libraries there on systems that do not provide for any library
hardcoding and use the directory of a program and the `PATH'
variable as library search path. This is typically used for DLLs
on Windows or other systems using the PE (Portable Executable)
format. On other systems, `-bindir' is ignored. The default
value used is `LIBDIR/../bin' for libraries installed to `LIBDIR'.
You should not use `-bindir' for modules.
`-dlopen FILE'
Same as `-dlpreopen FILE', if native dlopening is not supported on
the host platform (*note Dlopened modules::) or if the program is
linked with `-static', `-static-libtool-libs', or `-all-static'.
Otherwise, no effect. If FILE is `self' Libtool will make sure
that the program can `dlopen' itself, either by enabling
`-export-dynamic' or by falling back to `-dlpreopen self'.
`-dlpreopen FILE'
Link FILE into the output program, and add its symbols to the list
of preloaded symbols (*note Dlpreopening::). If FILE is `self',
the symbols of the program itself will be added to preloaded
symbol lists. If FILE is `force' Libtool will make sure that a
preloaded symbol list is always _defined_, regardless of whether
it's empty or not.
`-export-dynamic'
Allow symbols from OUTPUT-FILE to be resolved with `dlsym' (*note
Dlopened modules::).
`-export-symbols SYMFILE'
Tells the linker to export only the symbols listed in SYMFILE.
The symbol file should end in `.sym' and must contain the name of
one symbol per line. This option has no effect on some platforms.
By default all symbols are exported.
`-export-symbols-regex REGEX'
Same as `-export-symbols', except that only symbols matching the
regular expression REGEX are exported. By default all symbols are
exported.
`-LLIBDIR'
Search LIBDIR for required libraries that have already been
installed.
`-lNAME'
OUTPUT-FILE requires the installed library `libNAME'. This option
is required even when OUTPUT-FILE is not an executable.
`-module'
Creates a library that can be dlopened (*note Dlopened modules::).
This option doesn't work for programs. Module names don't need to
be prefixed with `lib'. In order to prevent name clashes,
however, `libNAME' and `NAME' must not be used at the same time in
your package.
`-no-fast-install'
Disable fast-install mode for the executable OUTPUT-FILE. Useful
if the program won't be necessarily installed.
`-no-install'
Link an executable OUTPUT-FILE that can't be installed and
therefore doesn't need a wrapper script on systems that allow
hardcoding of library paths. Useful if the program is only used
in the build tree, e.g., for testing or generating other files.
`-no-undefined'
Declare that OUTPUT-FILE does not depend on any libraries other
than the ones listed on the command line, i.e., after linking, it
will not have unresolved symbols. Some platforms require all
symbols in shared libraries to be resolved at library creation
(*note Inter-library dependencies::), and using this parameter
allows `libtool' to assume that this will not happen.
`-o OUTPUT-FILE'
Create OUTPUT-FILE from the specified objects and libraries.
`-objectlist FILE'
Use a list of object files found in FILE to specify objects.
`-precious-files-regex REGEX'
Prevents removal of files from the temporary output directory whose
names match this regular expression. You might specify `\.bbg?$'
to keep those files created with `gcc -ftest-coverage' for example.
`-release RELEASE'
Specify that the library was generated by release RELEASE of your
package, so that users can easily tell which versions are newer
than others. Be warned that no two releases of your package will
be binary compatible if you use this flag. If you want binary
compatibility, use the `-version-info' flag instead (*note
Versioning::).
`-rpath LIBDIR'
If OUTPUT-FILE is a library, it will eventually be installed in
LIBDIR. If OUTPUT-FILE is a program, add LIBDIR to the run-time
path of the program. On platforms that don't support hardcoding
library paths into executables and only search PATH for shared
libraries, such as when OUTPUT-FILE is a Windows (or other PE
platform) DLL, the `.la' control file will be installed in LIBDIR,
but see `-bindir' above for the eventual destination of the `.dll'
or other library file itself.
`-R LIBDIR'
If OUTPUT-FILE is a program, add LIBDIR to its run-time path. If
OUTPUT-FILE is a library, add `-RLIBDIR' to its DEPENDENCY_LIBS,
so that, whenever the library is linked into a program, LIBDIR
will be added to its run-time path.
`-shared'
If OUTPUT-FILE is a program, then link it against any uninstalled
shared libtool libraries (this is the default behavior). If
OUTPUT-FILE is a library, then only create a shared library. In
the later case, libtool will signal an error if it was configured
with `--disable-shared', or if the host does not support shared
libraries.
`-shrext SUFFIX'
If OUTPUT-FILE is a libtool library, replace the system's standard
file name extension for shared libraries with SUFFIX (most systems
use `.so' here). This option is helpful in certain cases where an
application requires that shared libraries (typically modules)
have an extension other than the default one. Please note you
must supply the full file name extension including any leading dot.
`-static'
If OUTPUT-FILE is a program, then do not link it against any
uninstalled shared libtool libraries. If OUTPUT-FILE is a
library, then only create a static library.
`-static-libtool-libs'
If OUTPUT-FILE is a program, then do not link it against any
shared libtool libraries. If OUTPUT-FILE is a library, then only
create a static library.
`-version-info CURRENT[:REVISION[:AGE]]'
If OUTPUT-FILE is a libtool library, use interface version
information CURRENT, REVISION, and AGE to build it (*note
Versioning::). Do *not* use this flag to specify package release
information, rather see the `-release' flag.
`-version-number MAJOR[:MINOR[:REVISION]]'
If OUTPUT-FILE is a libtool library, compute interface version
information so that the resulting library uses the specified
major, minor and revision numbers. This is designed to permit
libtool to be used with existing projects where identical version
numbers are already used across operating systems. New projects
should use the `-version-info' flag instead.
`-weak LIBNAME'
if OUTPUT-FILE is a libtool library, declare that it provides a
weak LIBNAME interface. This is a hint to libtool that there is
no need to append LIBNAME to the list of dependency libraries of
OUTPUT-FILE, because linking against OUTPUT-FILE already supplies
the same interface (*note Linking with dlopened modules::).
`-Wc,FLAG'
`-Xcompiler FLAG'
Pass a linker-specific flag directly to the compiler. With `-Wc,',
multiple flags may be separated by commas, whereas `-Xcompiler '
passes through commas unchanged.
`-Wl,FLAG'
`-Xlinker FLAG'
Pass a linker-specific flag directly to the linker.
`-XCClinker FLAG'
Pass a link-specific flag to the compiler driver (`CC') during
linking.
If the OUTPUT-FILE ends in `.la', then a libtool library is created,
which must be built only from library objects (`.lo' files). The
`-rpath' option is required. In the current implementation, libtool
libraries may not depend on other uninstalled libtool libraries (*note
Inter-library dependencies::).
If the OUTPUT-FILE ends in `.a', then a standard library is created
using `ar' and possibly `ranlib'.
If OUTPUT-FILE ends in `.o' or `.lo', then a reloadable object file
is created from the input files (generally using `ld -r'). This method
is often called "partial linking".
Otherwise, an executable program is created.

File: libtool.info, Node: Execute mode, Next: Install mode, Prev: Link mode, Up: Invoking libtool
4.3 Execute mode
================
For "execute" mode, the library path is automatically set, then a
program is executed.
The first of the MODE-ARGS is treated as a program name, with the
rest as arguments to that program.
The following components of MODE-ARGS are treated specially:
`-dlopen FILE'
Add the directory containing FILE to the library path.
This mode sets the library path environment variable according to any
`-dlopen' flags.
If any of the ARGS are libtool executable wrappers, then they are
translated into the name of their corresponding uninstalled binary, and
any of their required library directories are added to the library path.

File: libtool.info, Node: Install mode, Next: Finish mode, Prev: Execute mode, Up: Invoking libtool
4.4 Install mode
================
In "install" mode, libtool interprets most of the elements of MODE-ARGS
as an installation command beginning with `cp', or a BSD-compatible
`install' program.
The following components of MODE-ARGS are treated specially:
`-inst-prefix-dir INST-PREFIX-DIR'
When installing into a temporary staging area, rather than the
final `prefix', this argument is used to reflect the temporary
path, in much the same way `automake' uses `DESTDIR'. For
instance, if `prefix' is `/usr/local', but INST-PREFIX-DIR is
`/tmp', then the object will be installed under `/tmp/usr/local/'.
If the installed object is a libtool library, then the internal
fields of that library will reflect only `prefix', not
INST-PREFIX-DIR:
# Directory that this library needs to be installed in:
libdir='/usr/local/lib'
not
# Directory that this library needs to be installed in:
libdir='/tmp/usr/local/lib'
`inst-prefix' is also used to insure that if the installed object
must be relinked upon installation, that it is relinked against
the libraries in INST-PREFIX-DIR/`prefix', not `prefix'.
In truth, this option is not really intended for use when calling
libtool directly; it is automatically used when `libtool
--mode=install' calls `libtool --mode=relink'. Libtool does this
by analyzing the destination path given in the original `libtool
--mode=install' command and comparing it to the expected
installation path established during `libtool --mode=link'.
Thus, end-users need change nothing, and `automake'-style `make
install DESTDIR=/tmp' will Just Work(tm) most of the time. For
systems where fast installation can not be turned on, relinking
may be needed. In this case, a `DESTDIR' install will fail.
Currently it is not generally possible to install into a temporary
staging area that contains needed third-party libraries which are
not yet visible at their final location.
The rest of the MODE-ARGS are interpreted as arguments to the `cp'
or `install' command.
The command is run, and any necessary unprivileged post-installation
commands are also completed.

File: libtool.info, Node: Finish mode, Next: Uninstall mode, Prev: Install mode, Up: Invoking libtool
4.5 Finish mode
===============
"Finish" mode has two functions. One is to help system administrators
install libtool libraries so that they can be located and linked into
user programs. To invoke this functionality, pass the name of a library
directory as MODE-ARG. Running this command may require superuser
privileges, and the `--dry-run' option may be useful.
The second is to facilitate transferring libtool libraries to a
native compilation environment after they were built in a
cross-compilation environment. Cross-compilation environments may rely
on recent libtool features, and running libtool in finish mode will
make it easier to work with older versions of libtool. This task is
performed whenever the MODE-ARG is a `.la' file.

File: libtool.info, Node: Uninstall mode, Next: Clean mode, Prev: Finish mode, Up: Invoking libtool
4.6 Uninstall mode
==================
"Uninstall" mode deletes installed libraries, executables and objects.
The first MODE-ARG is the name of the program to use to delete files
(typically `/bin/rm').
The remaining MODE-ARGS are either flags for the deletion program
(beginning with a `-'), or the names of files to delete.

File: libtool.info, Node: Clean mode, Prev: Uninstall mode, Up: Invoking libtool
4.7 Clean mode
==============
"Clean" mode deletes uninstalled libraries, executables, objects and
libtool's temporary files associated with them.
The first MODE-ARG is the name of the program to use to delete files
(typically `/bin/rm').
The remaining MODE-ARGS are either flags for the deletion program
(beginning with a `-'), or the names of files to delete.

File: libtool.info, Node: Integrating libtool, Next: Other languages, Prev: Invoking libtool, Up: Top
5 Integrating libtool with your package
***************************************
This chapter describes how to integrate libtool with your packages so
that your users can install hassle-free shared libraries.
There are several ways in which Libtool may be integrated in your
package, described in the following sections. Typically, the Libtool
macro files as well as `ltmain.sh' are copied into your package using
`libtoolize' and `aclocal' after setting up the `configure.ac' and
toplevel `Makefile.am', then `autoconf' adds the needed tests to the
`configure' script. These individual steps are often automated with
`autoreconf'.
Here is a diagram showing how such a typical Libtool configuration
works when preparing a package for distribution, assuming that `m4' has
been chosen as location for additional Autoconf macros, and `build-aux'
as location for auxiliary build tools (*note The Autoconf Manual:
(autoconf)Input.):
libtool.m4 -----. .--> aclocal.m4 -----.
ltoptions.m4 ---+ .-> aclocal* -+ +--> autoconf*
ltversion.m4 ---+--+ `--> [copy in m4/] --+ |
ltsugar.m4 -----+ | ^ | \/
lt~obsolete.m4 -+ +-> libtoolize* -----' | configure
[ltdl.m4] ------+ | |
`----------------------------------'
ltmain.sh -----------> libtoolize* -> [copy in build-aux/]
During configuration, the `libtool' script is generated either
through `config.status' or `config.lt':
.--> config.status* --.
configure* --+ +--> libtool
`--> [config.lt*] ----' ^
|
ltmain.sh --------------------------------'
At `make' run time, `libtool' is then invoked as needed as a wrapper
around compilers, linkers, install and cleanup programs.
There are alternatives choices to several parts of the setup; for
example, the Libtool macro files can either be copied or symlinked into
the package, or copied into `aclocal.m4'. As another example, an
external, pre-configured `libtool' script may be used, by-passing most
of the tests and package-specific setup for Libtool.
* Menu:
* Autoconf macros:: Autoconf macros exported by libtool.
* Makefile rules:: Writing `Makefile' rules for libtool.
* Using Automake:: Automatically supporting libtool.
* Configuring:: Configuring libtool for a host system.
* Distributing:: What files to distribute with your package.
* Static-only libraries:: Sometimes shared libraries are just a pain.

File: libtool.info, Node: Autoconf macros, Next: Makefile rules, Up: Integrating libtool
5.1 Autoconf macros exported by libtool
=======================================
Libtool uses a number of macros to interrogate the host system when it
is being built, and you can use some of them yourself too. Although
there are a great many other macros in the libtool installed m4 files,
these do not form part of the published interface, and are subject to
change between releases.
Macros in the `LT_CMD_' namespace check for various shell commands:
-- Macro: LT_CMD_MAX_LEN
Finds the longest command line that can be safely passed to
`$SHELL' without being truncated, and store in the shell variable
`$max_cmd_len'. It is only an approximate value, but command
lines of this length or shorter are guaranteed not to be truncated.
Macros in the `LT_FUNC_' namespace check characteristics of library
functions:
-- Macro: LT_FUNC_DLSYM_USCORE
`AC_DEFINE' the preprocessor symbol `DLSYM_USCORE' if we have to
add an underscore to symbol-names passed in to `dlsym'.
Macros in the `LT_LIB_' namespace check characteristics of system
libraries:
-- Macro: LT_LIB_M
Set `LIBM' to the math library or libraries required on this
machine, if any.
-- Macro: LT_LIB_DLLOAD
This is the macro used by `libltdl' to determine which dlloaders
to use on this machine, if any. Several shell variables are set
(and `AC_SUBST'ed) depending on the dlload interfaces are
available on this machine. `LT_DLLOADERS' contains a list of
libtool libraries that can be used, and if necessary also sets
`LIBADD_DLOPEN' if additional system libraries are required by the
`dlopen' loader, and `LIBADD_SHL_LOAD' if additional system
libraries are required by the `shl_load' loader, respectively.
Finally some symbols are set in `config.h' depending on the
loaders that are found to work: `HAVE_LIBDL', `HAVE_SHL_LOAD',
`HAVE_DYLD', `HAVE_DLD'.
Macros in the `LT_PATH_' namespace search the system for the full path
to particular system commands:
-- Macro: LT_PATH_LD
Add a `--with-gnu-ld' option to `configure'. Try to find the path
to the linker used by `$CC', and whether it is the GNU linker.
The result is stored in the shell variable `$LD', which is
`AC_SUBST'ed.
-- Macro: LT_PATH_NM
Try to find a BSD-compatible `nm' or a MS-compatible `dumpbin'
command on this machine. The result is stored in the shell
variable `$NM', which is `AC_SUBST'ed.
Macros in the `LT_SYS_' namespace probe for system characteristics:
-- Macro: LT_SYS_DLOPEN_SELF
Tests whether a program can dlopen itself, and then also whether
the same program can still dlopen itself when statically linked.
Results are stored in the shell variables `$enable_dlopen_self' and
`enable_dlopen_self_static' respectively.
-- Macro: LT_SYS_DLOPEN_DEPLIBS
Define the preprocessor symbol `LTDL_DLOPEN_DEPLIBS' if the OS
needs help to load dependent libraries for `dlopen' (or
equivalent).
-- Macro: LT_SYS_DLSEARCH_PATH
Define the preprocessor symbol `LT_DLSEARCH_PATH' to the system
default library search path.
-- Macro: LT_SYS_MODULE_EXT
Define the preprocessor symbol `LT_MODULE_EXT' to the extension
used for runtime loadable modules. If you use libltdl to open
modules, then you can simply use the libtool library extension,
`.la'.
-- Macro: LT_SYS_MODULE_PATH
Define the preprocessor symbol `LT_MODULE_PATH_VAR' to the name of
the shell environment variable that determines the run-time module
search path.
-- Macro: LT_SYS_SYMBOL_USCORE
Set the shell variable `sys_symbol_underscore' to `no' unless the
compiler prefixes global symbols with an underscore.

File: libtool.info, Node: Makefile rules, Next: Using Automake, Prev: Autoconf macros, Up: Integrating libtool
5.2 Writing `Makefile' rules for libtool
========================================
Libtool is fully integrated with Automake (*note Introduction:
(automake)Top.), starting with Automake version 1.2.
If you want to use libtool in a regular `Makefile' (or
`Makefile.in'), you are on your own. If you're not using Automake, and
you don't know how to incorporate libtool into your package you need to
do one of the following:
1. Download the latest Automake distribution from your nearest GNU
mirror, install it, and start using it.
2. Learn how to write `Makefile' rules by hand. They're sometimes
complex, but if you're clever enough to write rules for compiling
your old libraries, then you should be able to figure out new
rules for libtool libraries (hint: examine the `Makefile.in' in
the `tests/demo' subdirectory of the libtool distribution... note
especially that it was automatically generated from the
`Makefile.am' by Automake).

File: libtool.info, Node: Using Automake, Next: Configuring, Prev: Makefile rules, Up: Integrating libtool
5.3 Using Automake with libtool
===============================
Libtool library support is implemented under the `LTLIBRARIES' primary.
Here are some samples from the Automake `Makefile.am' in the libtool
distribution's `demo' subdirectory.
First, to link a program against a libtool library, just use the
`program_LDADD'(1) variable:
bin_PROGRAMS = hell hell_static
# Build hell from main.c and libhello.la
hell_SOURCES = main.c
hell_LDADD = libhello.la
# Create a statically linked version of hell.
hell_static_SOURCES = main.c
hell_static_LDADD = libhello.la
hell_static_LDFLAGS = -static
You may use the `program_LDFLAGS' variable to stuff in any flags you
want to pass to libtool while linking `program' (such as `-static' to
avoid linking uninstalled shared libtool libraries).
Building a libtool library is almost as trivial... note the use of
`libhello_la_LDFLAGS' to pass the `-version-info' (*note Versioning::)
option to libtool:
# Build a libtool library, libhello.la for installation in libdir.
lib_LTLIBRARIES = libhello.la
libhello_la_SOURCES = hello.c foo.c
libhello_la_LDFLAGS = -version-info 3:12:1
The `-rpath' option is passed automatically by Automake (except for
libraries listed as `noinst_LTLIBRARIES'), so you should not specify it.
*Note Building a Shared Library: (automake)A Shared Library, for
more information.
---------- Footnotes ----------
(1) Since GNU Automake 1.5, the flags `-dlopen' or `-dlpreopen'
(*note Link mode::) can be employed with the `program_LDADD' variable.
Unfortunately, older releases didn't accept these flags, so if you are
stuck with an ancient Automake, we recommend quoting the flag itself,
and setting `program_DEPENDENCIES' too:
program_LDADD = "-dlopen" libfoo.la
program_DEPENDENCIES = libfoo.la

File: libtool.info, Node: Configuring, Next: Distributing, Prev: Using Automake, Up: Integrating libtool
5.4 Configuring libtool
=======================
Libtool requires intimate knowledge of your compiler suite and operating
system in order to be able to create shared libraries and link against
them properly. When you install the libtool distribution, a
system-specific libtool script is installed into your binary directory.
However, when you distribute libtool with your own packages (*note
Distributing::), you do not always know the compiler suite and
operating system that are used to compile your package.
For this reason, libtool must be "configured" before it can be used.
This idea should be familiar to anybody who has used a GNU `configure'
script. `configure' runs a number of tests for system features, then
generates the `Makefile's (and possibly a `config.h' header file),
after which you can run `make' and build the package.
Libtool adds its own tests to your `configure' script in order to
generate a libtool script for the installer's host machine.
* Menu:
* LT_INIT:: Configuring `libtool' in `configure.ac'.
* Configure notes:: Platform-specific notes for configuration.

File: libtool.info, Node: LT_INIT, Next: Configure notes, Up: Configuring
5.4.1 The `LT_INIT' macro
-------------------------
If you are using GNU Autoconf (or Automake), you should add a call to
`LT_INIT' to your `configure.ac' file. This macro adds many new tests
to the `configure' script so that the generated libtool script will
understand the characteristics of the host. It's the most important of
a number of macros defined by Libtool:
-- Macro: LT_PREREQ (VERSION)
Ensure that a recent enough version of Libtool is being used. If
the version of Libtool used for `LT_INIT' is earlier than VERSION,
print an error message to the standard error output and exit with
failure (exit status is 63). For example:
LT_PREREQ([2.4.2])
-- Macro: LT_INIT (OPTIONS)
-- Macro: AC_PROG_LIBTOOL
-- Macro: AM_PROG_LIBTOOL
Add support for the `--enable-shared', `--disable-shared',
`--enable-static', `--disable-static', `--with-pic', and
`--without-pic' `configure' flags.(1) `AC_PROG_LIBTOOL' and
`AM_PROG_LIBTOOL' are deprecated names for older versions of this
macro; `autoupdate' will upgrade your `configure.ac' files.
By default, this macro turns on shared libraries if they are
available, and also enables static libraries if they don't
conflict with the shared libraries. You can modify these defaults
by passing either `disable-shared' or `disable-static' in the
option list to `LT_INIT', or using `AC_DISABLE_SHARED' or
`AC_DISABLE_STATIC'.
# Turn off shared libraries during beta-testing, since they
# make the build process take too long.
LT_INIT([disable-shared])
The user may specify modified forms of the configure flags
`--enable-shared' and `--enable-static' to choose whether shared
or static libraries are built based on the name of the package.
For example, to have shared `bfd' and `gdb' libraries built, but
not shared `libg++', you can run all three `configure' scripts as
follows:
trick$ ./configure --enable-shared=bfd,gdb
In general, specifying `--enable-shared=PKGS' is the same as
configuring with `--enable-shared' every package named in the
comma-separated PKGS list, and every other package with
`--disable-shared'. The `--enable-static=PKGS' flag behaves
similarly, but it uses `--enable-static' and `--disable-static'.
The same applies to the `--enable-fast-install=PKGS' flag, which
uses `--enable-fast-install' and `--disable-fast-install'.
The package name `default' matches any packages that have not set
their name in the `PACKAGE' environment variable.
The `--with-pic' and `--without-pic' configure flags can be used
to specify whether or not `libtool' uses PIC objects. By default,
`libtool' uses PIC objects for shared libraries and non-PIC
objects for static libraries. The `--with-pic' option also
accepts a comma-separated list of package names. Specifying
`--with-pic=PKGS' is the same as configuring every package in PKGS
with `--with-pic' and every other package with the default
configuration. The package name `default' is treated the same as
for `--enable-shared' and `--enable-static'.
This macro also sets the shell variable `LIBTOOL_DEPS', that you
can use to automatically update the libtool script if it becomes
out-of-date. In order to do that, add to your `configure.ac':
LT_INIT
AC_SUBST([LIBTOOL_DEPS])
and, to `Makefile.in' or `Makefile.am':
LIBTOOL_DEPS = @LIBTOOL_DEPS@
libtool: $(LIBTOOL_DEPS)
$(SHELL) ./config.status libtool
If you are using GNU Automake, you can omit the assignment, as
Automake will take care of it. You'll obviously have to create
some dependency on `libtool'.
Aside from `disable-static' and `disable-shared', there are other
options that you can pass to `LT_INIT' to modify its behaviour.
Here is a full list:
`dlopen'
Enable checking for dlopen support. This option should be
used if the package makes use of the `-dlopen' and
`-dlpreopen' libtool flags, otherwise libtool will assume
that the system does not support dlopening.
`win32-dll'
This option should be used if the package has been ported to
build clean dlls on win32 platforms. Usually this means that
any library data items are exported with
`__declspec(dllexport)' and imported with
`__declspec(dllimport)'. If this macro is not used, libtool
will assume that the package libraries are not dll clean and
will build only static libraries on win32 hosts.
Provision must be made to pass `-no-undefined' to `libtool'
in link mode from the package `Makefile'. Naturally, if you
pass `-no-undefined', you must ensure that all the library
symbols *really are* defined at link time!
`disable-fast-install'
Change the default behaviour for `LT_INIT' to disable
optimization for fast installation. The user may still
override this default, depending on platform support, by
specifying `--enable-fast-install' to `configure'.
`shared'
Change the default behaviour for `LT_INIT' to enable shared
libraries. This is the default on all systems where Libtool
knows how to create shared libraries. The user may still
override this default by specifying `--disable-shared' to
`configure'.
`disable-shared'
Change the default behaviour for `LT_INIT' to disable shared
libraries. The user may still override this default by
specifying `--enable-shared' to `configure'.
`static'
Change the default behaviour for `LT_INIT' to enable static
libraries. This is the default on all systems where shared
libraries have been disabled for some reason, and on most
systems where shared libraries have been enabled. If shared
libraries are enabled, the user may still override this
default by specifying `--disable-static' to `configure'.
`disable-static'
Change the default behaviour for `LT_INIT' to disable static
libraries. The user may still override this default by
specifying `--enable-static' to `configure'.
`pic-only'
Change the default behaviour for `libtool' to try to use only
PIC objects. The user may still override this default by
specifying `--without-pic' to `configure'.
`no-pic'
Change the default behaviour of `libtool' to try to use only
non-PIC objects. The user may still override this default by
specifying `--with-pic' to `configure'.
-- Macro: LT_LANG (LANGUAGE)
Enable `libtool' support for the language given if it has not yet
already been enabled. Languages accepted are "C++", "Fortran 77",
"Java", "Go", and "Windows Resource".
If Autoconf language support macros such as `AC_PROG_CXX' are used
in your `configure.ac', Libtool language support will automatically
be enabled.
Conversely using `LT_LANG' to enable language support for Libtool
will automatically enable Autoconf language support as well.
Both of the following examples are therefore valid ways of adding
C++ language support to Libtool.
LT_INIT
LT_LANG([C++])
LT_INIT
AC_PROG_CXX
-- Macro: AC_LIBTOOL_DLOPEN
This macro is deprecated, the `dlopen' option to `LT_INIT' should
be used instead.
-- Macro: AC_LIBTOOL_WIN32_DLL
This macro is deprecated, the `win32-dll' option to `LT_INIT'
should be used instead.
-- Macro: AC_DISABLE_FAST_INSTALL
This macro is deprecated, the `disable-fast-install' option to
`LT_INIT' should be used instead.
-- Macro: AC_DISABLE_SHARED
-- Macro: AM_DISABLE_SHARED
Change the default behaviour for `LT_INIT' to disable shared
libraries. The user may still override this default by specifying
`--enable-shared'. The option `disable-shared' to `LT_INIT' is a
shorthand for this. `AM_DISABLE_SHARED' is a deprecated alias for
`AC_DISABLE_SHARED'.
-- Macro: AC_ENABLE_SHARED
-- Macro: AM_ENABLE_SHARED
Change the default behaviour for `LT_INIT' to enable shared
libraries. This is the default on all systems where Libtool knows
how to create shared libraries. The user may still override this
default by specifying `--disable-shared'. The option `shared' to
`LT_INIT' is a shorthand for this. `AM_ENABLE_SHARED' is a
deprecated alias for `AC_ENABLE_SHARED'.
-- Macro: AC_DISABLE_STATIC
-- Macro: AM_DISABLE_STATIC
Change the default behaviour for `LT_INIT' to disable static
libraries. The user may still override this default by specifying
`--enable-static'. The option `disable-static' to `LT_INIT' is a
shorthand for this. `AM_DISABLE_STATIC' is a deprecated alias for
`AC_DISABLE_STATIC'.
-- Macro: AC_ENABLE_STATIC
-- Macro: AM_ENABLE_STATIC
Change the default behaviour for `LT_INIT' to enable static
libraries. This is the default on all systems where shared
libraries have been disabled for some reason, and on most systems
where shared libraries have been enabled. If shared libraries are
enabled, the user may still override this default by specifying
`--disable-static'. The option `static' to `LT_INIT' is a
shorthand for this. `AM_ENABLE_STATIC' is a deprecated alias for
`AC_ENABLE_STATIC'.
The tests in `LT_INIT' also recognize the following environment
variables:
-- Variable: CC
The C compiler that will be used by the generated `libtool'. If
this is not set, `LT_INIT' will look for `gcc' or `cc'.
-- Variable: CFLAGS
Compiler flags used to generate standard object files. If this is
not set, `LT_INIT' will not use any such flags. It affects only
the way `LT_INIT' runs tests, not the produced `libtool'.
-- Variable: CPPFLAGS
C preprocessor flags. If this is not set, `LT_INIT' will not use
any such flags. It affects only the way `LT_INIT' runs tests, not
the produced `libtool'.
-- Variable: LD
The system linker to use (if the generated `libtool' requires one).
If this is not set, `LT_INIT' will try to find out what is the
linker used by `CC'.
-- Variable: LDFLAGS
The flags to be used by `libtool' when it links a program. If
this is not set, `LT_INIT' will not use any such flags. It
affects only the way `LT_INIT' runs tests, not the produced
`libtool'.
-- Variable: LIBS
The libraries to be used by `LT_INIT' when it links a program. If
this is not set, `LT_INIT' will not use any such flags. It
affects only the way `LT_INIT' runs tests, not the produced
`libtool'.
-- Variable: NM
Program to use rather than checking for `nm'.
-- Variable: RANLIB
Program to use rather than checking for `ranlib'.
-- Variable: LN_S
A command that creates a link of a program, a soft-link if
possible, a hard-link otherwise. `LT_INIT' will check for a
suitable program if this variable is not set.
-- Variable: DLLTOOL
Program to use rather than checking for `dlltool'. Only meaningful
for Cygwin/MS-Windows.
-- Variable: OBJDUMP
Program to use rather than checking for `objdump'. Only meaningful
for Cygwin/MS-Windows.
-- Variable: AS
Program to use rather than checking for `as'. Only used on
Cygwin/MS-Windows at the moment.
-- Variable: MANIFEST_TOOL
Program to use rather than checking for `mt', the Manifest Tool.
Only used on Cygwin/MS-Windows at the moment.
With 1.3 era libtool, if you wanted to know any details of what
libtool had discovered about your architecture and environment, you had
to run the script with `--config' and grep through the results. This
idiom was supported up to and including 1.5.x era libtool, where it was
possible to call the generated libtool script from `configure.ac' as
soon as `LT_INIT' had completed. However, one of the features of
libtool 1.4 was that the libtool configuration was migrated out of a
separate `ltconfig' file, and added to the `LT_INIT' macro (nee
`AC_PROG_LIBTOOL'), so the results of the configuration tests were
available directly to code in `configure.ac', rendering the call out to
the generated libtool script obsolete.
Starting with libtool 2.0, the multipass generation of the libtool
script has been consolidated into a single `config.status' pass, which
happens after all the code in `configure.ac' has completed. The
implication of this is that the libtool script does not exist during
execution of code from `configure.ac', and so obviously it cannot be
called for `--config' details anymore. If you are upgrading projects
that used this idiom to libtool 2.0 or newer, you should replace those
calls with direct references to the equivalent Autoconf shell variables
that are set by the configure time tests before being passed to
`config.status' for inclusion in the generated libtool script.
-- Macro: LT_OUTPUT
By default, the configured `libtool' script is generated by the
call to `AC_OUTPUT' command, and there is rarely any need to use
`libtool' from `configure'. However, sometimes it is necessary to
run configure time compile and link tests using `libtool'. You
can add `LT_OUTPUT' to your `configure.ac' any time after
`LT_INIT' and any `LT_LANG' calls; that done, `libtool' will be
created by a specially generated `config.lt' file, and available
for use in later tests.
Also, when `LT_OUTPUT' is used, for backwards compatibility with
Automake regeneration rules, `config.status' will call `config.lt'
to regenerate `libtool', rather than generating the file itself.
When you invoke the `libtoolize' program (*note Invoking
libtoolize::), it will tell you where to find a definition of
`LT_INIT'. If you use Automake, the `aclocal' program will
automatically add `LT_INIT' support to your `configure' script when it
sees the invocation of `LT_INIT' in `configure.ac'.
Because of these changes, and the runtime version compatibility
checks Libtool now executes, we now advise *against* including a copy of
`libtool.m4' (and brethren) in `acinclude.m4'. Instead, you should set
your project macro directory with `AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR'. When you
`libtoolize' your project, a copy of the relevant macro definitions
will be placed in your `AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR', where `aclocal' can
reference them directly from `aclocal.m4'.
---------- Footnotes ----------
(1) `LT_INIT' requires that you define the `Makefile' variable
`top_builddir' in your `Makefile.in'. Automake does this
automatically, but Autoconf users should set it to the relative path to
the top of your build directory (`../..', for example).

File: libtool.info, Node: Configure notes, Prev: LT_INIT, Up: Configuring
5.4.2 Platform-specific configuration notes
-------------------------------------------
While Libtool tries to hide as many platform-specific features as
possible, some have to be taken into account when configuring either
the Libtool package or a libtoolized package.
* You currently need GNU make to build the Libtool package itself.
* On AIX there are two different styles of shared linking, one in
which symbols are bound at link-time and one in which symbols are
bound at runtime only, similar to ELF. In case of doubt use
`LDFLAGS=-Wl,-brtl' for the latter style.
* On AIX, native tools are to be preferred over binutils; especially
for C++ code, if using the AIX Toolbox GCC 4.0 and binutils,
configure with `AR=/usr/bin/ar LD=/usr/bin/ld NM='/usr/bin/nm -B''.
* On AIX, the `/bin/sh' is very slow due to its inefficient handling
of here-documents. A modern shell is preferable:
CONFIG_SHELL=/bin/bash; export $CONFIG_SHELL
$CONFIG_SHELL ./configure [...]
* For C++ code with templates, it may be necessary to specify the
way the compiler will generate the instantiations. For Portland
pgCC version5, use `CXX='pgCC --one_instantiation_per_object'' and
avoid parallel `make'.
* On Darwin, for C++ code with templates you need two level shared
libraries. Libtool builds these by default if
`MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET' is set to 10.3 or later at `configure'
time. See `rdar://problem/4135857' for more information on this
issue.
* The default shell on UNICOS 9, a ksh 88e variant, is too buggy to
correctly execute the libtool script. Users are advised to
install a modern shell such as GNU bash.
* Some HP-UX `sed' programs are horribly broken, and cannot handle
libtool's requirements, so users may report unusual problems.
There is no workaround except to install a working `sed' (such as
GNU sed) on these systems.
* The vendor-distributed NCR MP-RAS `cc' programs emits copyright on
standard error that confuse tests on size of `conftest.err'. The
workaround is to specify `CC' when run configure with `CC='cc
-Hnocopyr''.
* Any earlier DG/UX system with ELF executables, such as R3.10 or
R4.10, is also likely to work, but hasn't been explicitly tested.
* On Reliant Unix libtool has only been tested with the Siemens
C-compiler and an old version of `gcc' provided by Marco Walther.
* `libtool.m4', `ltdl.m4' and the `configure.ac' files are marked to
use autoconf-mode, which is distributed with GNU Emacs 21,
Autoconf itself, and all recent releases of XEmacs.
* When building on some GNU/Linux systems for multilib targets
`libtool' sometimes guesses the wrong paths that the linker and
dynamic linker search by default. If this occurs, you may override
libtool's guesses at `configure' time by setting the `autoconf'
cache variables `lt_cv_sys_lib_search_path_spec' and
`lt_cv_sys_lib_dlsearch_path_spec' respectively to the correct
search paths.

File: libtool.info, Node: Distributing, Next: Static-only libraries, Prev: Configuring, Up: Integrating libtool
5.5 Including libtool in your package
=====================================
In order to use libtool, you need to include the following files with
your package:
`config.guess'
Attempt to guess a canonical system name.
`config.sub'
Canonical system name validation subroutine script.
`install-sh'
BSD-compatible `install' replacement script.
`ltmain.sh'
A generic script implementing basic libtool functionality.
Note that the libtool script itself should _not_ be included with
your package. *Note Configuring::.
You should use the `libtoolize' program, rather than manually
copying these files into your package.
* Menu:
* Invoking libtoolize:: `libtoolize' command line options.
* Autoconf and LTLIBOBJS:: Autoconf automates LTLIBOBJS generation.

File: libtool.info, Node: Invoking libtoolize, Next: Autoconf and LTLIBOBJS, Up: Distributing
5.5.1 Invoking `libtoolize'
---------------------------
The `libtoolize' program provides a standard way to add libtool support
to your package. In the future, it may implement better usage
checking, or other features to make libtool even easier to use.
The `libtoolize' program has the following synopsis:
libtoolize [OPTION]...
and accepts the following options:
`--copy'
`-c'
Copy files from the libtool data directory rather than creating
symlinks.
`--debug'
Dump a trace of shell script execution to standard output. This
produces a lot of output, so you may wish to pipe it to `less' (or
`more') or redirect to a file.
`--dry-run'
`-n'
Don't run any commands that modify the file system, just print them
out.
`--force'
`-f'
Replace existing libtool files. By default, `libtoolize' won't
overwrite existing files.
`--help'
Display a help message and exit.
`--ltdl [TARGET-DIRECTORY-NAME]'
Install libltdl in the TARGET-DIRECTORY-NAME subdirectory of your
package. Normally, the directory is extracted from the argument
to `LT_CONFIG_LTDL_DIR' in `configure.ac', though you can also
specify a subdirectory name here if you are not using Autoconf for
example. If `libtoolize' can't determine the target directory,
`libltdl' is used as the default.
`--no-warn'
Normally, Libtoolize tries to diagnose use of deprecated libtool
macros and other stylistic issues. If you are deliberately using
outdated calling conventions, this option prevents Libtoolize from
explaining how to update your project's Libtool conventions.
`--nonrecursive'
If passed in conjunction with `--ltdl', this option will cause the
`libltdl' installed by `libtoolize' to be set up for use with a
non-recursive `automake' build. To make use of it, you will need
to add the following to the `Makefile.am' of the parent project:
## libltdl/Makefile.inc appends to the following variables
## so we set them here before including it:
BUILT_SOURCES =
AM_CPPFLAGS =
AM_LDFLAGS =
include_HEADERS =
noinst_LTLIBRARIES =
lib_LTLIBRARIES =
EXTRA_LTLIBRARIES =
EXTRA_DIST =
CLEANFILES =
MOSTLYCLEANFILES =
include libltdl/Makefile.inc
`--quiet'
`-q'
Work silently. `libtoolize --quiet' is used by GNU Automake to
add libtool files to your package if necessary.
`--recursive'
If passed in conjunction with `--ltdl', this option will cause the
`libtoolize' installed `libltdl' to be set up for use with a
recursive `automake' build. To make use of it, you will need to
adjust the parent project's `configure.ac':
AC_CONFIG_FILES([libltdl/Makefile])
and `Makefile.am':
SUBDIRS += libltdl
`--subproject'
If passed in conjunction with `--ltdl', this option will cause the
`libtoolize' installed `libltdl' to be set up for independent
configuration and compilation as a self-contained subproject. To
make use of it, you should arrange for your build to call
`libltdl/configure', and then run `make' in the `libltdl'
directory (or the subdirectory you put libltdl into). If your
project uses Autoconf, you can use the supplied `LT_WITH_LTDL'
macro, or else call `AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS' directly.
Previous releases of `libltdl' built exclusively in this mode, but
now it is the default mode both for backwards compatibility and
because, for example, it is suitable for use in projects that wish
to use `libltdl', but not use the Autotools for their own build
process.
`--verbose'
`-v'
Work noisily! Give a blow by blow account of what `libtoolize' is
doing.
`--version'
Print `libtoolize' version information and exit.
Sometimes it can be useful to pass options to `libtoolize' even
though it is called by another program, such as `autoreconf'. A
limited number of options are parsed from the environment variable
`LIBTOOLIZE_OPTIONS': currently `--debug', `--no-warn', `--quiet' and
`--verbose'. Multiple options passed in `LIBTOOLIZE_OPTIONS' must be
separated with a space, comma or a colon.
By default, a warning is issued for unknown options found in
`LIBTOOLIZE_OPTIONS' unless the first such option is `--no-warn'.
Where `libtoolize' has always quit on receipt of an unknown option at
the command line, this and all previous releases of `libtoolize' will
continue unabated whatever the content of `LIBTOOLIZE_OPTIONS' (modulo
some possible warning messages).
trick$ LIBTOOLIZE_OPTIONS=--no-warn,--quiet autoreconf --install
If `libtoolize' detects an explicit call to `AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR'
(*note The Autoconf Manual: (autoconf)Input.) in your `configure.ac',
it will put the Libtool macros in the specified directory.
In the future other Autotools will automatically check the contents
of `AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR', but at the moment it is more portable to add
the macro directory to `ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS' in `Makefile.am', which is
where the tools currently look. If `libtoolize' doesn't see
`AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR', it too will honour the first `-I' argument in
`ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS' when choosing a directory to store libtool
configuration macros in. It is perfectly sensible to use both
`AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR' and `ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS', as long as they are kept
in synchronisation.
ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS = -I m4
When you bootstrap your project with `aclocal', then you will need
to explicitly pass the same macro directory with `aclocal''s `-I' flag:
trick$ aclocal -I m4
If `libtoolize' detects an explicit call to `AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR'
(*note The Autoconf Manual: (autoconf)Input.) in your `configure.ac', it
will put the other support files in the specified directory. Otherwise
they too end up in the project root directory.
Unless `--no-warn' is passed, `libtoolize' displays hints for adding
libtool support to your package, as well.

File: libtool.info, Node: Autoconf and LTLIBOBJS, Prev: Invoking libtoolize, Up: Distributing
5.5.2 Autoconf and `LTLIBOBJS'
------------------------------
People used to add code like the following to their `configure.ac':
LTLIBOBJS=`echo "$LIBOBJS" | sed 's/\.[^.]* /.lo /g;s/\.[^.]*$/.lo/'`
AC_SUBST([LTLIBOBJS])
This is no longer required (since Autoconf 2.54), and doesn't take
Automake's deansification support into account either, so doesn't work
correctly even with ancient Autoconfs!
Provided you are using a recent (2.54 or better) incarnation of
Autoconf, the call to `AC_OUTPUT' takes care of setting `LTLIBOBJS' up
correctly, so you can simply delete such snippets from your
`configure.ac' if you had them.

File: libtool.info, Node: Static-only libraries, Prev: Distributing, Up: Integrating libtool
5.6 Static-only libraries
=========================
When you are developing a package, it is often worthwhile to configure
your package with the `--disable-shared' flag, or to override the
defaults for `LT_INIT' by using the `disable-shared' option (*note The
`LT_INIT' macro: LT_INIT.). This prevents libtool from building shared
libraries, which has several advantages:
* compilation is twice as fast, which can speed up your development
cycle,
* debugging is easier because you don't need to deal with any
complexities added by shared libraries, and
* you can see how libtool behaves on static-only platforms.
You may want to put a small note in your package `README' to let
other developers know that `--disable-shared' can save them time. The
following example note is taken from the GIMP(1) distribution `README':
The GIMP uses GNU Libtool in order to build shared libraries on a
variety of systems. While this is very nice for making usable
binaries, it can be a pain when trying to debug a program. For that
reason, compilation of shared libraries can be turned off by
specifying the `--disable-shared' option to `configure'.
---------- Footnotes ----------
(1) GNU Image Manipulation Program, for those who haven't taken the
plunge. See `http://www.gimp.org/'.

File: libtool.info, Node: Other languages, Next: Versioning, Prev: Integrating libtool, Up: Top
6 Using libtool with other languages
************************************
Libtool was first implemented in order to add support for writing shared
libraries in the C language. However, over time, libtool is being
integrated with other languages, so that programmers are free to reap
the benefits of shared libraries in their favorite programming language.
This chapter describes how libtool interacts with other languages,
and what special considerations you need to make if you do not use C.
* Menu:
* C++ libraries:: Writing libraries for C++
* Tags:: Tags

File: libtool.info, Node: C++ libraries, Next: Tags, Up: Other languages
6.1 Writing libraries for C++
=============================
Creating libraries of C++ code should be a fairly straightforward
process, because its object files differ from C ones in only three ways:
1. Because of name mangling, C++ libraries are only usable by the C++
compiler that created them. This decision was made by the
designers of C++ in order to protect users from conflicting
implementations of features such as constructors, exception
handling, and RTTI.
2. On some systems, the C++ compiler must take special actions for the
dynamic linker to run dynamic (i.e., run-time) initializers. This
means that we should not call `ld' directly to link such
libraries, and we should use the C++ compiler instead.
3. C++ compilers will link some Standard C++ library in by default,
but libtool does not know which are these libraries, so it cannot
even run the inter-library dependence analyzer to check how to
link it in. Therefore, running `ld' to link a C++ program or
library is deemed to fail.
Because of these three issues, Libtool has been designed to always
use the C++ compiler to compile and link C++ programs and libraries. In
some instances the `main()' function of a program must also be compiled
with the C++ compiler for static C++ objects to be properly initialized.

File: libtool.info, Node: Tags, Prev: C++ libraries, Up: Other languages
6.2 Tags
========
Libtool supports multiple languages through the use of tags.
Technically a tag corresponds to a set of configuration variables
associated with a language. These variables tell `libtool' how it
should create objects and libraries for each language.
Tags are defined at `configure'-time for each language activated in
the package (see `LT_LANG' in *note LT_INIT::). Here is the
correspondence between language names and tags names.
Language name Tag name
C CC
C++ CXX
Java GCJ
Fortran 77 F77
Fortran FC
Go GO
Windows Resource RC
`libtool' tries to automatically infer which tag to use from the
compiler command being used to compile or link. If it can't infer a
tag, then it defaults to the configuration for the `C' language.
The tag can also be specified using `libtool''s `--tag=TAG' option
(*note Invoking libtool::). It is a good idea to do so in `Makefile'
rules, because that will allow users to substitute the compiler without
relying on `libtool' inference heuristics. When no tag is specified,
`libtool' will default to `CC'; this tag always exists.
Finally, the set of tags available in a particular project can be
retrieved by tracing for the `LT_SUPPORTED_TAG' macro (*note Trace
interface::).

File: libtool.info, Node: Versioning, Next: Library tips, Prev: Other languages, Up: Top
7 Library interface versions
****************************
The most difficult issue introduced by shared libraries is that of
creating and resolving runtime dependencies. Dependencies on programs
and libraries are often described in terms of a single name, such as
`sed'. So, one may say "libtool depends on sed," and that is good
enough for most purposes.
However, when an interface changes regularly, we need to be more
specific: "Gnus 5.1 requires Emacs 19.28 or above." Here, the
description of an interface consists of a name, and a "version number."
Even that sort of description is not accurate enough for some
purposes. What if Emacs 20 changes enough to break Gnus 5.1?
The same problem exists in shared libraries: we require a formal
version system to describe the sorts of dependencies that programs have
on shared libraries, so that the dynamic linker can guarantee that
programs are linked only against libraries that provide the interface
they require.
* Menu:
* Interfaces:: What are library interfaces?
* Libtool versioning:: Libtool's versioning system.
* Updating version info:: Changing version information before releases.
* Release numbers:: Breaking binary compatibility for aesthetics.

File: libtool.info, Node: Interfaces, Next: Libtool versioning, Up: Versioning
7.1 What are library interfaces?
================================
Interfaces for libraries may be any of the following (and more):
* global variables: both names and types
* global functions: argument types and number, return types, and
function names
* standard input, standard output, standard error, and file formats
* sockets, pipes, and other inter-process communication protocol
formats
Note that static functions do not count as interfaces, because they
are not directly available to the user of the library.

File: libtool.info, Node: Libtool versioning, Next: Updating version info, Prev: Interfaces, Up: Versioning
7.2 Libtool's versioning system
===============================
Libtool has its own formal versioning system. It is not as flexible as
some, but it is definitely the simplest of the more powerful versioning
systems.
Think of a library as exporting several sets of interfaces,
arbitrarily represented by integers. When a program is linked against
a library, it may use any subset of those interfaces.
Libtool's description of the interfaces that a program uses is
simple: it encodes the least and the greatest interface numbers in the
resulting binary (FIRST-INTERFACE, LAST-INTERFACE).
The dynamic linker is guaranteed that if a library supports _every_
interface number between FIRST-INTERFACE and LAST-INTERFACE, then the
program can be relinked against that library.
Note that this can cause problems because libtool's compatibility
requirements are actually stricter than is necessary.
Say `libhello' supports interfaces 5, 16, 17, 18, and 19, and that
libtool is used to link `test' against `libhello'.
Libtool encodes the numbers 5 and 19 in `test', and the dynamic
linker will only link `test' against libraries that support _every_
interface between 5 and 19. So, the dynamic linker refuses to link
`test' against `libhello'!
In order to eliminate this problem, libtool only allows libraries to
declare consecutive interface numbers. So, `libhello' can declare at
most that it supports interfaces 16 through 19. Then, the dynamic
linker will link `test' against `libhello'.
So, libtool library versions are described by three integers:
CURRENT
The most recent interface number that this library implements.
REVISION
The implementation number of the CURRENT interface.
AGE
The difference between the newest and oldest interfaces that this
library implements. In other words, the library implements all the
interface numbers in the range from number `CURRENT - AGE' to
`CURRENT'.
If two libraries have identical CURRENT and AGE numbers, then the
dynamic linker chooses the library with the greater REVISION number.

File: libtool.info, Node: Updating version info, Next: Release numbers, Prev: Libtool versioning, Up: Versioning
7.3 Updating library version information
========================================
If you want to use libtool's versioning system, then you must specify
the version information to libtool using the `-version-info' flag
during link mode (*note Link mode::).
This flag accepts an argument of the form
`CURRENT[:REVISION[:AGE]]'. So, passing `-version-info 3:12:1' sets
CURRENT to 3, REVISION to 12, and AGE to 1.
If either REVISION or AGE are omitted, they default to 0. Also note
that AGE must be less than or equal to the CURRENT interface number.
Here are a set of rules to help you update your library version
information:
1. Start with version information of `0:0:0' for each libtool library.
2. Update the version information only immediately before a public
release of your software. More frequent updates are unnecessary,
and only guarantee that the current interface number gets larger
faster.
3. If the library source code has changed at all since the last
update, then increment REVISION (`C:R:A' becomes `C:r+1:A').
4. If any interfaces have been added, removed, or changed since the
last update, increment CURRENT, and set REVISION to 0.
5. If any interfaces have been added since the last public release,
then increment AGE.
6. If any interfaces have been removed or changed since the last
public release, then set AGE to 0.
*_Never_* try to set the interface numbers so that they correspond
to the release number of your package. This is an abuse that only
fosters misunderstanding of the purpose of library versions. Instead,
use the `-release' flag (*note Release numbers::), but be warned that
every release of your package will not be binary compatible with any
other release.
The following explanation may help to understand the above rules a
bit better: consider that there are three possible kinds of reactions
from users of your library to changes in a shared library:
1. Programs using the previous version may use the new version as
drop-in replacement, and programs using the new version can also
work with the previous one. In other words, no recompiling nor
relinking is needed. In this case, bump REVISION only, don't touch
CURRENT nor AGE.
2. Programs using the previous version may use the new version as
drop-in replacement, but programs using the new version may use
APIs not present in the previous one. In other words, a program
linking against the new version may fail with "unresolved symbols"
if linking against the old version at runtime: set REVISION to 0,
bump CURRENT and AGE.
3. Programs may need to be changed, recompiled, relinked in order to
use the new version. Bump CURRENT, set REVISION and AGE to 0.
In the above description, _programs_ using the library in question may
also be replaced by other libraries using it.

File: libtool.info, Node: Release numbers, Prev: Updating version info, Up: Versioning
7.4 Managing release information
================================
Often, people want to encode the name of the package release into the
shared library so that it is obvious to the user which package their
programs are linked against. This convention is used especially on
GNU/Linux:
trick$ ls /usr/lib/libbfd*
/usr/lib/libbfd.a /usr/lib/libbfd.so.2.7.0.2
/usr/lib/libbfd.so
trick$
On `trick', `/usr/lib/libbfd.so' is a symbolic link to
`libbfd.so.2.7.0.2', which was distributed as a part of
`binutils-2.7.0.2'.
Unfortunately, this convention conflicts directly with libtool's
idea of library interface versions, because the library interface
rarely changes at the same time that the release number does, and the
library suffix is never the same across all platforms.
So, in order to accommodate both views, you can use the `-release'
flag in order to set release information for libraries for which you do
not want to use `-version-info'. For the `libbfd' example, the next
release that uses libtool should be built with `-release 2.9.0', which
will produce the following files on GNU/Linux:
trick$ ls /usr/lib/libbfd*
/usr/lib/libbfd-2.9.0.so /usr/lib/libbfd.a
/usr/lib/libbfd.so
trick$
In this case, `/usr/lib/libbfd.so' is a symbolic link to
`libbfd-2.9.0.so'. This makes it obvious that the user is dealing with
`binutils-2.9.0', without compromising libtool's idea of interface
versions.
Note that this option causes a modification of the library name, so
do not use it unless you want to break binary compatibility with any
past library releases. In general, you should only use `-release' for
package-internal libraries or for ones whose interfaces change very
frequently.

File: libtool.info, Node: Library tips, Next: Inter-library dependencies, Prev: Versioning, Up: Top
8 Tips for interface design
***************************
Writing a good library interface takes a lot of practice and thorough
understanding of the problem that the library is intended to solve.
If you design a good interface, it won't have to change often, you
won't have to keep updating documentation, and users won't have to keep
relearning how to use the library.
Here is a brief list of tips for library interface design that may
help you in your exploits:
Plan ahead
Try to make every interface truly minimal, so that you won't need
to delete entry points very often.
Avoid interface changes
Some people love redesigning and changing entry points just for
the heck of it (note: _renaming_ a function is considered changing
an entry point). Don't be one of those people. If you must
redesign an interface, then try to leave compatibility functions
behind so that users don't need to rewrite their existing code.
Use opaque data types
The fewer data type definitions a library user has access to, the
better. If possible, design your functions to accept a generic
pointer (that you can cast to an internal data type), and provide
access functions rather than allowing the library user to directly
manipulate the data. That way, you have the freedom to change the
data structures without changing the interface.
This is essentially the same thing as using abstract data types and
inheritance in an object-oriented system.
Use header files
If you are careful to document each of your library's global
functions and variables in header files, and include them in your
library source files, then the compiler will let you know if you
make any interface changes by accident (*note C header files::).
Use the `static' keyword (or equivalent) whenever possible
The fewer global functions your library has, the more flexibility
you'll have in changing them. Static functions and variables may
change forms as often as you like... your users cannot access
them, so they aren't interface changes.
Be careful with array dimensions
The number of elements in a global array is part of an interface,
even if the header just declares `extern int foo[];'. This is
because on i386 and some other SVR4/ELF systems, when an
application references data in a shared library the size of that
data (whatever its type) is included in the application
executable. If you might want to change the size of an array or
string then provide a pointer not the actual array.
* Menu:
* C header files:: How to write portable include files.

File: libtool.info, Node: C header files, Up: Library tips
8.1 Writing C header files
==========================
Writing portable C header files can be difficult, since they may be read
by different types of compilers:
C++ compilers
C++ compilers require that functions be declared with full
prototypes, since C++ is more strongly typed than C. C functions
and variables also need to be declared with the `extern "C"'
directive, so that the names aren't mangled. *Note C++
libraries::, for other issues relevant to using C++ with libtool.
ANSI C compilers
ANSI C compilers are not as strict as C++ compilers, but functions
should be prototyped to avoid unnecessary warnings when the header
file is `#include'd.
non-ANSI C compilers
Non-ANSI compilers will report errors if functions are prototyped.
These complications mean that your library interface headers must use
some C preprocessor magic in order to be usable by each of the above
compilers.
`foo.h' in the `tests/demo' subdirectory of the libtool distribution
serves as an example for how to write a header file that can be safely
installed in a system directory.
Here are the relevant portions of that file:
/* BEGIN_C_DECLS should be used at the beginning of your declarations,
so that C++ compilers don't mangle their names. Use END_C_DECLS at
the end of C declarations. */
#undef BEGIN_C_DECLS
#undef END_C_DECLS
#ifdef __cplusplus
# define BEGIN_C_DECLS extern "C" {
# define END_C_DECLS }
#else
# define BEGIN_C_DECLS /* empty */
# define END_C_DECLS /* empty */
#endif
/* PARAMS is a macro used to wrap function prototypes, so that
compilers that don't understand ANSI C prototypes still work,
and ANSI C compilers can issue warnings about type mismatches. */
#undef PARAMS
#if defined (__STDC__) || defined (_AIX) \
|| (defined (__mips) && defined (_SYSTYPE_SVR4)) \
|| defined(WIN32) || defined(__cplusplus)
# define PARAMS(protos) protos
#else
# define PARAMS(protos) ()
#endif
These macros are used in `foo.h' as follows:
#ifndef FOO_H
#define FOO_H 1
/* The above macro definitions. */
#include "..."
BEGIN_C_DECLS
int foo PARAMS((void));
int hello PARAMS((void));
END_C_DECLS
#endif /* !FOO_H */
Note that the `#ifndef FOO_H' prevents the body of `foo.h' from
being read more than once in a given compilation.
Also the only thing that must go outside the
`BEGIN_C_DECLS'/`END_C_DECLS' pair are `#include' lines. Strictly
speaking it is only C symbol names that need to be protected, but your
header files will be more maintainable if you have a single pair of
these macros around the majority of the header contents.
You should use these definitions of `PARAMS', `BEGIN_C_DECLS', and
`END_C_DECLS' into your own headers. Then, you may use them to create
header files that are valid for C++, ANSI, and non-ANSI compilers(1).
Do not be naive about writing portable code. Following the tips
given above will help you miss the most obvious problems, but there are
definitely other subtle portability issues. You may need to cope with
some of the following issues:
* Pre-ANSI compilers do not always support the `void *' generic
pointer type, and so need to use `char *' in its place.
* The `const', `inline' and `signed' keywords are not supported by
some compilers, especially pre-ANSI compilers.
* The `long double' type is not supported by many compilers.
---------- Footnotes ----------
(1) We used to recommend `__P', `__BEGIN_DECLS' and `__END_DECLS'.
This was bad advice since symbols (even preprocessor macro names) that
begin with an underscore are reserved for the use of the compiler.

File: libtool.info, Node: Inter-library dependencies, Next: Dlopened modules, Prev: Library tips, Up: Top
9 Inter-library dependencies
****************************
By definition, every shared library system provides a way for
executables to depend on libraries, so that symbol resolution is
deferred until runtime.
An "inter-library dependency" is one in which a library depends on
other libraries. For example, if the libtool library `libhello' uses
the `cos' function, then it has an inter-library dependency on `libm',
the math library that implements `cos'.
Some shared library systems provide this feature in an
internally-consistent way: these systems allow chains of dependencies of
potentially infinite length.
However, most shared library systems are restricted in that they only
allow a single level of dependencies. In these systems, programs may
depend on shared libraries, but shared libraries may not depend on other
shared libraries.
In any event, libtool provides a simple mechanism for you to declare
inter-library dependencies: for every library `libNAME' that your own
library depends on, simply add a corresponding `-lNAME' option to the
link line when you create your library. To make an example of our
`libhello' that depends on `libm':
burger$ libtool --mode=link gcc -g -O -o libhello.la foo.lo hello.lo \
-rpath /usr/local/lib -lm
burger$
When you link a program against `libhello', you don't need to
specify the same `-l' options again: libtool will do that for you, in
order to guarantee that all the required libraries are found. This
restriction is only necessary to preserve compatibility with static
library systems and simple dynamic library systems.
Some platforms, such as Windows, do not even allow you this
flexibility. In order to build a shared library, it must be entirely
self-contained or it must have dependencies known at link time (that is,
have references only to symbols that are found in the `.lo' files or
the specified `-l' libraries), and you need to specify the
`-no-undefined' flag. By default, libtool builds only static libraries
on these kinds of platforms.
The simple-minded inter-library dependency tracking code of libtool
releases prior to 1.2 was disabled because it was not clear when it was
possible to link one library with another, and complex failures would
occur. A more complex implementation of this concept was re-introduced
before release 1.3, but it has not been ported to all platforms that
libtool supports. The default, conservative behavior is to avoid
linking one library with another, introducing their inter-dependencies
only when a program is linked with them.

File: libtool.info, Node: Dlopened modules, Next: Using libltdl, Prev: Inter-library dependencies, Up: Top
10 Dlopened modules
*******************
It can sometimes be confusing to discuss "dynamic linking", because the
term is used to refer to two different concepts:
1. Compiling and linking a program against a shared library, which is
resolved automatically at run time by the dynamic linker. In this
process, dynamic linking is transparent to the application.
2. The application calling functions such as `dlopen' that load
arbitrary, user-specified modules at runtime. This type of dynamic
linking is explicitly controlled by the application.
To mitigate confusion, this manual refers to the second type of
dynamic linking as "dlopening" a module.
The main benefit to dlopening object modules is the ability to access
compiled object code to extend your program, rather than using an
interpreted language. In fact, dlopen calls are frequently used in
language interpreters to provide an efficient way to extend the
language.
Libtool provides support for dlopened modules. However, you should
indicate that your package is willing to use such support, by using the
`LT_INIT' option `dlopen' in `configure.ac'. If this option is not
given, libtool will assume no dlopening mechanism is available, and
will try to simulate it.
This chapter discusses how you as a dlopen application developer
might use libtool to generate dlopen-accessible modules.
* Menu:
* Building modules:: Creating dlopenable objects and libraries.
* Dlpreopening:: Dlopening that works on static platforms.
* Linking with dlopened modules:: Using dlopenable modules in libraries.
* Finding the dlname:: Choosing the right file to `dlopen'.
* Dlopen issues:: Unresolved problems that need your attention.

File: libtool.info, Node: Building modules, Next: Dlpreopening, Up: Dlopened modules
10.1 Building modules to dlopen
===============================
On some operating systems, a program symbol must be specially declared
in order to be dynamically resolved with the `dlsym' (or equivalent)
function. Libtool provides the `-export-dynamic' and `-module' link
flags (*note Link mode::), for you to make that declaration. You need
to use these flags if you are linking an application program that
dlopens other modules or a libtool library that will also be dlopened.
For example, if we wanted to build a shared library, `hello', that
would later be dlopened by an application, we would add `-module' to
the other link flags:
burger$ libtool --mode=link gcc -module -o hello.la foo.lo \
hello.lo -rpath /usr/local/lib -lm
burger$
If symbols from your _executable_ are needed to satisfy unresolved
references in a library you want to dlopen you will have to use the flag
`-export-dynamic'. You should use `-export-dynamic' while linking the
executable that calls dlopen:
burger$ libtool --mode=link gcc -export-dynamic -o helldl main.o
burger$

File: libtool.info, Node: Dlpreopening, Next: Linking with dlopened modules, Prev: Building modules, Up: Dlopened modules
10.2 Dlpreopening
=================
Libtool provides special support for dlopening libtool object and
libtool library files, so that their symbols can be resolved _even on
platforms without any `dlopen' and `dlsym' functions_.
Consider the following alternative ways of loading code into your
program, in order of increasing "laziness":
1. Linking against object files that become part of the program
executable, whether or not they are referenced. If an object file
cannot be found, then the compile time linker refuses to create
the executable.
2. Declaring a static library to the linker, so that it is searched
at link time in order to satisfy any undefined references in the
above object files. If the static library cannot be found, then
the compile time linker refuses to create the executable.
3. Declaring a shared library to the runtime linker, so that it is
searched at runtime in order to satisfy any undefined references
in the above files. If the shared library cannot be found, then
the dynamic linker aborts the program before it runs.
4. Dlopening a module, so that the application can resolve its own,
dynamically-computed references. If there is an error opening the
module, or the module is not found, then the application can
recover without crashing.
Libtool emulates `-dlopen' on static platforms by linking objects
into the program at compile time, and creating data structures that
represent the program's symbol table. In order to use this feature,
you must declare the objects you want your application to dlopen by
using the `-dlopen' or `-dlpreopen' flags when you link your program
(*note Link mode::).
-- Data Type: lt_dlsymlist typedef struct { const char *NAME;
void *ADDRESS; } lt_dlsymlist
The NAME attribute is a null-terminated character string of the
symbol name, such as `"fprintf"'. The ADDRESS attribute is a
generic pointer to the appropriate object, such as `&fprintf'.
-- Variable: const lt_dlsymlist lt_preloaded_symbols[]
An array of `lt_dlsymlist' structures, representing all the
preloaded symbols linked into the program proper. For each module
`-dlpreopen'ed by the Libtool linked program there is an element
with the NAME of the module and an ADDRESS of `0', followed by all
symbols exported from this file. For the executable itself the
special name `@PROGRAM@' is used. The last element of all has a
NAME and ADDRESS of `0'.
To facilitate inclusion of symbol lists into libraries,
`lt_preloaded_symbols' is `#define'd to a suitably unique name in
`ltdl.h'.
This variable may not be declared `const' on some systems due to
relocation issues.
Some compilers may allow identifiers that are not valid in ANSI C,
such as dollar signs. Libtool only recognizes valid ANSI C symbols (an
initial ASCII letter or underscore, followed by zero or more ASCII
letters, digits, and underscores), so non-ANSI symbols will not appear
in `lt_preloaded_symbols'.
-- Function: int lt_dlpreload (const lt_dlsymlist *PRELOADED)
Register the list of preloaded modules PRELOADED. If PRELOADED is
`NULL', then all previously registered symbol lists, except the
list set by `lt_dlpreload_default', are deleted. Return 0 on
success.
-- Function: int lt_dlpreload_default (const lt_dlsymlist *PRELOADED)
Set the default list of preloaded modules to PRELOADED, which
won't be deleted by `lt_dlpreload'. Note that this function does
_not_ require libltdl to be initialized using `lt_dlinit' and can
be used in the program to register the default preloaded modules.
Instead of calling this function directly, most programs will use
the macro `LTDL_SET_PRELOADED_SYMBOLS'.
Return 0 on success.
-- Macro: LTDL_SET_PRELOADED_SYMBOLS
Set the default list of preloaded symbols. Should be used in your
program to initialize libltdl's list of preloaded modules.
#include <ltdl.h>
int main() {
/* ... */
LTDL_SET_PRELOADED_SYMBOLS();
/* ... */
}
-- Function Type: int lt_dlpreload_callback_func (lt_dlhandle HANDLE)
Functions of this type can be passed to `lt_dlpreload_open', which
in turn will call back into a function thus passed for each
preloaded module that it opens.
-- Function: int lt_dlpreload_open (const char *ORIGINATOR,
lt_dlpreload_callback_func *FUNC)
Load all of the preloaded modules for ORIGINATOR. For every
module opened in this way, call FUNC.
To open all of the modules preloaded into `libhell.la' (presumably
from within the `libhell.a' initialisation code):
#define preloaded_symbols lt_libhell_LTX_preloaded_symbols
static int hell_preload_callback (lt_dlhandle handle);
int
hell_init (void)
{
...
if (lt_dlpreload (&preloaded_symbols) == 0)
{
lt_dlpreload_open ("libhell", preload_callback);
}
...
}
Note that to prevent clashes between multiple preloaded modules,
the preloaded symbols are accessed via a mangled symbol name: to
get the symbols preloaded into `libhell', you must prefix
`preloaded_symbols' with `lt_'; the originator name, `libhell' in
this case; and `_LTX_'. That is,
`lt_libhell_LTX_preloaded_symbols' here.

File: libtool.info, Node: Linking with dlopened modules, Next: Finding the dlname, Prev: Dlpreopening, Up: Dlopened modules
10.3 Linking with dlopened modules
==================================
When, say, an interpreter application uses dlopened modules to extend
the list of methods it provides, an obvious abstraction for the
maintainers of the interpreter is to have all methods (including the
built in ones supplied with the interpreter) accessed through dlopen.
For one thing, the dlopening functionality will be tested even during
routine invocations. For another, only one subsystem has to be written
for getting methods into the interpreter.
The downside of this abstraction is, of course, that environments
that provide only static linkage can't even load the intrinsic
interpreter methods. Not so! We can statically link those methods by
*dlpreopening* them.
Unfortunately, since platforms such as AIX and cygwin require that
all library symbols must be resolved at compile time, the interpreter
maintainers will need to provide a library to both its own dlpreopened
modules, and third-party modules loaded by dlopen. In itself, that is
not so bad, except that the interpreter too must provide those same
symbols otherwise it will be impossible to resolve all the symbols
required by the modules as they are loaded. Things are even worse if
the code that loads the modules for the interpreter is itself in a
library - and that is usually the case for any non-trivial application.
Modern platforms take care of this by automatically loading all of a
module's dependency libraries as the module is loaded (libltdl can do
this even on platforms that can't do it by themselves). In the end,
this leads to problems with duplicated symbols and prevents modules
from loading, and prevents the application from compiling when modules
are preloaded.
,-------------. ,------------------. ,-----------------.
| Interpreter |----> Module------------> Third-party |
`-------------' | Loader | |Dlopened Modules |
| | | `-----------------'
|,-------v--------.| |
|| Dlpreopened || |
|| Modules || |
|`----------------'| |
| | | |
|,-------v--------.| ,--------v--------.
||Module Interface|| |Module Interface |
|| Library || | Library |
|`----------------'| `-----------------'
`------------------'
Libtool has the concept of "weak library interfaces" to circumvent
this problem. Recall that the code that dlopens method-provider
modules for the interpreter application resides in a library: All of
the modules and the dlopener library itself should be linked against
the common library that resolves the module symbols at compile time.
To guard against duplicate symbol definitions, and for dlpreopened
modules to work at all in this scenario, the dlopener library must
declare that it provides a weak library interface to the common symbols
in the library it shares with the modules. That way, when `libtool'
links the *Module Loader* library with some *Dlpreopened Modules* that
were in turn linked against the *Module Interface Library*, it knows
that the *Module Loader* provides an already loaded *Module Interface
Library* to resolve symbols for the *Dlpreopened Modules*, and doesn't
ask the compiler driver to link an identical *Module Interface Library*
dependency library too.
In conjunction with Automake, the `Makefile.am' for the *Module
Loader* might look like this:
lib_LTLIBRARIES = libinterface.la libloader.la
libinterface_la_SOURCES = interface.c interface.h
libinterface_la_LDFLAGS = -version-info 3:2:1
libloader_la_SOURCES = loader.c
libloader_la_LDFLAGS = -weak libinterface.la \
-version-info 3:2:1 \
-dlpreopen ../modules/intrinsics.la
libloader_la_LIBADD = $(libinterface_la_OBJECTS)
And the `Makefile.am' for the `intrinsics.la' module in a sibling
`modules' directory might look like this:
AM_CPPFLAGS = -I$(srcdir)/../libloader
AM_LDFLAGS = -no-undefined -module -avoid-version \
-export-dynamic
noinst_LTLIBRARIES = intrinsics.la
intrinsics_la_LIBADD = ../libloader/libinterface.la
../libloader/libinterface.la:
cd ../libloader && $(MAKE) $(AM_MAKEFLAGS) libinterface.la
For a more complex example, see the sources of `libltdl' in the
Libtool distribution, which is built with the help of the `-weak'
option.

File: libtool.info, Node: Finding the dlname, Next: Dlopen issues, Prev: Linking with dlopened modules, Up: Dlopened modules
10.4 Finding the correct name to dlopen
=======================================
After a library has been linked with `-module', it can be dlopened.
Unfortunately, because of the variation in library names, your package
needs to determine the correct file to dlopen.
The most straightforward and flexible implementation is to determine
the name at runtime, by finding the installed `.la' file, and searching
it for the following lines:
# The name that we can `dlopen'.
dlname='DLNAME'
If DLNAME is empty, then the library cannot be dlopened. Otherwise,
it gives the dlname of the library. So, if the library was installed
as `/usr/local/lib/libhello.la', and the DLNAME was `libhello.so.3',
then `/usr/local/lib/libhello.so.3' should be dlopened.
If your program uses this approach, then it should search the
directories listed in the `LD_LIBRARY_PATH'(1) environment variable, as
well as the directory where libraries will eventually be installed.
Searching this variable (or equivalent) will guarantee that your
program can find its dlopened modules, even before installation,
provided you have linked them using libtool.
---------- Footnotes ----------
(1) `LIBPATH' on AIX, and `SHLIB_PATH' on HP-UX.

File: libtool.info, Node: Dlopen issues, Prev: Finding the dlname, Up: Dlopened modules
10.5 Unresolved dlopen issues
=============================
The following problems are not solved by using libtool's dlopen support:
* Dlopen functions are generally only available on shared library
platforms. If you want your package to be portable to static
platforms, you have to use either libltdl (*note Using libltdl::)
or develop your own alternatives to dlopening dynamic code. Most
reasonable solutions involve writing wrapper functions for the
`dlopen' family, which do package-specific tricks when dlopening
is unsupported or not available on a given platform.
* There are major differences in implementations of the `dlopen'
family of functions. Some platforms do not even use the same
function names (notably HP-UX, with its `shl_load' family).
* The application developer must write a custom search function in
order to discover the correct module filename to supply to
`dlopen'.

File: libtool.info, Node: Using libltdl, Next: Trace interface, Prev: Dlopened modules, Up: Top
11 Using libltdl
****************
Libtool provides a small library, called `libltdl', that aims at hiding
the various difficulties of dlopening libraries from programmers. It
consists of a few headers and small C source files that can be
distributed with applications that need dlopening functionality. On
some platforms, whose dynamic linkers are too limited for a simple
implementation of `libltdl' services, it requires GNU DLD, or it will
only emulate dynamic linking with libtool's dlpreopening mechanism.
libltdl supports currently the following dynamic linking mechanisms:
* `dlopen' (POSIX compliant systems, GNU/Linux, etc.)
* `shl_load' (HP-UX)
* `LoadLibrary' (Win16 and Win32)
* `load_add_on' (BeOS)
* `NSAddImage' or `NSLinkModule' (Darwin and Mac OS X)
* GNU DLD (emulates dynamic linking for static libraries)
* libtool's dlpreopen (see *note Dlpreopening::)
libltdl is licensed under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
License, with the following exception:
As a special exception to the GNU Lesser General Public License,
if you distribute this file as part of a program or library that
is built using GNU Libtool, you may include it under the same
distribution terms that you use for the rest of that program.
* Menu:
* Libltdl interface:: How to use libltdl in your programs.
* Modules for libltdl:: Creating modules that can be `dlopen'ed.
* Thread Safety in libltdl:: Registering callbacks for multi-thread safety.
* User defined module data:: Associating data with loaded modules.
* Module loaders for libltdl:: Creating user defined module loaders.
* Distributing libltdl:: How to distribute libltdl with your package.

File: libtool.info, Node: Libltdl interface, Next: Modules for libltdl, Up: Using libltdl
11.1 How to use libltdl in your programs
========================================
The libltdl API is similar to the POSIX dlopen interface, which is very
simple but powerful.
To use libltdl in your program you have to include the header file
`ltdl.h':
#include <ltdl.h>
The early releases of libltdl used some symbols that violated the POSIX
namespace conventions. These symbols are now deprecated, and have been
replaced by those described here. If you have code that relies on the
old deprecated symbol names, defining `LT_NON_POSIX_NAMESPACE' before
you include `ltdl.h' provides conversion macros. Whichever set of
symbols you use, the new API is not binary compatible with the last, so
you will need to recompile your application in order to use this
version of libltdl.
Note that libltdl is not well tested in a multithreaded environment,
though the intention is that it should work (*note Using libltdl in a
multi threaded environment: Thread Safety in libltdl.). It was
reported that GNU/Linux's glibc 2.0's `dlopen' with `RTLD_LAZY' (which
libltdl uses by default) is not thread-safe, but this problem is
supposed to be fixed in glibc 2.1. On the other hand, `RTLD_NOW' was
reported to introduce problems in multi-threaded applications on
FreeBSD. Working around these problems is left as an exercise for the
reader; contributions are certainly welcome.
The following macros are defined by including `ltdl.h':
-- Macro: LT_PATHSEP_CHAR
`LT_PATHSEP_CHAR' is the system-dependent path separator, that is,
`;' on Windows and `:' everywhere else.
-- Macro: LT_DIRSEP_CHAR
If `LT_DIRSEP_CHAR' is defined, it can be used as directory
separator in addition to `/'. On Windows, this contains `\'.
The following types are defined in `ltdl.h':
-- Type: lt_dlhandle
`lt_dlhandle' is a module "handle". Every lt_dlopened module has
a handle associated with it.
-- Type: lt_dladvise
`lt_dladvise' is used to control optional module loading modes.
If it is not used, the default mode of the underlying system module
loader is used.
-- Type: lt_dlsymlist
`lt_dlsymlist' is a symbol list for dlpreopened modules. This
structure is described in *note Dlpreopening::.
libltdl provides the following functions:
-- Function: int lt_dlinit (void)
Initialize libltdl. This function must be called before using
libltdl and may be called several times. Return 0 on success,
otherwise the number of errors.
-- Function: int lt_dlexit (void)
Shut down libltdl and close all modules. This function will only
then shut down libltdl when it was called as many times as
`lt_dlinit' has been successfully called. Return 0 on success,
otherwise the number of errors.
-- Function: lt_dlhandle lt_dlopen (const char *FILENAME)
Open the module with the file name FILENAME and return a handle
for it. `lt_dlopen' is able to open libtool dynamic modules,
preloaded static modules, the program itself and native dynamic
modules(1).
Unresolved symbols in the module are resolved using its dependency
libraries and previously dlopened modules. If the executable using
this module was linked with the `-export-dynamic' flag, then the
global symbols in the executable will also be used to resolve
references in the module.
If FILENAME is `NULL' and the program was linked with
`-export-dynamic' or `-dlopen self', `lt_dlopen' will return a
handle for the program itself, which can be used to access its
symbols.
If libltdl cannot find the library and the file name FILENAME does
not have a directory component it will additionally look in the
following search paths for the module (in the following order):
1. user-defined search path: This search path can be changed by
the program using the functions `lt_dlsetsearchpath',
`lt_dladdsearchdir' and `lt_dlinsertsearchdir'.
2. libltdl's search path: This search path is the value of the
environment variable `LTDL_LIBRARY_PATH'.
3. system library search path: The system dependent library
search path (e.g. on GNU/Linux it is `LD_LIBRARY_PATH').
Each search path must be a list of absolute directories separated
by `LT_PATHSEP_CHAR', for example, `"/usr/lib/mypkg:/lib/foo"'.
The directory names may not contain the path separator.
If the same module is loaded several times, the same handle is
returned. If `lt_dlopen' fails for any reason, it returns `NULL'.
-- Function: lt_dlhandle lt_dlopenext (const char *FILENAME)
The same as `lt_dlopen', except that it tries to append different
file name extensions to the file name. If the file with the file
name FILENAME cannot be found libltdl tries to append the
following extensions:
1. the libtool archive extension `.la'
2. the extension used for native dynamically loadable modules on
the host platform, e.g., `.so', `.sl', etc.
This lookup strategy was designed to allow programs that don't
have knowledge about native dynamic libraries naming conventions
to be able to `dlopen' such libraries as well as libtool modules
transparently.
-- Function: lt_dlhandle lt_dlopenadvise (const char *FILENAME,
lt_dladvise ADVISE)
The same as `lt_dlopen', except that it also requires an additional
argument which may contain additional hints to the underlying
system module loader. The ADVISE parameter is opaque and can only
be accessed with the functions documented below.
Note that this function does not change the content of ADVISE, so
unlike the other calls in this API takes a direct `lt_dladvise'
type, and not a pointer to the same.
-- Function: int lt_dladvise_init (lt_dladvise *ADVISE)
The ADVISE parameter can be used to pass hints to the module
loader when using `lt_dlopenadvise' to perform the loading. The
ADVISE parameter needs to be initialised by this function before
it can be used. Any memory used by ADVISE needs to be recycled
with `lt_dladvise_destroy' when it is no longer needed.
On failure, `lt_dladvise_init' returns non-zero and sets an error
message that can be retrieved with `lt_dlerror'.
-- Function: int lt_dladvise_destroy (lt_dladvise *ADVISE)
Recycle the memory used by ADVISE. For an example, see the
documentation for `lt_dladvise_ext'.
On failure, `lt_dladvise_destroy' returns non-zero and sets an
error message that can be retrieved with `lt_dlerror'.
-- Function: int lt_dladvise_ext (lt_dladvise *ADVISE)
Set the `ext' hint on ADVISE. Passing an ADVISE parameter to
`lt_dlopenadvise' with this hint set causes it to try to append
different file name extensions like `lt_dlopenext'.
The following example is equivalent to calling `lt_dlopenext
(filename)':
lt_dlhandle
my_dlopenext (const char *filename)
{
lt_dlhandle handle = 0;
lt_dladvise advise;
if (!lt_dladvise_init (&advise) && !lt_dladvise_ext (&advise))
handle = lt_dlopenadvise (filename, advise);
lt_dladvise_destroy (&advise);
return handle;
}
On failure, `lt_dladvise_ext' returns non-zero and sets an error
message that can be retrieved with `lt_dlerror'.
-- Function: int lt_dladvise_global (lt_dladvise *ADVISE)
Set the `symglobal' hint on ADVISE. Passing an ADVISE parameter
to `lt_dlopenadvise' with this hint set causes it to try to make
the loaded module's symbols globally available for resolving
unresolved symbols in subsequently loaded modules.
If neither the `symglobal' nor the `symlocal' hints are set, or if
a module is loaded without using the `lt_dlopenadvise' call in any
case, then the visibility of the module's symbols will be as per
the default for the underlying module loader and OS. Even if a
suitable hint is passed, not all loaders are able to act upon it in
which case `lt_dlgetinfo' will reveal whether the hint was actually
followed.
On failure, `lt_dladvise_global' returns non-zero and sets an error
message that can be retrieved with `lt_dlerror'.
-- Function: int lt_dladvise_local (lt_dladvise *ADVISE)
Set the `symlocal' hint on ADVISE. Passing an ADVISE parameter to
`lt_dlopenadvise' with this hint set causes it to try to keep the
loaded module's symbols hidden so that they are not visible to
subsequently loaded modules.
If neither the `symglobal' nor the `symlocal' hints are set, or if
a module is loaded without using the `lt_dlopenadvise' call in any
case, then the visibility of the module's symbols will be as per
the default for the underlying module loader and OS. Even if a
suitable hint is passed, not all loaders are able to act upon it in
which case `lt_dlgetinfo' will reveal whether the hint was actually
followed.
On failure, `lt_dladvise_local' returns non-zero and sets an error
message that can be retrieved with `lt_dlerror'.
-- Function: int lt_dladvise_resident (lt_dladvise *ADVISE)
Set the `resident' hint on ADVISE. Passing an ADVISE parameter to
`lt_dlopenadvise' with this hint set causes it to try to make the
loaded module resident in memory, so that it cannot be unloaded
with a later call to `lt_dlclose'.
On failure, `lt_dladvise_resident' returns non-zero and sets an
error message that can be retrieved with `lt_dlerror'.
-- Function: int lt_dladvise_preload (lt_dladvise *ADVISE)
Set the `preload' hint on ADVISE. Passing an ADVISE parameter to
`lt_dlopenadvise' with this hint set causes it to load only
preloaded modules, so that if a suitable preloaded module is not
found, `lt_dlopenadvise' will return `NULL'.
-- Function: int lt_dlclose (lt_dlhandle HANDLE)
Decrement the reference count on the module HANDLE. If it drops
to zero and no other module depends on this module, then the
module is unloaded. Return 0 on success.
-- Function: void * lt_dlsym (lt_dlhandle HANDLE, const char *NAME)
Return the address in the module HANDLE, where the symbol given by
the null-terminated string NAME is loaded. If the symbol cannot
be found, `NULL' is returned.
-- Function: const char * lt_dlerror (void)
Return a human readable string describing the most recent error
that occurred from any of libltdl's functions. Return `NULL' if
no errors have occurred since initialization or since it was last
called.
-- Function: int lt_dladdsearchdir (const char *SEARCH_DIR)
Append the search directory SEARCH_DIR to the current user-defined
library search path. Return 0 on success.
-- Function: int lt_dlinsertsearchdir (const char *BEFORE,
const char *SEARCH_DIR)
Insert the search directory SEARCH_DIR into the user-defined
library search path, immediately before the element starting at
address BEFORE. If BEFORE is `NULL', then SEARCH_DIR is appending
as if `lt_dladdsearchdir' had been called. Return 0 on success.
-- Function: int lt_dlsetsearchpath (const char *SEARCH_PATH)
Replace the current user-defined library search path with
SEARCH_PATH, which must be a list of absolute directories separated
by `LT_PATHSEP_CHAR'. Return 0 on success.
-- Function: const char * lt_dlgetsearchpath (void)
Return the current user-defined library search path.
-- Function: int lt_dlforeachfile (const char *SEARCH_PATH,
int (*FUNC) (const char *FILENAME, void * DATA), void * DATA)
In some applications you may not want to load individual modules
with known names, but rather find all of the modules in a set of
directories and load them all during initialisation. With this
function you can have libltdl scan the `LT_PATHSEP_CHAR'-delimited
directory list in SEARCH_PATH for candidates, and pass them, along
with DATA to your own callback function, FUNC. If SEARCH_PATH is
`NULL', then search all of the standard locations that `lt_dlopen'
would examine. This function will continue to make calls to FUNC
for each file that it discovers in SEARCH_PATH until one of these
calls returns non-zero, or until the files are exhausted.
`lt_dlforeachfile' returns the value returned by the last call
made to FUNC.
For example you could define FUNC to build an ordered "argv"-like
vector of files using DATA to hold the address of the start of the
vector.
-- Function: int lt_dlmakeresident (lt_dlhandle HANDLE)
Mark a module so that it cannot be `lt_dlclose'd. This can be
useful if a module implements some core functionality in your
project that would cause your code to crash if removed. Return 0
on success.
If you use `lt_dlopen (NULL)' to get a HANDLE for the running
binary, that handle will always be marked as resident, and
consequently cannot be successfully `lt_dlclose'd.
-- Function: int lt_dlisresident (lt_dlhandle HANDLE)
Check whether a particular module has been marked as resident,
returning 1 if it has or 0 otherwise. If there is an error while
executing this function, return -1 and set an error message for
retrieval with `lt_dlerror'.
---------- Footnotes ----------
(1) Some platforms, notably Mac OS X, differentiate between a
runtime library that cannot be opened by `lt_dlopen' and a dynamic
module that can. For maximum portability you should try to ensure that
you only pass `lt_dlopen' objects that have been compiled with libtool's
`-module' flag.

File: libtool.info, Node: Modules for libltdl, Next: Thread Safety in libltdl, Prev: Libltdl interface, Up: Using libltdl
11.2 Creating modules that can be `dlopen'ed
============================================
Libtool modules are created like normal libtool libraries with a few
exceptions:
You have to link the module with libtool's `-module' switch, and you
should link any program that is intended to dlopen the module with
`-dlopen MODULENAME.LA' where possible, so that libtool can dlpreopen
the module on platforms that do not support dlopening. If the module
depends on any other libraries, make sure you specify them either when
you link the module or when you link programs that dlopen it. If you
want to disable versioning (*note Versioning::) for a specific module
you should link it with the `-avoid-version' switch. Note that libtool
modules don't need to have a "lib" prefix. However, Automake 1.4 or
higher is required to build such modules.
Usually a set of modules provide the same interface, i.e. exports
the same symbols, so that a program can dlopen them without having to
know more about their internals: In order to avoid symbol conflicts all
exported symbols must be prefixed with "modulename_LTX_" (MODULENAME is
the name of the module). Internal symbols must be named in such a way
that they won't conflict with other modules, for example, by prefixing
them with "_modulename_". Although some platforms support having the
same symbols defined more than once it is generally not portable and it
makes it impossible to dlpreopen such modules.
libltdl will automatically cut the prefix off to get the real name of
the symbol. Additionally, it supports modules that do not use a prefix
so that you can also dlopen non-libtool modules.
`foo1.c' gives an example of a portable libtool module. Exported
symbols are prefixed with "foo1_LTX_", internal symbols with "_foo1_".
Aliases are defined at the beginning so that the code is more readable.
/* aliases for the exported symbols */
#define foo foo1_LTX_foo
#define bar foo1_LTX_bar
/* a global variable definition */
int bar = 1;
/* a private function */
int _foo1_helper() {
return bar;
}
/* an exported function */
int foo() {
return _foo1_helper();
}
The `Makefile.am' contains the necessary rules to build the module
`foo1.la':
...
lib_LTLIBRARIES = foo1.la
foo1_la_SOURCES = foo1.c
foo1_la_LDFLAGS = -module
...

File: libtool.info, Node: Thread Safety in libltdl, Next: User defined module data, Prev: Modules for libltdl, Up: Using libltdl
11.3 Using libltdl in a multi threaded environment
==================================================
Libltdl provides a wrapper around whatever dynamic run-time object
loading mechanisms are provided by the host system, many of which are
themselves not thread safe. Consequently libltdl cannot itself be
consistently thread safe.
If you wish to use libltdl in a multithreaded environment, then you
must mutex lock around libltdl calls, since they may in turn be calling
non-thread-safe system calls on some target hosts.
Some old releases of libtool provided a mutex locking API that was
unusable with POSIX threads, so callers were forced to lock around all
libltdl API calls anyway. That mutex locking API was next to useless,
and is not present in current releases.
Some future release of libtool may provide a new POSIX thread
compliant mutex locking API.

File: libtool.info, Node: User defined module data, Next: Module loaders for libltdl, Prev: Thread Safety in libltdl, Up: Using libltdl
11.4 Data associated with loaded modules
========================================
Some of the internal information about each loaded module that is
maintained by libltdl is available to the user, in the form of this
structure:
-- Type: struct lt_dlinfo { char *FILENAME; char *NAME; int REF_COUNT;
int IS_RESIDENT; int IS_SYMGLOBAL; int IS_SYMLOCAL;}
`lt_dlinfo' is used to store information about a module. The
FILENAME attribute is a null-terminated character string of the
real module file name. If the module is a libtool module then
NAME is its module name (e.g. `"libfoo"' for `"dir/libfoo.la"'),
otherwise it is set to `NULL'. The REF_COUNT attribute is a
reference counter that describes how often the same module is
currently loaded. The remaining fields can be compared to any
hints that were passed to `lt_dlopenadvise' to determine whether
the underlying loader was able to follow them.
The following function will return a pointer to libltdl's internal
copy of this structure for the given HANDLE:
-- Function: const lt_dlinfo * lt_dlgetinfo (lt_dlhandle HANDLE)
Return a pointer to a struct that contains some information about
the module HANDLE. The contents of the struct must not be
modified. Return `NULL' on failure.
Furthermore, in order to save you from having to keep a list of the
handles of all the modules you have loaded, these functions allow you to
iterate over libltdl's list of loaded modules:
-- Type: lt_dlinterface_id
The opaque type used to hold the module interface details for each
registered libltdl client.
-- Type: int lt_dlhandle_interface (lt_dlhandle HANDLE,
const char *ID_STRING)
Functions of this type are called to check that a handle conforms
to a library's expected module interface when iterating over the
global handle list. You should be careful to write a callback
function of this type that can correctly identify modules that
belong to this client, both to prevent other clients from
accidentally finding your loaded modules with the iterator
functions below, and vice versa. The best way to do this is to
check that module HANDLE conforms to the interface specification
of your loader using `lt_dlsym'.
The callback may be given *every* module loaded by all the libltdl
module clients in the current address space, including any modules
loaded by other libraries such as libltdl itself, and should
return non-zero if that module does not fulfill the interface
requirements of your loader.
int
my_interface_cb (lt_dlhandle handle, const char *id_string)
{
char *(*module_id) (void) = NULL;
/* A valid my_module must provide all of these symbols. */
if (!((module_id = (char*(*)(void)) lt_dlsym ("module_version"))
&& lt_dlsym ("my_module_entrypoint")))
return 1;
if (strcmp (id_string, module_id()) != 0)
return 1;
return 0;
}
-- Function: lt_dlinterface_id lt_dlinterface_register
(const char *ID_STRING, lt_dlhandle_interface *IFACE)
Use this function to register your interface validator with
libltdl, and in return obtain a unique key to store and retrieve
per-module data. You supply an ID_STRING and IFACE so that the
resulting `lt_dlinterface_id' can be used to filter the module
handles returned by the iteration functions below. If IFACE is
`NULL', all modules will be matched.
-- Function: void lt_dlinterface_free (lt_dlinterface_id IFACE)
Release the data associated with IFACE.
-- Function: int lt_dlhandle_map (lt_dlinterface_id IFACE,
int (*FUNC) (lt_dlhandle HANDLE, void * DATA), void * DATA)
For each module that matches IFACE, call the function FUNC. When
writing the FUNC callback function, the argument HANDLE is the
handle of a loaded module, and DATA is the last argument passed to
`lt_dlhandle_map'. As soon as FUNC returns a non-zero value for
one of the handles, `lt_dlhandle_map' will stop calling FUNC and
immediately return that non-zero value. Otherwise 0 is eventually
returned when FUNC has been successfully called for all matching
modules.
-- Function: lt_dlhandle lt_dlhandle_iterate
(lt_dlinterface_id IFACE, lt_dlhandle PLACE)
Iterate over the module handles loaded by IFACE, returning the
first matching handle in the list if PLACE is `NULL', and the next
one on subsequent calls. If PLACE is the last element in the list
of eligible modules, this function returns `NULL'.
lt_dlhandle handle = 0;
lt_dlinterface_id iface = my_interface_id;
while ((handle = lt_dlhandle_iterate (iface, handle)))
{
...
}
-- Function: lt_dlhandle lt_dlhandle_fetch (lt_dlinterface_id IFACE,
const char *MODULE_NAME)
Search through the module handles loaded by IFACE for a module
named MODULE_NAME, returning its handle if found or else `NULL' if
no such named module has been loaded by IFACE.
However, you might still need to maintain your own list of loaded
module handles (in parallel with the list maintained inside libltdl) if
there were any other data that your application wanted to associate
with each open module. Instead, you can use the following API calls to
do that for you. You must first obtain a unique interface id from
libltdl as described above, and subsequently always use it to retrieve
the data you stored earlier. This allows different libraries to each
store their own data against loaded modules, without interfering with
one another.
-- Function: void * lt_dlcaller_set_data (lt_dlinterface_id KEY,
lt_dlhandle HANDLE, void * DATA)
Set DATA as the set of data uniquely associated with KEY and
HANDLE for later retrieval. This function returns the DATA
previously associated with KEY and HANDLE if any. A result of 0,
may indicate that a diagnostic for the last error (if any) is
available from `lt_dlerror()'.
For example, to correctly remove some associated data:
void *stale = lt_dlcaller_set_data (key, handle, 0);
if (stale != NULL)
{
free (stale);
}
else
{
char *error_msg = lt_dlerror ();
if (error_msg != NULL)
{
my_error_handler (error_msg);
return STATUS_FAILED;
}
}
-- Function: void * lt_dlcaller_get_data (lt_dlinterface_id KEY,
lt_dlhandle HANDLE)
Return the address of the data associated with KEY and HANDLE, or
else `NULL' if there is none.
Old versions of libltdl also provided a simpler, but similar, API
based around `lt_dlcaller_id'. Unfortunately, it had no provision for
detecting whether a module belonged to a particular interface as
libltdl didn't support multiple loaders in the same address space at
that time. Those APIs are no longer supported as there would be no way
to stop clients of the old APIs from seeing (and accidentally altering)
modules loaded by other libraries.

File: libtool.info, Node: Module loaders for libltdl, Next: Distributing libltdl, Prev: User defined module data, Up: Using libltdl
11.5 How to create and register new module loaders
==================================================
Sometimes libltdl's many ways of gaining access to modules are not
sufficient for the purposes of a project. You can write your own
loader, and register it with libltdl so that `lt_dlopen' will be able
to use it.
Writing a loader involves writing at least three functions that can
be called by `lt_dlopen', `lt_dlsym' and `lt_dlclose'. Optionally, you
can provide a finalisation function to perform any cleanup operations
when `lt_dlexit' executes, and a symbol prefix string that will be
prepended to any symbols passed to `lt_dlsym'. These functions must
match the function pointer types below, after which they can be
allocated to an instance of `lt_user_dlloader' and registered.
Registering the loader requires that you choose a name for it, so
that it can be recognised by `lt_dlloader_find' and removed with
`lt_dlloader_remove'. The name you choose must be unique, and not
already in use by libltdl's builtin loaders:
"dlopen"
The system dynamic library loader, if one exists.
"dld"
The GNU dld loader, if `libdld' was installed when libltdl was
built.
"dlpreload"
The loader for `lt_dlopen'ing of preloaded static modules.
The prefix "dl" is reserved for loaders supplied with future
versions of libltdl, so you should not use that for your own loader
names.
The following types are defined in `ltdl.h':
-- Type: lt_module
`lt_module' is a dlloader dependent module. The dynamic module
loader extensions communicate using these low level types.
-- Type: lt_dlloader
`lt_dlloader' is a handle for module loader types.
-- Type: lt_user_data
`lt_user_data' is used for specifying loader instance data.
-- Type: struct lt_user_dlloader {const char *SYM_PREFIX;
lt_module_open *MODULE_OPEN; lt_module_close *MODULE_CLOSE;
lt_find_sym *FIND_SYM; lt_dlloader_exit *DLLOADER_EXIT; }
If you want to define a new way to open dynamic modules, and have
the `lt_dlopen' API use it, you need to instantiate one of these
structures and pass it to `lt_dlloader_add'. You can pass whatever
you like in the DLLOADER_DATA field, and it will be passed back as
the value of the first parameter to each of the functions
specified in the function pointer fields.
-- Type: lt_module lt_module_open (const char *FILENAME)
The type of the loader function for an `lt_dlloader' module
loader. The value set in the dlloader_data field of the `struct
lt_user_dlloader' structure will be passed into this function in
the LOADER_DATA parameter. Implementation of such a function
should attempt to load the named module, and return an `lt_module'
suitable for passing in to the associated `lt_module_close' and
`lt_sym_find' function pointers. If the function fails it should
return `NULL', and set the error message with `lt_dlseterror'.
-- Type: int lt_module_close (lt_user_data LOADER_DATA,
lt_module MODULE)
The type of the unloader function for a user defined module loader.
Implementation of such a function should attempt to release any
resources tied up by the MODULE module, and then unload it from
memory. If the function fails for some reason, set the error
message with `lt_dlseterror' and return non-zero.
-- Type: void * lt_find_sym (lt_module MODULE, const char *SYMBOL)
The type of the symbol lookup function for a user defined module
loader. Implementation of such a function should return the
address of the named SYMBOL in the module MODULE, or else set the
error message with `lt_dlseterror' and return `NULL' if lookup
fails.
-- Type: int lt_dlloader_exit (lt_user_data LOADER_DATA)
The type of the finalisation function for a user defined module
loader. Implementation of such a function should free any
resources associated with the loader, including any user specified
data in the `dlloader_data' field of the `lt_user_dlloader'. If
non-`NULL', the function will be called by `lt_dlexit', and
`lt_dlloader_remove'.
For example:
int
register_myloader (void)
{
lt_user_dlloader dlloader;
/* User modules are responsible for their own initialisation. */
if (myloader_init () != 0)
return MYLOADER_INIT_ERROR;
dlloader.sym_prefix = NULL;
dlloader.module_open = myloader_open;
dlloader.module_close = myloader_close;
dlloader.find_sym = myloader_find_sym;
dlloader.dlloader_exit = myloader_exit;
dlloader.dlloader_data = (lt_user_data)myloader_function;
/* Add my loader as the default module loader. */
if (lt_dlloader_add (lt_dlloader_next (NULL), &dlloader,
"myloader") != 0)
return ERROR;
return OK;
}
Note that if there is any initialisation required for the loader, it
must be performed manually before the loader is registered - libltdl
doesn't handle user loader initialisation.
Finalisation _is_ handled by libltdl however, and it is important to
ensure the `dlloader_exit' callback releases any resources claimed
during the initialisation phase.
libltdl provides the following functions for writing your own module
loaders:
-- Function: int lt_dlloader_add (lt_dlloader *PLACE,
lt_user_dlloader *DLLOADER, const char *LOADER_NAME)
Add a new module loader to the list of all loaders, either as the
last loader (if PLACE is `NULL'), else immediately before the
loader passed as PLACE. LOADER_NAME will be returned by
`lt_dlloader_name' if it is subsequently passed a newly registered
loader. These LOADER_NAMEs must be unique, or
`lt_dlloader_remove' and `lt_dlloader_find' cannot work. Returns
0 for success.
/* Make myloader be the last one. */
if (lt_dlloader_add (NULL, myloader) != 0)
perror (lt_dlerror ());
-- Function: int lt_dlloader_remove (const char *LOADER_NAME)
Remove the loader identified by the unique name, LOADER_NAME.
Before this can succeed, all modules opened by the named loader
must have been closed. Returns 0 for success, otherwise an error
message can be obtained from `lt_dlerror'.
/* Remove myloader. */
if (lt_dlloader_remove ("myloader") != 0)
perror (lt_dlerror ());
-- Function: lt_dlloader * lt_dlloader_next (lt_dlloader *PLACE)
Iterate over the module loaders, returning the first loader if
PLACE is `NULL', and the next one on subsequent calls. The handle
is for use with `lt_dlloader_add'.
/* Make myloader be the first one. */
if (lt_dlloader_add (lt_dlloader_next (NULL), myloader) != 0)
return ERROR;
-- Function: lt_dlloader * lt_dlloader_find (const char *LOADER_NAME)
Return the first loader with a matching LOADER_NAME identifier, or
else `NULL', if the identifier is not found.
The identifiers that may be used by libltdl itself, if the host
architecture supports them are "dlopen"(1), "dld" and "dlpreload".
/* Add a user loader as the next module loader to be tried if
the standard dlopen loader were to fail when lt_dlopening. */
if (lt_dlloader_add (lt_dlloader_find ("dlopen"), myloader) != 0)
return ERROR;
-- Function: const char * lt_dlloader_name (lt_dlloader *PLACE)
Return the identifying name of PLACE, as obtained from
`lt_dlloader_next' or `lt_dlloader_find'. If this function fails,
it will return `NULL' and set an error for retrieval with
`lt_dlerror'.
-- Function: lt_user_data * lt_dlloader_data (lt_dlloader *PLACE)
Return the address of the `dlloader_data' of PLACE, as obtained
from `lt_dlloader_next' or `lt_dlloader_find'. If this function
fails, it will return `NULL' and set an error for retrieval with
`lt_dlerror'.
11.5.1 Error handling within user module loaders
------------------------------------------------
-- Function: int lt_dladderror (const char *DIAGNOSTIC)
This function allows you to integrate your own error messages into
`lt_dlerror'. Pass in a suitable diagnostic message for return by
`lt_dlerror', and an error identifier for use with `lt_dlseterror'
is returned.
If the allocation of an identifier fails, this function returns -1.
int myerror = lt_dladderror ("Doh!");
if (myerror < 0)
perror (lt_dlerror ());
-- Function: int lt_dlseterror (int ERRORCODE)
When writing your own module loaders, you should use this function
to raise errors so that they are propagated through the
`lt_dlerror' interface. All of the standard errors used by
libltdl are declared in `ltdl.h', or you can add more of your own
with `lt_dladderror'. This function returns 0 on success.
if (lt_dlseterror (LTDL_ERROR_NO_MEMORY) != 0)
perror (lt_dlerror ());
---------- Footnotes ----------
(1) This is used for the host dependent module loading API -
`shl_load' and `LoadLibrary' for example

File: libtool.info, Node: Distributing libltdl, Prev: Module loaders for libltdl, Up: Using libltdl
11.6 How to distribute libltdl with your package
================================================
Even though libltdl is installed together with libtool, you may wish to
include libltdl in the distribution of your package, for the
convenience of users of your package that don't have libtool or libltdl
installed, or if you are using features of a very new version of
libltdl that you don't expect your users to have yet. In such cases,
you must decide which flavor of libltdl you want to use: a convenience
library or an installable libtool library.
The most simplistic way to add `libltdl' to your package is to copy
all the `libltdl' source files to a subdirectory within your package
and to build and link them along with the rest of your sources. To
help you do this, the m4 macros for Autoconf are available in
`ltdl.m4'. You must ensure that they are available in `aclocal.m4'
before you run Autoconf(1). Having made the macros available, you must
add a call to the `LTDL_INIT' macro (after the call to `LT_INIT') to
your package's `configure.ac' to perform the configure time checks
required to build the library correctly. Unfortunately, this method
has problems if you then try to link the package binaries with an
installed libltdl, or a library that depends on libltdl, because of the
duplicate symbol definitions. For example, ultimately linking against
two different versions of libltdl, or against both a local convenience
library and an installed libltdl is bad. Ensuring that only one copy
of the libltdl sources are linked into any program is left as an
exercise for the reader.
-- Macro: LT_CONFIG_LTDL_DIR (DIRECTORY)
Declare DIRECTORY to be the location of the `libltdl' source
files, for `libtoolize --ltdl' to place them. *Note Invoking
libtoolize::, for more details. Provided that you add an
appropriate `LT_CONFIG_LTDL_DIR' call in your `configure.ac'
before calling `libtoolize', the appropriate `libltdl' files will
be installed automatically.
-- Macro: LTDL_INIT (OPTIONS)
-- Macro: LT_WITH_LTDL
-- Macro: AC_WITH_LTDL
`AC_WITH_LTDL' and `LT_WITH_LTDL' are deprecated names for older
versions of this macro; `autoupdate' will update your
`configure.ac' file.
This macro adds the following options to the `configure' script:
`--with-ltdl-include INSTALLED-LTDL-HEADER-DIR'
The `LTDL_INIT' macro will look in the standard header file
locations to find the installed `libltdl' headers. If
`LTDL_INIT' can't find them by itself, the person who builds
your package can use this option to tell `configure' where
the installed `libltdl' headers are.
`--with-ltdl-lib INSTALLED-LTDL-LIBRARY-DIR'
Similarly, the person building your package can use this
option to help `configure' find the installed `libltdl.la'.
`--with-included-ltdl'
If there is no installed `libltdl', or in any case if the
person building your package would rather use the `libltdl'
sources shipped with the package in the subdirectory named by
`LT_CONFIG_LTDL_DIR', they should pass this option to
`configure'.
If the `--with-included-ltdl' is not passed at configure time, and
an installed `libltdl' is not found(2), then `configure' will exit
immediately with an error that asks the user to either specify the
location of an installed `libltdl' using the `--with-ltdl-include'
and `--with-ltdl-lib' options, or to build with the `libltdl'
sources shipped with the package by passing `--with-included-ltdl'.
If an installed `libltdl' is found, then `LIBLTDL' is set to the
link flags needed to use it, and `LTDLINCL' to the preprocessor
flags needed to find the installed headers, and `LTDLDEPS' will be
empty. Note, however, that no version checking is performed. You
should manually check for the `libltdl' features you need in
`configure.ac':
LT_INIT([dlopen])
LTDL_INIT
# The lt_dladvise_init symbol was added with libtool-2.2
if test "x$with_included_ltdl" != "xyes"; then
save_CFLAGS="$CFLAGS"
save_LDFLAGS="$LDFLAGS"
CFLAGS="$CFLAGS $LTDLINCL"
LDFLAGS="$LDFLAGS $LIBLTDL"
AC_CHECK_LIB([ltdl], [lt_dladvise_init],
[],
[AC_MSG_ERROR([installed libltdl is too old])])
LDFLAGS="$save_LDFLAGS"
CFLAGS="$save_CFLAGS"
fi
OPTIONS may include no more than one of the following build modes
depending on how you want your project to build `libltdl':
`nonrecursive', `recursive', or `subproject'. In order for
`libtoolize' to detect this option correctly, if you supply one of
these arguments, they must be given literally (i.e., macros or
shell variables that expand to the correct ltdl mode will not
work).
`nonrecursive'
This is how the Libtool project distribution builds the
`libltdl' we ship and install. If you wish to use Automake
to build `libltdl' without invoking a recursive make to
descend into the `libltdl' subdirectory, then use this
option. You will need to set your configuration up carefully
to make this work properly, and you will need releases of
Autoconf and Automake that support `subdir-objects' and
`LIBOBJDIR' properly. In your `configure.ac', add:
AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([subdir-objects])
AC_CONFIG_HEADERS([config.h])
LT_CONFIG_LTDL_DIR([libltdl])
LT_INIT([dlopen])
LTDL_INIT([nonrecursive])
You _have to_ use a config header, but it may have a name
different than `config.h'.
Also, add the following near the top of your `Makefile.am':
AM_CPPFLAGS =
AM_LDFLAGS =
BUILT_SOURCES =
EXTRA_DIST =
CLEANFILES =
MOSTLYCLEANFILES =
include_HEADERS =
noinst_LTLIBRARIES =
lib_LTLIBRARIES =
EXTRA_LTLIBRARIES =
include libltdl/Makefile.inc
Unless you build no other libraries from this `Makefile.am',
you will also need to change `lib_LTLIBRARIES' to assign with
`+=' so that the `libltdl' targets declared in `Makefile.inc'
are not overwritten.
`recursive'
This build mode still requires that you use Automake, but (in
contrast with `nonrecursive') uses the more usual device of
starting another `make' process in the `libltdl'
subdirectory. To use this mode, you should add to your
`configure.ac':
AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE
AC_CONFIG_HEADERS([config.h])
LT_CONFIG_LTDL_DIR([libltdl])
LT_INIT([dlopen])
LTDL_INIT([recursive])
AC_CONFIG_FILES([libltdl/Makefile])
Again, you _have to_ use a config header, but it may have a
name different than `config.h' if you like.
Also, add this to your `Makefile.am':
SUBDIRS = libltdl
`subproject'
This mode is the default unless you explicitly add
`recursive' or `nonrecursive' to your `LTDL_INIT' options;
`subproject' is the only mode supported by previous releases
of libltdl. Even if you do not use Autoconf in the parent
project, then, in `subproject' mode, still `libltdl' contains
all the necessary files to configure and build itself - you
just need to arrange for your build system to call
`libltdl/configure' with appropriate options, and then run
`make' in the `libltdl' subdirectory.
If you _are_ using Autoconf and Automake, then you will need
to add the following to your `configure.ac':
LT_CONFIG_LTDL_DIR([libltdl])
LTDL_INIT
and to `Makefile.am':
SUBDIRS = libltdl
Aside from setting the libltdl build mode, there are other keywords
that you can pass to `LTDL_INIT' to modify its behavior when
`--with-included-ltdl' has been given:
`convenience'
This is the default unless you explicitly add `installable' to
your `LTDL_INIT' options.
This keyword will cause options to be passed to the
`configure' script in the subdirectory named by
`LT_CONFIG_LTDL_DIR' in order to cause it to be built as a
convenience library. If you're not using automake, you will
need to define `top_build_prefix', `top_builddir', and
`top_srcdir' in your makefile so that `LIBLTDL', `LTDLDEPS',
and `LTDLINCL' expand correctly.
One advantage of the convenience library is that it is not
installed, so the fact that you use `libltdl' will not be
apparent to the user, and it won't overwrite a pre-installed
version of `libltdl' the system might already have in the
installation directory. On the other hand, if you want to
upgrade `libltdl' for any reason (e.g. a bugfix) you'll have
to recompile your package instead of just replacing the
shared installed version of `libltdl'. However, if your
programs or libraries are linked with other libraries that
use such a pre-installed version of `libltdl', you may get
linker errors or run-time crashes. Another problem is that
you cannot link the convenience library into more than one
libtool library, then link a single program with those
libraries, because you may get duplicate symbols. In general
you can safely use the convenience library in programs that
don't depend on other libraries that might use `libltdl' too.
`installable'
This keyword will pass options to the `configure' script in
the subdirectory named by `LT_CONFIG_LTDL_DIR' in order to
cause it to be built as an installable library. If you're not
using automake, you will need to define `top_build_prefix',
`top_builddir' and `top_srcdir' in your makefile so that
`LIBLTDL', `LTDLDEPS', and `LTDLINCL' are expanded properly.
Be aware that you could overwrite another `libltdl' already
installed to the same directory if you use this option.
Whatever method you use, `LTDL_INIT' will define the shell variable
`LIBLTDL' to the link flag that you should use to link with `libltdl',
the shell variable `LTDLDEPS' to the files that can be used as a
dependency in `Makefile' rules, and the shell variable `LTDLINCL' to
the preprocessor flag that you should use to compile programs that
include `ltdl.h'. So, when you want to link a program with libltdl, be
it a convenience, installed or installable library, just use
`$(LTDLINCL)' for preprocessing and compilation, and `$(LIBLTDL)' for
linking.
* If your package is built using an installed version of `libltdl',
`LIBLTDL' will be set to the compiler flags needed to link against
the installed library, `LTDLDEPS' will be empty, and `LTDLINCL'
will be set to the compiler flags needed to find the `libltdl'
header files.
* If your package is built using the convenience libltdl, `LIBLTDL'
and `LTDLDEPS' will be the pathname for the convenience version of
libltdl (starting with `${top_builddir}/' or
`${top_build_prefix}') and `LTDLINCL' will be `-I' followed by the
directory that contains `ltdl.h' (starting with `${top_srcdir}/').
* If an installable version of the included `libltdl' is being
built, its pathname starting with `${top_builddir}/' or
`${top_build_prefix}', will be stored in `LIBLTDL' and `LTDLDEPS',
and `LTDLINCL' will be set just like in the case of convenience
library.
You should probably also use the `dlopen' option to `LT_INIT' in
your `configure.ac', otherwise libtool will assume no dlopening
mechanism is supported, and revert to dlpreopening, which is probably
not what you want. Avoid using the `-static', `-static-libtool-libs',
or `-all-static' switches when linking programs with libltdl. This
will not work on all platforms, because the dlopening functions may not
be available for static linking.
The following example shows you how to embed an installable libltdl
in your package. In order to use the convenience variant, just replace
the `LTDL_INIT' option `installable' with `convenience'. We assume
that libltdl was embedded using `libtoolize --ltdl'.
configure.ac:
...
# Name the subdirectory that contains libltdl sources
LT_CONFIG_LTDL_DIR([libltdl])
# Configure libtool with dlopen support if possible
LT_INIT([dlopen])
# Enable building of the installable libltdl library
LTDL_INIT([installable])
...
Makefile.am:
...
SUBDIRS = libltdl
AM_CPPFLAGS = $(LTDLINCL)
myprog_LDFLAGS = -export-dynamic
myprog_LDADD = $(LIBLTDL) -dlopen self -dlopen foo1.la
myprog_DEPENDENCIES = $(LTDLDEPS) foo1.la
...
-- Macro: LTDL_INSTALLABLE
-- Macro: AC_LIBLTDL_INSTALLABLE
These macros are deprecated, the `installable' option to
`LTDL_INIT' should be used instead.
-- Macro: LTDL_CONVENIENCE
-- Macro: AC_LIBLTDL_CONVENIENCE
These macros are deprecated, the `convenience' option to
`LTDL_INIT' should be used instead.
---------- Footnotes ----------
(1) We used to recommend adding the contents of `ltdl.m4' to
`acinclude.m4', but with `aclocal' from a modern Automake (1.8 or
newer) and this release of libltdl that is not only unnecessary but
makes it easy to forget to upgrade `acinclude.m4' if you move to a
different release of libltdl.
(2) Even if libltdl is installed, `LTDL_INIT' may fail to detect it
if libltdl depends on symbols provided by libraries other than the C
library.

File: libtool.info, Node: Trace interface, Next: FAQ, Prev: Using libltdl, Up: Top
12 Libtool's trace interface
****************************
This section describes macros whose sole purpose is to be traced using
Autoconf's `--trace' option (*note The Autoconf Manual:
(autoconf)autoconf Invocation.) to query the Libtool configuration of a
project. These macros are called by Libtool internals and should never
be called by user code; they should only be traced.
-- Macro: LT_SUPPORTED_TAG (TAG)
This macro is called once for each language enabled in the
package. Its only argument, TAG, is the tag-name corresponding to
the language (*note Tags::).
You can therefore retrieve the list of all tags enabled in a
project using the following command:
autoconf --trace 'LT_SUPPORTED_TAG:$1'

File: libtool.info, Node: FAQ, Next: Troubleshooting, Prev: Trace interface, Up: Top
13 Frequently Asked Questions about libtool
*******************************************
This chapter covers some questions that often come up on the mailing
lists.
* Menu:
* Stripped link flags:: Dropped flags when creating a library

File: libtool.info, Node: Stripped link flags, Up: FAQ
13.1 Why does libtool strip link flags when creating a library?
===============================================================
When creating a shared library, but not when compiling or creating a
program, `libtool' drops some flags from the command line provided by
the user. This is done because flags unknown to `libtool' may
interfere with library creation or require additional support from
`libtool', and because omitting flags is usually the conservative
choice for a successful build.
If you encounter flags that you think are useful to pass, as a
work-around you can prepend flags with `-Wc,' or `-Xcompiler ' to allow
them to be passed through to the compiler driver (*note Link mode::).
Another possibility is to add flags already to the compiler command at
`configure' run time:
./configure CC='gcc -m64'
If you think `libtool' should let some flag through by default,
here's how you can test such an inclusion: grab the Libtool development
tree, edit the `ltmain.m4sh' file in the `libltdl/config' subdirectory
to pass through the flag (search for `Flags to be passed through'),
re-bootstrap and build with the flags in question added to `LDFLAGS',
`CFLAGS', `CXXFLAGS', etc. on the `configure' command line as
appropriate. Run the testsuite as described in the `README' file and
report results to the Libtool bug reporting address
<bug-libtool@gnu.org>.

File: libtool.info, Node: Troubleshooting, Next: Maintaining, Prev: FAQ, Up: Top
14 Troubleshooting
******************
Libtool is under constant development, changing to remain up-to-date
with modern operating systems. If libtool doesn't work the way you
think it should on your platform, you should read this chapter to help
determine what the problem is, and how to resolve it.
* Menu:
* Libtool test suite:: Libtool's self-tests.
* Reporting bugs:: How to report problems with libtool.

File: libtool.info, Node: Libtool test suite, Next: Reporting bugs, Up: Troubleshooting
14.1 The libtool test suite
===========================
Libtool comes with two integrated sets of tests to check that your build
is sane, that test its capabilities, and report obvious bugs in the
libtool program. These tests, too, are constantly evolving, based on
past problems with libtool, and known deficiencies in other operating
systems.
As described in the `README' file, you may run `make -k check' after
you have built libtool (possibly before you install it) in order to
make sure that it meets basic functional requirements.
* Menu:
* Test descriptions:: The contents of the old test suite.
* When tests fail:: What to do when a test fails.

File: libtool.info, Node: Test descriptions, Next: When tests fail, Up: Libtool test suite
14.1.1 Description of test suite
--------------------------------
Here is a list of the current programs in the old test suite, and what
they test for:
`cdemo-conf.test'
`cdemo-make.test'
`cdemo-exec.test'
`cdemo-static.test'
`cdemo-static-make.test'
`cdemo-static-exec.test'
`cdemo-shared.test'
`cdemo-shared-make.test'
`cdemo-shared-exec.test'
`cdemo-undef.test'
`cdemo-undef-make.test'
`cdemo-undef-exec.test'
These programs check to see that the `tests/cdemo' subdirectory of
the libtool distribution can be configured and built correctly.
The `tests/cdemo' subdirectory contains a demonstration of libtool
convenience libraries, a mechanism that allows build-time static
libraries to be created, in a way that their components can be
later linked into programs or other libraries, even shared ones.
The tests matching `cdemo-*make.test' and `cdemo-*exec.test' are
executed three times, under three different libtool configurations:
`cdemo-conf.test' configures `cdemo/libtool' to build both static
and shared libraries (the default for platforms that support
both), `cdemo-static.test' builds only static libraries
(`--disable-shared'), and `cdemo-shared.test' builds only shared
libraries (`--disable-static').
The test `cdemo-undef.test' tests the generation of shared
libraries with undefined symbols on systems that allow this.
`demo-conf.test'
`demo-make.test'
`demo-exec.test'
`demo-inst.test'
`demo-unst.test'
`demo-static.test'
`demo-static-make.test'
`demo-static-exec.test'
`demo-static-inst.test'
`demo-static-unst.test'
`demo-shared.test'
`demo-shared-make.test'
`demo-shared-exec.test'
`demo-shared-inst.test'
`demo-shared-unst.test'
`demo-nofast.test'
`demo-nofast-make.test'
`demo-nofast-exec.test'
`demo-nofast-inst.test'
`demo-nofast-unst.test'
`demo-pic.test'
`demo-pic-make.test'
`demo-pic-exec.test'
`demo-nopic.test'
`demo-nopic-make.test'
`demo-nopic-exec.test'
These programs check to see that the `tests/demo' subdirectory of
the libtool distribution can be configured, built, installed, and
uninstalled correctly.
The `tests/demo' subdirectory contains a demonstration of a trivial
package that uses libtool. The tests matching `demo-*make.test',
`demo-*exec.test', `demo-*inst.test' and `demo-*unst.test' are
executed four times, under four different libtool configurations:
`demo-conf.test' configures `demo/libtool' to build both static
and shared libraries, `demo-static.test' builds only static
libraries (`--disable-shared'), and `demo-shared.test' builds only
shared libraries (`--disable-static'). `demo-nofast.test'
configures `demo/libtool' to disable the fast-install mode
(`--enable-fast-install=no'). `demo-pic.test' configures
`demo/libtool' to prefer building PIC code (`--with-pic'),
`demo-nopic.test' to prefer non-PIC code (`--without-pic').
`demo-deplibs.test'
Many systems cannot link static libraries into shared libraries.
libtool uses a `deplibs_check_method' to prevent such cases. This
tests checks whether libtool's `deplibs_check_method' works
properly.
`demo-hardcode.test'
On all systems with shared libraries, the location of the library
can be encoded in executables that are linked against it *note
Linking executables::. This test checks the conditions under
which your system linker hardcodes the library location, and
guarantees that they correspond to libtool's own notion of how
your linker behaves.
`demo-relink.test'
`depdemo-relink.test'
These tests check whether variable `shlibpath_overrides_runpath' is
properly set. If the test fails, it will indicate what the
variable should have been set to.
`demo-noinst-link.test'
Checks whether libtool will not try to link with a previously
installed version of a library when it should be linking with a
just-built one.
`depdemo-conf.test'
`depdemo-make.test'
`depdemo-exec.test'
`depdemo-inst.test'
`depdemo-unst.test'
`depdemo-static.test'
`depdemo-static-make.test'
`depdemo-static-exec.test'
`depdemo-static-inst.test'
`depdemo-static-unst.test'
`depdemo-shared.test'
`depdemo-shared-make.test'
`depdemo-shared-exec.test'
`depdemo-shared-inst.test'
`depdemo-shared-unst.test'
`depdemo-nofast.test'
`depdemo-nofast-make.test'
`depdemo-nofast-exec.test'
`depdemo-nofast-inst.test'
`depdemo-nofast-unst.test'
These programs check to see that the `tests/depdemo' subdirectory
of the libtool distribution can be configured, built, installed,
and uninstalled correctly.
The `tests/depdemo' subdirectory contains a demonstration of
inter-library dependencies with libtool. The test programs link
some interdependent libraries.
The tests matching `depdemo-*make.test', `depdemo-*exec.test',
`depdemo-*inst.test' and `depdemo-*unst.test' are executed four
times, under four different libtool configurations:
`depdemo-conf.test' configures `depdemo/libtool' to build both
static and shared libraries, `depdemo-static.test' builds only
static libraries (`--disable-shared'), and `depdemo-shared.test'
builds only shared libraries (`--disable-static').
`depdemo-nofast.test' configures `depdemo/libtool' to disable the
fast-install mode (`--enable-fast-install=no').
`mdemo-conf.test'
`mdemo-make.test'
`mdemo-exec.test'
`mdemo-inst.test'
`mdemo-unst.test'
`mdemo-static.test'
`mdemo-static-make.test'
`mdemo-static-exec.test'
`mdemo-static-inst.test'
`mdemo-static-unst.test'
`mdemo-shared.test'
`mdemo-shared-make.test'
`mdemo-shared-exec.test'
`mdemo-shared-inst.test'
`mdemo-shared-unst.test'
These programs check to see that the `tests/mdemo' subdirectory of
the libtool distribution can be configured, built, installed, and
uninstalled correctly.
The `tests/mdemo' subdirectory contains a demonstration of a
package that uses libtool and the system independent dlopen wrapper
`libltdl' to load modules. The library `libltdl' provides a
dlopen wrapper for various platforms (POSIX) including support for
dlpreopened modules (*note Dlpreopening::).
The tests matching `mdemo-*make.test', `mdemo-*exec.test',
`mdemo-*inst.test' and `mdemo-*unst.test' are executed three
times, under three different libtool configurations:
`mdemo-conf.test' configures `mdemo/libtool' to build both static
and shared libraries, `mdemo-static.test' builds only static
libraries (`--disable-shared'), and `mdemo-shared.test' builds
only shared libraries (`--disable-static').
`mdemo-dryrun.test'
This test checks whether libtool's `--dry-run' mode works properly.
`mdemo2-conf.test'
`mdemo2-exec.test'
`mdemo2-make.test'
These programs check to see that the `tests/mdemo2' subdirectory of
the libtool distribution can be configured, built, and executed
correctly.
The `tests/mdemo2' directory contains a demonstration of a package
that attempts to link with a library (from the `tests/mdemo'
directory) that itself does dlopening of libtool modules.
`link.test'
This test guarantees that linking directly against a non-libtool
static library works properly.
`link-2.test'
This test makes sure that files ending in `.lo' are never linked
directly into a program file.
`nomode.test'
Check whether we can actually get help for libtool.
`objectlist.test'
Check that a nonexistent objectlist file is properly detected.
`pdemo-conf.test'
`pdemo-make.test'
`pdemo-exec.test'
`pdemo-inst.test'
These programs check to see that the `tests/pdemo' subdirectory of
the libtool distribution can be configured, built, and executed
correctly.
The `pdemo-conf.test' lowers the `max_cmd_len' variable in the
generated libtool script to test the measures to evade command line
length limitations.
`quote.test'
This program checks libtool's metacharacter quoting.
`sh.test'
Checks for some nonportable or dubious or undesired shell
constructs in shell scripts.
`suffix.test'
When other programming languages are used with libtool (*note
Other languages::), the source files may end in suffixes other
than `.c'. This test validates that libtool can handle suffixes
for all the file types that it supports, and that it fails when
the suffix is invalid.
`tagdemo-conf.test'
`tagdemo-make.test'
`tagdemo-exec.test'
`tagdemo-static.test'
`tagdemo-static-make.test'
`tagdemo-static-exec.test'
`tagdemo-shared.test'
`tagdemo-shared-make.test'
`tagdemo-shared-exec.test'
`tagdemo-undef.test'
`tagdemo-undef-make.test'
`tagdemo-undef-exec.test'
These programs check to see that the `tests/tagdemo' subdirectory
of the libtool distribution can be configured, built, and executed
correctly.
The `tests/tagdemo' directory contains a demonstration of a package
that uses libtool's multi-language support through configuration
tags. It generates a library from C++ sources, which is then
linked to a C++ program.
`f77demo-conf.test'
`f77demo-make.test'
`f77demo-exec.test'
`f77demo-static.test'
`f77demo-static-make.test'
`f77demo-static-exec.test'
`f77demo-shared.test'
`f77demo-shared-make.test'
`f77demo-shared-exec.test'
These programs check to see that the `tests/f77demo' subdirectory
of the libtool distribution can be configured, built, and executed
correctly.
The `tests/f77demo' tests test Fortran 77 support in libtool by
creating libraries from Fortran 77 sources, and mixed Fortran and C
sources, and a Fortran 77 program to use the former library, and a
C program to use the latter library.
`fcdemo-conf.test'
`fcdemo-make.test'
`fcdemo-exec.test'
`fcdemo-static.test'
`fcdemo-static-make.test'
`fcdemo-static-exec.test'
`fcdemo-shared.test'
`fcdemo-shared-make.test'
`fcdemo-shared-exec.test'
These programs check to see that the `tests/fcdemo' subdirectory
of the libtool distribution can be configured, built, and executed
correctly.
The `tests/fcdemo' is similar to the `tests/f77demo' directory,
except that Fortran 90 is used in combination with the `FC'
interface provided by Autoconf and Automake.
The new, Autotest-based test suite uses keywords to classify certain
test groups:
`CXX'
`F77'
`FC'
`GCJ'
The test group exercises one of these `libtool' language tags.
`autoconf'
`automake'
These keywords denote that the respective external program is
needed by the test group. The tests are typically skipped if the
program is not installed. The `automake' keyword may also denote
use of the `aclocal' program.
`interactive'
This test group may require user interaction on some systems.
Typically, this means closing a popup window about a DLL load
error on Windows.
`libltdl'
Denote that the `libltdl' library is exercised by the test group.
`libtool'
`libtoolize'
Denote that the `libtool' or `libtoolize' scripts are exercised by
the test group, respectively.
`recursive'
Denote that this test group may recursively re-invoke the test
suite itself, with changed settings and maybe a changed `libtool'
script. You may use the `INNER_TESTSUITEFLAGS' variable to pass
additional settings to this recursive invocation. Typically,
recursive invocations delimit the set of tests with another
keyword, for example by passing `-k libtool' right before the
expansion of the `INNER_TESTSUITEFLAGS' variable (without an
intervening space, so you get the chance for further delimitation).
Test groups with the keyword `recursive' should not be denoted with
keywords, in order to avoid infinite recursion. As a consequence,
recursive test groups themselves should never require user
interaction, while the test groups they invoke may do so.
There is a convenience target `check-noninteractive' that runs all
tests from both test suites that do not cause user interaction on
Windows. Conversely, the target `check-interactive' runs the
complement of tests and might require closing popup windows about DLL
load errors on Windows.

File: libtool.info, Node: When tests fail, Prev: Test descriptions, Up: Libtool test suite
14.1.2 When tests fail
----------------------
When the tests in the old test suite are run via `make check', output
is caught in per-test `tests/TEST-NAME.log' files and summarized in the
`test-suite.log' file. The exit status of each program tells the
`Makefile' whether or not the test succeeded.
If a test fails, it means that there is either a programming error in
libtool, or in the test program itself.
To investigate a particular test, you may run it directly, as you
would a normal program. When the test is invoked in this way, it
produces output that may be useful in determining what the problem is.
The new, Autotest-based test suite produces as output a file
`tests/testsuite.log' which contains information about failed tests.
You can pass options to the test suite through the `make' variable
`TESTSUITEFLAGS' (*note The Autoconf Manual: (autoconf)testsuite
Invocation.).

File: libtool.info, Node: Reporting bugs, Prev: Libtool test suite, Up: Troubleshooting
14.2 Reporting bugs
===================
If you think you have discovered a bug in libtool, you should think
twice: the libtool maintainer is notorious for passing the buck (or
maybe that should be "passing the bug"). Libtool was invented to fix
known deficiencies in shared library implementations, so, in a way, most
of the bugs in libtool are actually bugs in other operating systems.
However, the libtool maintainer would definitely be happy to add support
for somebody else's buggy operating system. [I wish there was a good
way to do winking smiley-faces in Texinfo.]
Genuine bugs in libtool include problems with shell script
portability, documentation errors, and failures in the test suite
(*note Libtool test suite::).
First, check the documentation and help screens to make sure that the
behaviour you think is a problem is not already mentioned as a feature.
Then, you should read the Emacs guide to reporting bugs (*note
Reporting Bugs: (emacs)Bugs.). Some of the details listed there are
specific to Emacs, but the principle behind them is a general one.
Finally, send a bug report to the Libtool bug reporting address
<bug-libtool@gnu.org> with any appropriate _facts_, such as test suite
output (*note When tests fail::), all the details needed to reproduce
the bug, and a brief description of why you think the behaviour is a
bug. Be sure to include the word "libtool" in the subject line, as
well as the version number you are using (which can be found by typing
`libtool --version').

File: libtool.info, Node: Maintaining, Next: GNU Free Documentation License, Prev: Troubleshooting, Up: Top
15 Maintenance notes for libtool
********************************
This chapter contains information that the libtool maintainer finds
important. It will be of no use to you unless you are considering
porting libtool to new systems, or writing your own libtool.
* Menu:
* New ports:: How to port libtool to new systems.
* Tested platforms:: When libtool was last tested.
* Platform quirks:: Information about different library systems.
* libtool script contents:: Configuration information that libtool uses.
* Cheap tricks:: Making libtool maintainership easier.

File: libtool.info, Node: New ports, Next: Tested platforms, Up: Maintaining
15.1 Porting libtool to new systems
===================================
Before you embark on porting libtool to an unsupported system, it is
worthwhile to send e-mail to the Libtool mailing list
<libtool@gnu.org>, to make sure that you are not duplicating existing
work.
If you find that any porting documentation is missing, please
complain! Complaints with patches and improvements to the
documentation, or to libtool itself, are more than welcome.
* Menu:
* Information sources:: Where to find relevant documentation
* Porting inter-library dependencies:: Implementation details explained

File: libtool.info, Node: Information sources, Next: Porting inter-library dependencies, Up: New ports
15.1.1 Information sources
--------------------------
Once it is clear that a new port is necessary, you'll generally need the
following information:
canonical system name
You need the output of `config.guess' for this system, so that you
can make changes to the libtool configuration process without
affecting other systems.
man pages for `ld' and `cc'
These generally describe what flags are used to generate PIC, to
create shared libraries, and to link against only static
libraries. You may need to follow some cross references to find
the information that is required.
man pages for `ld.so', `rtld', or equivalent
These are a valuable resource for understanding how shared
libraries are loaded on the system.
man page for `ldconfig', or equivalent
This page usually describes how to install shared libraries.
output from `ls -l /lib /usr/lib'
This shows the naming convention for shared libraries on the
system, including which names should be symbolic links.
any additional documentation
Some systems have special documentation on how to build and install
shared libraries.
If you know how to program the Bourne shell, then you can complete
the port yourself; otherwise, you'll have to find somebody with the
relevant skills who will do the work. People on the libtool mailing
list are usually willing to volunteer to help you with new ports, so
you can send the information to them.
To do the port yourself, you'll definitely need to modify the
`libtool.m4' macros in order to make platform-specific changes to the
configuration process. You should search that file for the `PORTME'
keyword, which will give you some hints on what you'll need to change.
In general, all that is involved is modifying the appropriate
configuration variables (*note libtool script contents::).
Your best bet is to find an already-supported system that is similar
to yours, and make your changes based on that. In some cases, however,
your system will differ significantly from every other supported system,
and it may be necessary to add new configuration variables, and modify
the `ltmain.in' script accordingly. Be sure to write to the mailing
list before you make changes to `ltmain.in', since they may have advice
on the most effective way of accomplishing what you want.

File: libtool.info, Node: Porting inter-library dependencies, Prev: Information sources, Up: New ports
15.1.2 Porting inter-library dependencies support
-------------------------------------------------
Since version 1.2c, libtool has re-introduced the ability to do
inter-library dependency on some platforms, thanks to a patch by Toshio
Kuratomi <badger@prtr-13.ucsc.edu>. Here's a shortened version of the
message that contained his patch:
The basic architecture is this: in `libtool.m4', the person who
writes libtool makes sure `$deplibs' is included in `$archive_cmds'
somewhere and also sets the variable `$deplibs_check_method', and maybe
`$file_magic_cmd' when `deplibs_check_method' is file_magic.
`deplibs_check_method' can be one of five things:
`file_magic [REGEX]'
looks in the library link path for libraries that have the right
libname. Then it runs `$file_magic_cmd' on the library and checks
for a match against the extended regular expression REGEX. When
`file_magic_test_file' is set by `libtool.m4', it is used as an
argument to `$file_magic_cmd' in order to verify whether the
regular expression matches its output, and warn the user otherwise.
`test_compile'
just checks whether it is possible to link a program out of a list
of libraries, and checks which of those are listed in the output of
`ldd'. It is currently unused, and will probably be dropped in the
future.
`pass_all'
will pass everything without any checking. This may work on
platforms in which code is position-independent by default and
inter-library dependencies are properly supported by the dynamic
linker, for example, on DEC OSF/1 3 and 4.
`none'
It causes deplibs to be reassigned `deplibs=""'. That way
`archive_cmds' can contain deplibs on all platforms, but not have
deplibs used unless needed.
`unknown'
is the default for all systems unless overridden in `libtool.m4'.
It is the same as `none', but it documents that we really don't
know what the correct value should be, and we welcome patches that
improve it.
Then in `ltmain.in' we have the real workhorse: a little
initialization and postprocessing (to setup/release variables for use
with eval echo libname_spec etc.) and a case statement that decides the
method that is being used. This is the real code... I wish I could
condense it a little more, but I don't think I can without function
calls. I've mostly optimized it (moved things out of loops, etc.) but
there is probably some fat left. I thought I should stop while I was
ahead, work on whatever bugs you discover, etc. before thinking about
more than obvious optimizations.

File: libtool.info, Node: Tested platforms, Next: Platform quirks, Prev: New ports, Up: Maintaining
15.2 Tested platforms
=====================
This table describes when libtool was last known to be tested on
platforms where it claims to support shared libraries:
-------------------------------------------------------
canonical host name compiler libtool results
(tools versions) release
-------------------------------------------------------
alpha-dec-osf5.1 cc 1.3e ok (1.910)
alpha-dec-osf4.0f gcc 1.3e ok (1.910)
alpha-dec-osf4.0f cc 1.3e ok (1.910)
alpha-dec-osf3.2 gcc 0.8 ok
alpha-dec-osf3.2 cc 0.8 ok
alpha-dec-osf2.1 gcc 1.2f NS
alpha*-unknown-linux-gnu gcc 1.3b ok
(egcs-1.1.2, GNU ld 2.9.1.0.23)
hppa2.0w-hp-hpux11.00 cc 1.2f ok
hppa2.0-hp-hpux10.20 cc 1.3.2 ok
hppa1.1-hp-hpux10.20 gcc 1.2f ok
hppa1.1-hp-hpux10.20 cc 1.3c ok (1.821)
hppa1.1-hp-hpux10.10 gcc 1.2f ok
hppa1.1-hp-hpux10.10 cc 1.2f ok
hppa1.1-hp-hpux9.07 gcc 1.2f ok
hppa1.1-hp-hpux9.07 cc 1.2f ok
hppa1.1-hp-hpux9.05 gcc 1.2f ok
hppa1.1-hp-hpux9.05 cc 1.2f ok
hppa1.1-hp-hpux9.01 gcc 1.2f ok
hppa1.1-hp-hpux9.01 cc 1.2f ok
i*86-*-beos gcc 1.2f ok
i*86-*-bsdi4.0.1 gcc 1.3c ok
(gcc-2.7.2.1)
i*86-*-bsdi4.0 gcc 1.2f ok
i*86-*-bsdi3.1 gcc 1.2e NS
i*86-*-bsdi3.0 gcc 1.2e NS
i*86-*-bsdi2.1 gcc 1.2e NS
i*86-pc-cygwin gcc 1.3b NS
(egcs-1.1 stock b20.1 compiler)
i*86-*-dguxR4.20MU01 gcc 1.2 ok
i*86-*-freebsd4.3 gcc 1.3e ok (1.912)
i*86-*-freebsdelf4.0 gcc 1.3c ok
(egcs-1.1.2)
i*86-*-freebsdelf3.2 gcc 1.3c ok
(gcc-2.7.2.1)
i*86-*-freebsdelf3.1 gcc 1.3c ok
(gcc-2.7.2.1)
i*86-*-freebsdelf3.0 gcc 1.3c ok
i*86-*-freebsd3.0 gcc 1.2e ok
i*86-*-freebsd2.2.8 gcc 1.3c ok
(gcc-2.7.2.1)
i*86-*-freebsd2.2.6 gcc 1.3b ok
(egcs-1.1 & gcc-2.7.2.1, native ld)
i*86-*-freebsd2.1.5 gcc 0.5 ok
i*86-*-netbsd1.5 gcc 1.3e ok (1.901)
(egcs-1.1.2)
i*86-*-netbsd1.4 gcc 1.3c ok
(egcs-1.1.1)
i*86-*-netbsd1.4.3A gcc 1.3e ok (1.901)
i*86-*-netbsd1.3.3 gcc 1.3c ok
(gcc-2.7.2.2+myc2)
i*86-*-netbsd1.3.2 gcc 1.2e ok
i*86-*-netbsd1.3I gcc 1.2e ok
(egcs 1.1?)
i*86-*-netbsd1.2 gcc 0.9g ok
i*86-*-linux-gnu gcc 1.3e ok (1.901)
(Red Hat 7.0, gcc "2.96")
i*86-*-linux-gnu gcc 1.3e ok (1.911)
(SuSE 7.0, gcc 2.95.2)
i*86-*-linux-gnulibc1 gcc 1.2f ok
i*86-*-openbsd2.5 gcc 1.3c ok
(gcc-2.8.1)
i*86-*-openbsd2.4 gcc 1.3c ok
(gcc-2.8.1)
i*86-*-solaris2.7 gcc 1.3b ok
(egcs-1.1.2, native ld)
i*86-*-solaris2.6 gcc 1.2f ok
i*86-*-solaris2.5.1 gcc 1.2f ok
i*86-ncr-sysv4.3.03 gcc 1.2f ok
i*86-ncr-sysv4.3.03 cc 1.2e ok
(cc -Hnocopyr)
i*86-pc-sco3.2v5.0.5 cc 1.3c ok
i*86-pc-sco3.2v5.0.5 gcc 1.3c ok
(gcc 95q4c)
i*86-pc-sco3.2v5.0.5 gcc 1.3c ok
(egcs-1.1.2)
i*86-sco-sysv5uw7.1.1 gcc 1.3e ok (1.901)
(gcc-2.95.2, SCO linker)
i*86-UnixWare7.1.0-sysv5 cc 1.3c ok
i*86-UnixWare7.1.0-sysv5 gcc 1.3c ok
(egcs-1.1.1)
m68k-next-nextstep3 gcc 1.2f NS
m68k-sun-sunos4.1.1 gcc 1.2f NS
(gcc-2.5.7)
m88k-dg-dguxR4.12TMU01 gcc 1.2 ok
m88k-motorola-sysv4 gcc 1.3 ok
(egcs-1.1.2)
mips-sgi-irix6.5 gcc 1.2f ok
(gcc-2.8.1)
mips-sgi-irix6.4 gcc 1.2f ok
mips-sgi-irix6.3 gcc 1.3b ok
(egcs-1.1.2, native ld)
mips-sgi-irix6.3 cc 1.3b ok
(cc 7.0)
mips-sgi-irix6.2 gcc 1.2f ok
mips-sgi-irix6.2 cc 0.9 ok
mips-sgi-irix5.3 gcc 1.2f ok
(egcs-1.1.1)
mips-sgi-irix5.3 gcc 1.2f NS
(gcc-2.6.3)
mips-sgi-irix5.3 cc 0.8 ok
mips-sgi-irix5.2 gcc 1.3b ok
(egcs-1.1.2, native ld)
mips-sgi-irix5.2 cc 1.3b ok
(cc 3.18)
mips-sni-sysv4 cc 1.3.5 ok
(Siemens C-compiler)
mips-sni-sysv4 gcc 1.3.5 ok
(gcc-2.7.2.3, GNU assembler 2.8.1, native ld)
mipsel-unknown-openbsd2.1 gcc 1.0 ok
powerpc-apple-darwin6.4 gcc 1.5 ok
(apple dev tools released 12/2002)
powerpc-ibm-aix4.3.1.0 gcc 1.2f ok
(egcs-1.1.1)
powerpc-ibm-aix4.2.1.0 gcc 1.2f ok
(egcs-1.1.1)
powerpc-ibm-aix4.1.5.0 gcc 1.2f ok
(egcs-1.1.1)
powerpc-ibm-aix4.1.5.0 gcc 1.2f NS
(gcc-2.8.1)
powerpc-ibm-aix4.1.4.0 gcc 1.0 ok
powerpc-ibm-aix4.1.4.0 xlc 1.0i ok
rs6000-ibm-aix4.1.5.0 gcc 1.2f ok
(gcc-2.7.2)
rs6000-ibm-aix4.1.4.0 gcc 1.2f ok
(gcc-2.7.2)
rs6000-ibm-aix3.2.5 gcc 1.0i ok
rs6000-ibm-aix3.2.5 xlc 1.0i ok
sparc-sun-solaris2.8 gcc 1.3e ok (1.913)
(gcc-2.95.3 & native ld)
sparc-sun-solaris2.7 gcc 1.3e ok (1.913)
(gcc-2.95.3 & native ld)
sparc-sun-solaris2.6 gcc 1.3e ok (1.913)
(gcc-2.95.3 & native ld)
sparc-sun-solaris2.5.1 gcc 1.3e ok (1.911)
sparc-sun-solaris2.5 gcc 1.3b ok
(egcs-1.1.2, GNU ld 2.9.1 & native ld)
sparc-sun-solaris2.5 cc 1.3b ok
(SC 3.0.1)
sparc-sun-solaris2.4 gcc 1.0a ok
sparc-sun-solaris2.4 cc 1.0a ok
sparc-sun-solaris2.3 gcc 1.2f ok
sparc-sun-sunos4.1.4 gcc 1.2f ok
sparc-sun-sunos4.1.4 cc 1.0f ok
sparc-sun-sunos4.1.3_U1 gcc 1.2f ok
sparc-sun-sunos4.1.3C gcc 1.2f ok
sparc-sun-sunos4.1.3 gcc 1.3b ok
(egcs-1.1.2, GNU ld 2.9.1 & native ld)
sparc-sun-sunos4.1.3 cc 1.3b ok
sparc-unknown-bsdi4.0 gcc 1.2c ok
sparc-unknown-linux-gnulibc1 gcc 1.2f ok
sparc-unknown-linux-gnu gcc 1.3b ok
(egcs-1.1.2, GNU ld 2.9.1.0.23)
sparc64-unknown-linux-gnu gcc 1.2f ok
Notes:
- "ok" means "all tests passed".
- "NS" means "Not Shared", but OK for static libraries
Note: The vendor-distributed HP-UX `sed'(1) programs are horribly
broken, and cannot handle libtool's requirements, so users may report
unusual problems. There is no workaround except to install a working
`sed' (such as GNU `sed') on these systems.
Note: The vendor-distributed NCR MP-RAS `cc' programs emits
copyright on standard error that confuse tests on size of
`conftest.err'. The workaround is to specify `CC' when run `configure'
with `CC='cc -Hnocopyr''.

File: libtool.info, Node: Platform quirks, Next: libtool script contents, Prev: Tested platforms, Up: Maintaining
15.3 Platform quirks
====================
This section is dedicated to the sanity of the libtool maintainers. It
describes the programs that libtool uses, how they vary from system to
system, and how to test for them.
Because libtool is a shell script, it can be difficult to understand
just by reading it from top to bottom. This section helps show why
libtool does things a certain way. Combined with the scripts
themselves, you should have a better sense of how to improve libtool, or
write your own.
* Menu:
* References:: Finding more information.
* Compilers:: Creating object files from source files.
* Reloadable objects:: Binding object files together.
* Multiple dependencies:: Removing duplicate dependent libraries.
* Archivers:: Programs that create static archives.
* Cross compiling:: Issues that arise when cross compiling.
* File name conversion:: Converting file names between platforms.
* Windows DLLs:: Windows header defines.

File: libtool.info, Node: References, Next: Compilers, Up: Platform quirks
15.3.1 References
-----------------
The following is a list of valuable documentation references:
* SGI's IRIX Manual Pages can be found at
`http://techpubs.sgi.com/cgi-bin/infosrch.cgi?cmd=browse&db=man'.
* Sun's free service area
(`http://www.sun.com/service/online/free.html') and documentation
server (`http://docs.sun.com/').
* Compaq's Tru64 UNIX online documentation is at
(`http://tru64unix.compaq.com/faqs/publications/pub_page/doc_list.html')
with C++ documentation at
(`http://tru64unix.compaq.com/cplus/docs/index.htm').
* Hewlett-Packard has online documentation at
(`http://docs.hp.com/index.html').
* IBM has online documentation at
(`http://www.rs6000.ibm.com/resource/aix_resource/Pubs/').

File: libtool.info, Node: Compilers, Next: Reloadable objects, Prev: References, Up: Platform quirks
15.3.2 Compilers
----------------
The only compiler characteristics that affect libtool are the flags
needed (if any) to generate PIC objects. In general, if a C compiler
supports certain PIC flags, then any derivative compilers support the
same flags. Until there are some noteworthy exceptions to this rule,
this section will document only C compilers.
The following C compilers have standard command line options,
regardless of the platform:
`gcc'
This is the GNU C compiler, which is also the system compiler for
many free operating systems (FreeBSD, GNU/Hurd, GNU/Linux, Lites,
NetBSD, and OpenBSD, to name a few).
The `-fpic' or `-fPIC' flags can be used to generate
position-independent code. `-fPIC' is guaranteed to generate
working code, but the code is slower on m68k, m88k, and Sparc
chips. However, using `-fpic' on those chips imposes arbitrary
size limits on the shared libraries.
The rest of this subsection lists compilers by the operating system
that they are bundled with:
`aix3*'
`aix4*'
Most AIX compilers have no PIC flags, since AIX (with the
exception of AIX for IA-64) runs on PowerPC and RS/6000 chips. (1)
`hpux10*'
Use `+Z' to generate PIC.
`osf3*'
Digital/UNIX 3.x does not have PIC flags, at least not on the
PowerPC platform.
`solaris2*'
Use `-KPIC' to generate PIC.
`sunos4*'
Use `-PIC' to generate PIC.
---------- Footnotes ----------
(1) All code compiled for the PowerPC and RS/6000 chips
(`powerpc-*-*', `powerpcle-*-*', and `rs6000-*-*') is
position-independent, regardless of the operating system or compiler
suite. So, "regular objects" can be used to build shared libraries on
these systems and no special PIC compiler flags are required.

File: libtool.info, Node: Reloadable objects, Next: Multiple dependencies, Prev: Compilers, Up: Platform quirks
15.3.3 Reloadable objects
-------------------------
On all known systems, a reloadable object can be created by running `ld
-r -o OUTPUT.o INPUT1.o INPUT2.o'. This reloadable object may be
treated as exactly equivalent to other objects.

File: libtool.info, Node: Multiple dependencies, Next: Archivers, Prev: Reloadable objects, Up: Platform quirks
15.3.4 Multiple dependencies
----------------------------
On most modern platforms the order in which dependent libraries are
listed has no effect on object generation. In theory, there are
platforms that require libraries that provide missing symbols to other
libraries to be listed after those libraries whose symbols they provide.
Particularly, if a pair of static archives each resolve some of the
other's symbols, it might be necessary to list one of those archives
both before and after the other one. Libtool does not currently cope
with this situation well, since duplicate libraries are removed from
the link line by default. Libtool provides the command line option
`--preserve-dup-deps' to preserve all duplicate dependencies in cases
where it is necessary.

File: libtool.info, Node: Archivers, Next: Cross compiling, Prev: Multiple dependencies, Up: Platform quirks
15.3.5 Archivers
----------------
On all known systems, building a static library can be accomplished by
running `ar cru libNAME.a OBJ1.o OBJ2.o ...', where the `.a' file is
the output library, and each `.o' file is an object file.
On all known systems, if there is a program named `ranlib', then it
must be used to "bless" the created library before linking against it,
with the `ranlib libNAME.a' command. Some systems, like Irix, use the
`ar ts' command, instead.

File: libtool.info, Node: Cross compiling, Next: File name conversion, Prev: Archivers, Up: Platform quirks
15.3.6 Cross compiling
----------------------
Most build systems support the ability to compile libraries and
applications on one platform for use on a different platform, provided
a compiler capable of generating the appropriate output is available.
In such cross compiling scenarios, the platform on which the libraries
or applications are compiled is called the "build platform", while the
platform on which the libraries or applications are intended to be used
or executed is called the "host platform". *note The GNU Build System:
(automake)GNU Build System, of which libtool is a part, supports cross
compiling via arguments passed to the configure script: `--build=...'
and `--host=...'. However, when the build platform and host platform
are very different, libtool is required to make certain accommodations
to support these scenarios.
In most cases, because the build platform and host platform differ,
the cross-compiled libraries and executables can't be executed or
tested on the build platform where they were compiled. The testsuites
of most build systems will often skip any tests that involve executing
such foreign executables when cross-compiling. However, if the build
platform and host platform are sufficiently similar, it is often
possible to run cross-compiled applications. Libtool's own testsuite
often attempts to execute cross-compiled tests, but will mark any
failures as _skipped_ since the failure might simply be due to the
differences between the two platforms.
In addition to cases where the host platform and build platform are
extremely similar (e.g. `i586-pc-linux-gnu' and `i686-pc-linux-gnu'),
there is another case in which cross-compiled host applications may be
executed on the build platform. This is possible when the build
platform supports an emulation or API-enhanced environment for the host
platform. One example of this situation would be if the build platform
were MinGW, and the host platform were Cygwin (or vice versa). Both of
these platforms can actually operate within a single Windows instance,
so Cygwin applications can be launched from a MinGW context, and vice
versa--provided certain care is taken. Another example would be if the
build platform were GNU/Linux on an x86 32bit processor, and the host
platform were MinGW. In this situation, the Wine
(http://www.winehq.org/) environment can be used to launch Windows
applications from the GNU/Linux operating system; again, provided
certain care is taken.
One particular issue occurs when a Windows platform such as MinGW,
Cygwin, or MSYS is the host or build platform, while the other platform
is a Unix-style system. In these cases, there are often conflicts
between the format of the file names and paths expected within host
platform libraries and executables, and those employed on the build
platform.
This situation is best described using a concrete example: suppose
the build platform is GNU/Linux with canonical triplet
`i686-pc-linux-gnu'. Suppose further that the host platform is MinGW
with canonical triplet `i586-pc-mingw32'. On the GNU/Linux platform
there is a cross compiler following the usual naming conventions of
such compilers, where the compiler name is prefixed by the host
canonical triplet (or suitable alias). (For more information
concerning canonical triplets and platform aliases, see *note
Specifying Target Triplets: (autoconf)Specifying Target Triplets. and
*note Canonicalizing: (autoconf)Canonicalizing.) In this case, the C
compiler is named `i586-pc-mingw32-gcc'.
As described in *note Wrapper executables::, for the MinGW host
platform libtool uses a wrapper executable to set various environment
variables before launching the actual program executable. Like the
program executable, the wrapper executable is cross-compiled for the
host platform (that is, for MinGW). As described above, ordinarily a
host platform executable cannot be executed on the build platform, but
in this case the Wine environment could be used to launch the MinGW
application from GNU/Linux. However, the wrapper executable, as a host
platform (MinGW) application, must set the `PATH' variable so that the
true application's dependent libraries can be located--but the contents
of the `PATH' variable must be structured for MinGW. Libtool must use
the Wine file name mapping facilities to determine the correct value so
that the wrapper executable can set the `PATH' variable to point to the
correct location.
For example, suppose we are compiling an application in `/var/tmp' on
GNU/Linux, using separate source code and build directories:
`/var/tmp/foo-1.2.3/app/' (application source code)
`/var/tmp/foo-1.2.3/lib/' (library source code)
`/var/tmp/BUILD/app/' (application build objects here)
`/var/tmp/BUILD/lib/' (library build objects here)
Since the library will be built in `/var/tmp/BUILD/lib', the wrapper
executable (which will be in `/var/tmp/BUILD/app') must add that
directory to `PATH' (actually, it must add the directory named OBJDIR
under `/var/tmp/BUILD/lib', but we'll ignore that detail for now).
However, Windows does not have a concept of Unix-style file or
directory names such as `/var/tmp/BUILD/lib'. Therefore, Wine provides
a mapping from Windows file names such as `C:\Program Files' to specific
Unix-style file names. Wine also provides a utility that can be used
to map Unix-style file names to Windows file names.
In this case, the wrapper executable should actually add the value
Z:\var\tmp\BUILD\lib
to the `PATH'. libtool contains support for path conversions of this
type, for a certain limited set of build and host platform
combinations. In this case, libtool will invoke Wine's `winepath'
utility to ensure that the correct `PATH' value is used. For more
information, see *note File name conversion::.

File: libtool.info, Node: File name conversion, Next: Windows DLLs, Prev: Cross compiling, Up: Platform quirks
15.3.7 File name conversion
---------------------------
In certain situations, libtool must convert file names and paths between
formats appropriate to different platforms. Usually this occurs when
cross-compiling, and affects only the ability to launch host platform
executables on the build platform using an emulation or API-enhancement
environment such as Wine. Failure to convert paths (*note File Name
Conversion Failure::) will cause a warning to be issued, but rarely
causes the build to fail--and should have no affect on the compiled
products, once installed properly on the host platform. For more
information, *note Cross compiling::.
However, file name conversion may also occur in another scenario:
when using a Unix emulation system on Windows (such as Cygwin or MSYS),
combined with a native Windows compiler such as MinGW or MSVC. Only a
limited set of such scenarios are currently supported; in other cases
file name conversion is skipped. The lack of file name conversion
usually means that uninstalled executables can't be launched, but only
rarely causes the build to fail (*note File Name Conversion Failure::).
libtool supports file name conversion in the following scenarios:
build platform host platform Notes
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
MinGW (MSYS) MinGW (Windows) *note Native MinGW File Name
Conversion::
Cygwin MinGW (Windows) *note Cygwin/Windows File Name
Conversion::
Unix + Wine MinGW (Windows) Requires Wine. *note Unix/Windows
File Name Conversion::
MinGW (MSYS) Cygwin Requires `LT_CYGPATH'. *note
LT_CYGPATH::. Provided for testing
purposes only.
Unix + Wine Cygwin Requires both Wine and
`LT_CYGPATH', but does not yet work
with Cygwin 1.7.7 and Wine-1.2.
See *note Unix/Windows File Name
Conversion:: and *note LT_CYGPATH::.
* Menu:
* File Name Conversion Failure:: What happens when file name conversion fails
* Native MinGW File Name Conversion:: MSYS file name conversion idiosyncrasies
* Cygwin/Windows File Name Conversion:: Using `cygpath' to convert Cygwin file names
* Unix/Windows File Name Conversion:: Using Wine to convert Unix paths
* LT_CYGPATH:: Invoking `cygpath' from other environments
* Cygwin to MinGW Cross:: Other notes concerning MinGW cross

File: libtool.info, Node: File Name Conversion Failure, Next: Native MinGW File Name Conversion, Up: File name conversion
15.3.7.1 File Name Conversion Failure
.....................................
In most cases, file name conversion is not needed or attempted.
However, when libtool detects that a specific combination of build and
host platform does require file name conversion, it is possible that
the conversion may fail. In these cases, you may see a warning such as
the following:
Could not determine the host file name corresponding to
`... a file name ...'
Continuing, but uninstalled executables may not work.
or
Could not determine the host path corresponding to
`... a path ...'
Continuing, but uninstalled executables may not work.
This should not cause the build to fail. At worst, it means that the
wrapper executable will specify file names or paths appropriate for the
build platform. Since those are not appropriate for the host platform,
the uninstalled executables would not operate correctly, even when the
wrapper executable is launched via the appropriate emulation or
API-enhancement (e.g. Wine). Simply install the executables on the
host platform, and execute them there.

File: libtool.info, Node: Native MinGW File Name Conversion, Next: Cygwin/Windows File Name Conversion, Prev: File Name Conversion Failure, Up: File name conversion
15.3.7.2 Native MinGW File Name Conversion
..........................................
MSYS is a Unix emulation environment for Windows, and is specifically
designed such that in normal usage it _pretends_ to be MinGW or native
Windows, but understands Unix-style file names and paths, and supports
standard Unix tools and shells. Thus, "native" MinGW builds are
actually an odd sort of cross-compile, from an MSYS Unix emulation
environment "pretending" to be MinGW, to actual native Windows.
When an MSYS shell launches a native Windows executable (as opposed
to other _MSYS_ executables), it uses a system of heuristics to detect
any command-line arguments that contain file names or paths. It
automatically converts these file names from the MSYS (Unix-like)
format, to the corresponding Windows file name, before launching the
executable. However, this auto-conversion facility is only available
when using the MSYS runtime library. The wrapper executable itself is
a MinGW application (that is, it does not use the MSYS runtime
library). The wrapper executable must set `PATH' to, and call
`_spawnv' with, values that have already been converted from MSYS
format to Windows. Thus, when libtool writes the source code for the
wrapper executable, it must manually convert MSYS paths to Windows
format, so that the Windows values can be hard-coded into the wrapper
executable.

File: libtool.info, Node: Cygwin/Windows File Name Conversion, Next: Unix/Windows File Name Conversion, Prev: Native MinGW File Name Conversion, Up: File name conversion
15.3.7.3 Cygwin/Windows File Name Conversion
............................................
Cygwin provides a Unix emulation environment for Windows. As part of
that emulation, it provides a file system mapping that presents the
Windows file system in a Unix-compatible manner. Cygwin also provides
a utility `cygpath' that can be used to convert file names and paths
between the two representations. In a correctly configured Cygwin
installation, `cygpath' is always present, and is in the `PATH'.
Libtool uses `cygpath' to convert from Cygwin (Unix-style) file names
and paths to Windows format when the build platform is Cygwin and the
host platform is MinGW.
When the host platform is Cygwin, but the build platform is MSYS or
some Unix system, libtool also uses `cygpath' to convert from Windows
to Cygwin format (after first converting from the build platform format
to Windows format; see *note Native MinGW File Name Conversion:: and
*note Unix/Windows File Name Conversion::). Because the build platform
is not Cygwin, `cygpath' is not (and should not be) in the `PATH'.
Therefore, in this configuration the environment variable `LT_CYGPATH'
is required. *Note LT_CYGPATH::.

File: libtool.info, Node: Unix/Windows File Name Conversion, Next: LT_CYGPATH, Prev: Cygwin/Windows File Name Conversion, Up: File name conversion
15.3.7.4 Unix/Windows File Name Conversion
..........................................
Wine (http://www.winehq.org/) provides an interpretation environment for
some Unix platforms in which Windows applications can be executed. It
provides a mapping between the Unix file system and a virtual Windows
file system used by the Windows programs. For the file name conversion
to work, Wine must be installed and properly configured on the build
platform, and the `winepath' application must be in the build
platform's `PATH'. In addition, on 32bit GNU/Linux it is usually
helpful if the binfmt extension is enabled.

File: libtool.info, Node: LT_CYGPATH, Next: Cygwin to MinGW Cross, Prev: Unix/Windows File Name Conversion, Up: File name conversion
15.3.7.5 LT_CYGPATH
...................
For some cross-compile configurations (where the host platform is
Cygwin), the `cygpath' program is used to convert file names from the
build platform notation to the Cygwin form (technically, this
conversion is from Windows notation to Cygwin notation; the conversion
from the build platform format to Windows notation is performed via
other means). However, because the `cygpath' program is not (and
should not be) in the `PATH' on the build platform, `LT_CYGPATH' must
specify the full build platform file name (that is, the full Unix or
MSYS file name) of the `cygpath' program.
The reason `cygpath' should not be in the build platform `PATH' is
twofold: first, `cygpath' is usually installed in the same directory as
many other Cygwin executables, such as `sed', `cp', etc. If the build
platform environment had this directory in its `PATH', then these
Cygwin versions of common Unix utilities might be used in preference to
the ones provided by the build platform itself, with deleterious
effects. Second, especially when Cygwin-1.7 or later is used, multiple
Cygwin installations can coexist within the same Windows instance.
Each installation will have separate "mount tables" specified in
`CYGROOT-N/etc/fstab'. These "mount tables" control how that instance
of Cygwin will map Windows file names and paths to Cygwin form. Each
installation's `cygpath' utility automatically deduces the appropriate
`/etc/fstab' file. Since each `CYGROOT-N/etc/fstab' mount table may
specify different mappings, it matters which `cygpath' is used.
Note that `cygpath' is a Cygwin application; to execute this tool
from Unix requires a working and properly configured Wine installation,
as well as enabling the GNU/Linux `binfmt' extension. Furthermore, the
Cygwin `setup.exe' tool should have been used, via Wine, to properly
install Cygwin into the Wine file system (and registry).
Unfortunately, Wine support for Cygwin is intermittent. Recent
releases of Cygwin (1.7 and above) appear to require more Windows API
support than Wine provides (as of Wine version 1.2); most Cygwin
applications fail to execute. This includes `cygpath' itself. Hence,
it is best _not_ to use the LT_CYGPATH machinery in libtool when
performing Unix to Cygwin cross-compiles. Similarly, it is best _not_
to enable the GNU/Linux binfmt support in this configuration, because
while Wine will fail to execute the compiled Cygwin applications, it
will still exit with status zero. This tends to confuse build systems
and test suites (including libtool's own testsuite, resulting in
spurious reported failures). Wine support for the older Cygwin-1.5
series appears satisfactory, but the Cygwin team no longer supports
Cygwin-1.5. It is hoped that Wine will eventually be improved such that
Cygwin-1.7 will again operate correctly under Wine. Until then,
libtool will report warnings as described in *note File Name Conversion
Failure:: in these scenarios.
However, `LT_CYGPATH' is also used for the MSYS to Cygwin cross
compile scenario, and operates as expected.

File: libtool.info, Node: Cygwin to MinGW Cross, Prev: LT_CYGPATH, Up: File name conversion
15.3.7.6 Cygwin to MinGW Cross
..............................
There are actually three different scenarios that could all
legitimately be called a "Cygwin to MinGW" cross compile. The current
(and standard) definition is when there is a compiler that produces
native Windows libraries and applications, but which itself is a Cygwin
application, just as would be expected in any other cross compile setup.
However, historically there were two other definitions, which we
will refer to as the _fake_ one, and the _lying_ one.
In the _fake_ Cygwin to MinGW cross compile case, you actually use a
native MinGW compiler, but you do so from within a Cygwin environment:
export PATH="/c/MinGW/bin:${PATH}"
configure --build=i686-pc-cygwin \
--host=mingw32 \
NM=/c/MinGW/bin/nm.exe
In this way, the build system "knows" that you are cross compiling,
and the file name conversion logic will be used. However, because the
tools (`mingw32-gcc', `nm', `ar') used are actually native Windows
applications, they will not understand any Cygwin (that is, Unix-like)
absolute file names passed as command line arguments (and, unlike MSYS,
Cygwin does not automatically convert such arguments). However, so
long as only relative file names are used in the build system, and
non-Windows-supported Unix idioms such as symlinks and mount points are
avoided, this scenario should work.
If you must use absolute file names, you will have to force Libtool
to convert file names for the toolchain in this case, by doing the
following before you run configure:
export lt_cv_to_tool_file_cmd=func_convert_file_cygwin_to_w32
In the _lying_ Cygwin to MinGW cross compile case, you lie to the
build system:
export PATH="/c/MinGW/bin:${PATH}"
configure --build=i686-pc-mingw32 \
--host=i686-pc-mingw32 \
--disable-dependency-tracking
and claim that the build platform is MinGW, even though you are actually
running under _Cygwin_ and not MinGW. In this case, libtool does _not_
know that you are performing a cross compile, and thinks instead that
you are performing a native MinGW build. However, as described in
(*note Native MinGW File Name Conversion::), that scenario triggers an
"MSYS to Windows" file name conversion. This, of course, is the wrong
conversion since we are actually running under Cygwin. Also, the
toolchain is expecting Windows file names (not Cygwin) but unless told
so Libtool will feed Cygwin file names to the toolchain in this case.
To force the correct file name conversions in this situation, you
should do the following _before_ running configure:
export lt_cv_to_host_file_cmd=func_convert_file_cygwin_to_w32
export lt_cv_to_tool_file_cmd=func_convert_file_cygwin_to_w32
Note that this relies on internal implementation details of libtool,
and is subject to change. Also, `--disable-dependency-tracking' is
required, because otherwise the MinGW GCC will generate dependency
files that contain Windows file names. This, in turn, will confuse the
Cygwin `make' program, which does not accept Windows file names:
Makefile:1: *** target pattern contains no `%'. Stop.
There have also always been a number of other details required for
the _lying_ case to operate correctly, such as the use of so-called
"identity mounts":
# CYGWIN-ROOT/etc/fstab
D:/foo /foo some_fs binary 0 0
D:/bar /bar some_fs binary 0 0
E:/grill /grill some_fs binary 0 0
In this way, top-level directories of each drive are available using
identical names within Cygwin.
Note that you also need to ensure that the standard Unix directories
(like `/bin', `/lib', `/usr', `/etc') appear in the root of a drive.
This means that you must install Cygwin itself into the `C:/' root
directory (or `D:/', or `E:/', etc)--instead of the recommended
installation into `C:/cygwin/'. In addition, all file names used in
the build system must be relative, symlinks should not be used within
the source or build directory trees, and all `-M*' options to `gcc'
except `-MMD' must be avoided.
This is quite a fragile setup, but it has been in historical use,
and so is documented here.

File: libtool.info, Node: Windows DLLs, Prev: File name conversion, Up: Platform quirks
15.3.8 Windows DLLs
-------------------
This topic describes a couple of ways to portably create Windows Dynamic
Link Libraries (DLLs). Libtool knows how to create DLLs using GNU tools
and using Microsoft tools.
A typical library has a "hidden" implementation with an interface
described in a header file. On just about every system, the interface
could be something like this:
Example `foo.h':
#ifndef FOO_H
#define FOO_H
int one (void);
int two (void);
extern int three;
#endif /* FOO_H */
And the implementation could be something like this:
Example `foo.c':
#include "foo.h"
int one (void)
{
return 1;
}
int two (void)
{
return three - one ();
}
int three = 3;
When using contemporary GNU tools to create the Windows DLL, the
above code will work there too, thanks to its auto-import/auto-export
features. But that is not the case when using older GNU tools or
perhaps more interestingly when using proprietary tools. In those
cases the code will need additional decorations on the interface
symbols with `__declspec(dllimport)' and `__declspec(dllexport)'
depending on whether the library is built or it's consumed and how it's
built and consumed. However, it should be noted that it would have
worked also with Microsoft tools, if only the variable `three' hadn't
been there, due to the fact the Microsoft tools will automatically
import functions (but sadly not variables) and Libtool will
automatically export non-static symbols as described next.
With Microsoft tools, Libtool digs through the object files that
make up the library, looking for non-static symbols to automatically
export. I.e., Libtool with Microsoft tools tries to mimic the
auto-export feature of contemporary GNU tools. It should be noted that
the GNU auto-export feature is turned off when an explicit
`__declspec(dllexport)' is seen. The GNU tools do this to not make
more symbols visible for projects that have already taken the trouble
to decorate symbols. There is no similar way to limit which symbols
are visible in the code when Libtool is using Microsoft tools. In
order to limit symbol visibility in that case you need to use one of
the options `-export-symbols' or `-export-symbols-regex'.
No matching help with auto-import is provided by Libtool, which is
why variables must be decorated to import them from a DLL for
everything but contemporary GNU tools. As stated above, functions are
automatically imported by both contemporary GNU tools and Microsoft
tools, but for other proprietary tools the auto-import status of
functions is unknown.
When the objects that form the library are built, there are generally
two copies built for each object. One copy is used when linking the DLL
and one copy is used for the static library. On Windows systems, a pair
of defines are commonly used to discriminate how the interface symbols
should be decorated. The first define is `-DDLL_EXPORT' which is
automatically provided by Libtool when `libtool' builds the copy of the
object that is destined for the DLL. The second define is
`-DLIBFOO_BUILD' (or similar) which is often added by the package
providing the library and is used when building the library, but not
when consuming the library.
However, the matching double compile is not performed when consuming
libraries. It is therefore not possible to reliably distinguish if the
consumer is importing from a DLL or if it is going to use a static
library.
With contemporary GNU tools, auto-import often saves the day, but see
the GNU ld documentation and its `--enable-auto-import' option for some
corner cases when it does not (*note `--enable-auto-import':
(ld)Options.).
With Microsoft tools you typically get away with always compiling the
code such that variables are expected to be imported from a DLL and
functions are expected to be found in a static library. The tools will
then automatically import the function from a DLL if that is where they
are found. If the variables are not imported from a DLL as expected,
but are found in a static library that is otherwise pulled in by some
function, the linker will issue a warning (LNK4217) that a locally
defined symbol is imported, but it still works. In other words, this
scheme will not work to only consume variables from a library. There is
also a price connected to this liberal use of imports in that an extra
indirection is introduced when you are consuming the static version of
the library. That extra indirection is unavoidable when the DLL is
consumed, but it is not needed when consuming the static library.
For older GNU tools and other proprietary tools there is no generic
way to make it possible to consume either of the DLL or the static
library without user intervention, the tools need to be told what is
intended. One common assumption is that if a DLL is being built
(`DLL_EXPORT' is defined) then that DLL is going to consume any
dependent libraries as DLLs. If that assumption is made everywhere, it
is possible to select how an end-user application is consuming
libraries by adding a single flag `-DDLL_EXPORT' when a DLL build is
required. This is of course an all or nothing deal, either everything
as DLLs or everything as static libraries.
To sum up the above, the header file of the foo library needs to be
changed into something like this:
Modified `foo.h':
#ifndef FOO_H
#define FOO_H
#if defined _WIN32 && !defined __GNUC__
# ifdef LIBFOO_BUILD
# ifdef DLL_EXPORT
# define LIBFOO_SCOPE __declspec (dllexport)
# define LIBFOO_SCOPE_VAR extern __declspec (dllexport)
# endif
# elif defined _MSC_VER
# define LIBFOO_SCOPE
# define LIBFOO_SCOPE_VAR extern __declspec (dllimport)
# elif defined DLL_EXPORT
# define LIBFOO_SCOPE __declspec (dllimport)
# define LIBFOO_SCOPE_VAR extern __declspec (dllimport)
# endif
#endif
#ifndef LIBFOO_SCOPE
# define LIBFOO_SCOPE
# define LIBFOO_SCOPE_VAR extern
#endif
LIBFOO_SCOPE int one (void);
LIBFOO_SCOPE int two (void);
LIBFOO_SCOPE_VAR int three;
#endif /* FOO_H */
When the targets are limited to contemporary GNU tools and Microsoft
tools, the above can be simplified to the following:
Simplified `foo.h':
#ifndef FOO_H
#define FOO_H
#if defined _WIN32 && !defined __GNUC__ && !defined LIBFOO_BUILD
# define LIBFOO_SCOPE_VAR extern __declspec (dllimport)
#else
# define LIBFOO_SCOPE_VAR extern
#endif
int one (void);
int two (void);
LIBFOO_SCOPE_VAR int three;
#endif /* FOO_H */
This last simplified version can of course only work when Libtool is
used to build the DLL, as no symbols would be exported otherwise (i.e.,
when using Microsoft tools).
It should be noted that there are various projects that attempt to
relax these requirements by various low level tricks, but they are not
discussed here. Examples are FlexDLL
(http://alain.frisch.fr/flexdll.html) and edll
(http://edll.sourceforge.net/).

File: libtool.info, Node: libtool script contents, Next: Cheap tricks, Prev: Platform quirks, Up: Maintaining
15.4 `libtool' script contents
==============================
Since version 1.4, the `libtool' script is generated by `configure'
(*note Configuring::). In earlier versions, `configure' achieved this
by calling a helper script called `ltconfig'. From libtool version 0.7
to 1.0, this script simply set shell variables, then sourced the
libtool backend, `ltmain.sh'. `ltconfig' from libtool version 1.1
through 1.3 inlined the contents of `ltmain.sh' into the generated
`libtool', which improved performance on many systems. The tests that
`ltconfig' used to perform are now kept in `libtool.m4' where they can
be written using Autoconf. This has the runtime performance benefits
of inlined `ltmain.sh', _and_ improves the build time a little while
considerably easing the amount of raw shell code that used to need
maintaining.
The convention used for naming variables that hold shell commands for
delayed evaluation, is to use the suffix `_cmd' where a single line of
valid shell script is needed, and the suffix `_cmds' where multiple
lines of shell script *may* be delayed for later evaluation. By
convention, `_cmds' variables delimit the evaluation units with the `~'
character where necessary.
Here is a listing of each of the configuration variables, and how
they are used within `ltmain.sh' (*note Configuring::):
-- Variable: AR
The name of the system library archiver.
-- Variable: CC
The name of the compiler used to configure libtool. This will
always contain the compiler for the current language (*note
Tags::).
-- Variable: ECHO
An `echo' program that does not interpret backslashes as an escape
character. It may be given only one argument, so due quoting is
necessary.
-- Variable: LD
The name of the linker that libtool should use internally for
reloadable linking and possibly shared libraries.
-- Variable: LTCC
-- Variable: LTCFLAGS
The name of the C compiler and C compiler flags used to configure
libtool.
-- Variable: NM
The name of a BSD- or MS-compatible program that produces listings
of global symbols. For BSD `nm', the symbols should be in one the
following formats:
ADDRESS C GLOBAL-VARIABLE-NAME
ADDRESS D GLOBAL-VARIABLE-NAME
ADDRESS T GLOBAL-FUNCTION-NAME
For MS `dumpbin', the symbols should be in one of the following
formats:
COUNTER SIZE UNDEF notype External | GLOBAL-VAR
COUNTER ADDRESS SECTION notype External | GLOBAL-VAR
COUNTER ADDRESS SECTION notype () External | GLOBAL-FUNC
The SIZE of the global variables are not zero and the SECTION of
the global functions are not "UNDEF". Symbols in "pick any"
sections ("pick any" appears in the section header) are not global
either.
-- Variable: RANLIB
Set to the name of the `ranlib' program, if any.
-- Variable: allow_undefined_flag
The flag that is used by `archive_cmds' in order to declare that
there will be unresolved symbols in the resulting shared library.
Empty, if no such flag is required. Set to `unsupported' if there
is no way to generate a shared library with references to symbols
that aren't defined in that library.
-- Variable: always_export_symbols
Whether libtool should automatically generate a list of exported
symbols using `export_symbols_cmds' before linking an archive.
Set to `yes' or `no'. Default is `no'.
-- Variable: archive_cmds
-- Variable: archive_expsym_cmds
-- Variable: old_archive_cmds
Commands used to create shared libraries, shared libraries with
`-export-symbols' and static libraries, respectively.
-- Variable: archiver_list_spec
Specify filename containing input files for `AR'.
-- Variable: old_archive_from_new_cmds
If the shared library depends on a static library,
`old_archive_from_new_cmds' contains the commands used to create
that static library. If this variable is not empty,
`old_archive_cmds' is not used.
-- Variable: old_archive_from_expsyms_cmds
If a static library must be created from the export symbol list in
order to correctly link with a shared library,
`old_archive_from_expsyms_cmds' contains the commands needed to
create that static library. When these commands are executed, the
variable `soname' contains the name of the shared library in
question, and the `$objdir/$newlib' contains the path of the
static library these commands should build. After executing these
commands, libtool will proceed to link against `$objdir/$newlib'
instead of `soname'.
-- Variable: lock_old_archive_extraction
Set to `yes' if the extraction of a static library requires locking
the library file. This is required on Darwin.
-- Variable: build
-- Variable: build_alias
-- Variable: build_os
Set to the specified and canonical names of the system that
libtool was built on.
-- Variable: build_libtool_libs
Whether libtool should build shared libraries on this system. Set
to `yes' or `no'.
-- Variable: build_old_libs
Whether libtool should build static libraries on this system. Set
to `yes' or `no'.
-- Variable: compiler_c_o
Whether the compiler supports the `-c' and `-o' options
simultaneously. Set to `yes' or `no'.
-- Variable: compiler_needs_object
Whether the compiler has to see an object listed on the command
line in order to successfully invoke the linker. If `no', then a
set of convenience archives or a set of object file names can be
passed via linker-specific options or linker scripts.
-- Variable: dlopen_support
Whether `dlopen' is supported on the platform. Set to `yes' or
`no'.
-- Variable: dlopen_self
Whether it is possible to `dlopen' the executable itself. Set to
`yes' or `no'.
-- Variable: dlopen_self_static
Whether it is possible to `dlopen' the executable itself, when it
is linked statically (`-all-static'). Set to `yes' or `no'.
-- Variable: exclude_expsyms
List of symbols that should not be listed in the preloaded symbols.
-- Variable: export_dynamic_flag_spec
Compiler link flag that allows a dlopened shared library to
reference symbols that are defined in the program.
-- Variable: export_symbols_cmds
Commands to extract exported symbols from `libobjs' to the file
`export_symbols'.
-- Variable: extract_expsyms_cmds
Commands to extract the exported symbols list from a shared
library. These commands are executed if there is no file
`$objdir/$soname-def', and should write the names of the exported
symbols to that file, for the use of
`old_archive_from_expsyms_cmds'.
-- Variable: fast_install
Determines whether libtool will privilege the installer or the
developer. The assumption is that installers will seldom run
programs in the build tree, and the developer will seldom install.
This is only meaningful on platforms where
`shlibpath_overrides_runpath' is not `yes', so `fast_install' will
be set to `needless' in this case. If `fast_install' set to
`yes', libtool will create programs that search for installed
libraries, and, if a program is run in the build tree, a new copy
will be linked on-demand to use the yet-to-be-installed libraries.
If set to `no', libtool will create programs that use the
yet-to-be-installed libraries, and will link a new copy of the
program at install time. The default value is `yes' or
`needless', depending on platform and configuration flags, and it
can be turned from `yes' to `no' with the configure flag
`--disable-fast-install'.
On some systems, the linker always hardcodes paths to dependent
libraries into the output. In this case, `fast_install' is never
set to `yes', and relinking at install time is triggered. This
also means that `DESTDIR' installation does not work as expected.
-- Variable: file_magic_glob
How to find potential files when `deplibs_check_method' is
`file_magic'. `file_magic_glob' is a `sed' expression, and the
`sed' instance is fed potential file names that are transformed by
the `file_magic_glob' expression. Useful when the shell does not
support the shell option `nocaseglob', making `want_nocaseglob'
inappropriate. Normally disabled (i.e. `file_magic_glob' is
empty).
-- Variable: finish_cmds
Commands to tell the dynamic linker how to find shared libraries
in a specific directory.
-- Variable: finish_eval
Same as `finish_cmds', except the commands are not displayed.
-- Variable: global_symbol_pipe
A pipeline that takes the output of `NM', and produces a listing of
raw symbols followed by their C names. For example:
$ eval "$NM progname | $global_symbol_pipe"
D SYMBOL1 C-SYMBOL1
T SYMBOL2 C-SYMBOL2
C SYMBOL3 C-SYMBOL3
...
$
The first column contains the symbol type (used to tell data from
code) but its meaning is system dependent.
-- Variable: global_symbol_to_cdecl
A pipeline that translates the output of `global_symbol_pipe' into
proper C declarations. Since some platforms, such as HP/UX, have
linkers that differentiate code from data, data symbols are
declared as data, and code symbols are declared as functions.
-- Variable: hardcode_action
Either `immediate' or `relink', depending on whether shared
library paths can be hardcoded into executables before they are
installed, or if they need to be relinked.
-- Variable: hardcode_direct
Set to `yes' or `no', depending on whether the linker hardcodes
directories if a library is directly specified on the command line
(such as `DIR/libNAME.a') when `hardcode_libdir_flag_spec' is
specified.
-- Variable: hardcode_direct_absolute
Some architectures hardcode "absolute" library directories that
can not be overridden by `shlibpath_var' when `hardcode_direct' is
`yes'. In that case set `hardcode_direct_absolute' to `yes', or
otherwise `no'.
-- Variable: hardcode_into_libs
Whether the platform supports hardcoding of run-paths into
libraries. If enabled, linking of programs will be much simpler
but libraries will need to be relinked during installation. Set
to `yes' or `no'.
-- Variable: hardcode_libdir_flag_spec
Flag to hardcode a `libdir' variable into a binary, so that the
dynamic linker searches `libdir' for shared libraries at runtime.
If it is empty, libtool will try to use some other hardcoding
mechanism.
-- Variable: hardcode_libdir_separator
If the compiler only accepts a single `hardcode_libdir_flag', then
this variable contains the string that should separate multiple
arguments to that flag.
-- Variable: hardcode_minus_L
Set to `yes' or `no', depending on whether the linker hardcodes
directories specified by `-L' flags into the resulting executable
when `hardcode_libdir_flag_spec' is specified.
-- Variable: hardcode_shlibpath_var
Set to `yes' or `no', depending on whether the linker hardcodes
directories by writing the contents of `$shlibpath_var' into the
resulting executable when `hardcode_libdir_flag_spec' is
specified. Set to `unsupported' if directories specified by
`$shlibpath_var' are searched at run time, but not at link time.
-- Variable: host
-- Variable: host_alias
-- Variable: host_os
Set to the specified and canonical names of the system that
libtool was configured for.
-- Variable: include_expsyms
List of symbols that must always be exported when using
`export_symbols'.
-- Variable: inherit_rpath
Whether the linker adds runtime paths of dependency libraries to
the runtime path list, requiring libtool to relink the output when
installing. Set to `yes' or `no'. Default is `no'.
-- Variable: install_override_mode
Permission mode override for installation of shared libraries. If
the runtime linker fails to load libraries with wrong permissions,
then it may fail to execute programs that are needed during
installation, because these need the library that has just been
installed. In this case, it is necessary to pass the mode to
`install' with `-m INSTALL_OVERRIDE_MODE'.
-- Variable: libext
The standard old archive suffix (normally `a').
-- Variable: libname_spec
The format of a library name prefix. On all Unix systems, static
libraries are called `libNAME.a', but on some systems (such as
OS/2 or MS-DOS), the library is just called `NAME.a'.
-- Variable: library_names_spec
A list of shared library names. The first is the name of the file,
the rest are symbolic links to the file. The name in the list is
the file name that the linker finds when given `-lNAME'.
-- Variable: link_all_deplibs
Whether libtool must link a program against all its dependency
libraries. Set to `yes' or `no'. Default is `unknown', which is
a synonym for `yes'.
-- Variable: link_static_flag
Linker flag (passed through the C compiler) used to prevent dynamic
linking.
-- Variable: macro_version
-- Variable: macro_revision
The release and revision from which the libtool.m4 macros were
taken. This is used to ensure that macros and `ltmain.sh'
correspond to the same Libtool version.
-- Variable: max_cmd_len
The approximate longest command line that can be passed to `$SHELL'
without being truncated, as computed by `LT_CMD_MAX_LEN'.
-- Variable: need_lib_prefix
Whether we can `dlopen' modules without a `lib' prefix. Set to
`yes' or `no'. By default, it is `unknown', which means the same
as `yes', but documents that we are not really sure about it.
`no' means that it is possible to `dlopen' a module without the
`lib' prefix.
-- Variable: need_version
Whether versioning is required for libraries, i.e. whether the
dynamic linker requires a version suffix for all libraries. Set
to `yes' or `no'. By default, it is `unknown', which means the
same as `yes', but documents that we are not really sure about it.
-- Variable: need_locks
Whether files must be locked to prevent conflicts when compiling
simultaneously. Set to `yes' or `no'.
-- Variable: nm_file_list_spec
Specify filename containing input files for `NM'.
-- Variable: no_builtin_flag
Compiler flag to disable builtin functions that conflict with
declaring external global symbols as `char'.
-- Variable: no_undefined_flag
The flag that is used by `archive_cmds' in order to declare that
there will be no unresolved symbols in the resulting shared
library. Empty, if no such flag is required.
-- Variable: objdir
The name of the directory that contains temporary libtool files.
-- Variable: objext
The standard object file suffix (normally `o').
-- Variable: pic_flag
Any additional compiler flags for building library object files.
-- Variable: postinstall_cmds
-- Variable: old_postinstall_cmds
Commands run after installing a shared or static library,
respectively.
-- Variable: postuninstall_cmds
-- Variable: old_postuninstall_cmds
Commands run after uninstalling a shared or static library,
respectively.
-- Variable: postlink_cmds
Commands necessary for finishing linking programs. `postlink_cmds'
are executed immediately after the program is linked. Any
occurrence of the string `@OUTPUT@' in `postlink_cmds' is replaced
by the name of the created executable (i.e. not the wrapper, if a
wrapper is generated) prior to execution. Similarly,
`@TOOL_OUTPUT@' is replaced by the toolchain format of `@OUTPUT@'.
Normally disabled (i.e. `postlink_cmds' empty).
-- Variable: reload_cmds
-- Variable: reload_flag
Commands to create a reloadable object. Set `reload_cmds' to
`false' on systems that cannot create reloadable objects.
-- Variable: runpath_var
The environment variable that tells the linker which directories to
hardcode in the resulting executable.
-- Variable: shlibpath_overrides_runpath
Indicates whether it is possible to override the hard-coded library
search path of a program with an environment variable. If this is
set to no, libtool may have to create two copies of a program in
the build tree, one to be installed and one to be run in the build
tree only. When each of these copies is created depends on the
value of `fast_install'. The default value is `unknown', which is
equivalent to `no'.
-- Variable: shlibpath_var
The environment variable that tells the dynamic linker where to
find shared libraries.
-- Variable: soname_spec
The name coded into shared libraries, if different from the real
name of the file.
-- Variable: striplib
-- Variable: old_striplib
Command to strip a shared (`striplib') or static (`old_striplib')
library, respectively. If these variables are empty, the strip
flag in the install mode will be ignored for libraries (*note
Install mode::).
-- Variable: sys_lib_dlsearch_path_spec
Expression to get the run-time system library search path.
Directories that appear in this list are never hard-coded into
executables.
-- Variable: sys_lib_search_path_spec
Expression to get the compile-time system library search path.
This variable is used by libtool when it has to test whether a
certain library is shared or static. The directories listed in
`shlibpath_var' are automatically appended to this list, every time
libtool runs (i.e., not at configuration time), because some
linkers use this variable to extend the library search path.
Linker switches such as `-L' also augment the search path.
-- Variable: thread_safe_flag_spec
Linker flag (passed through the C compiler) used to generate
thread-safe libraries.
-- Variable: to_host_file_cmd
If the toolchain is not native to the build platform (e.g. if you
are using MSYS to drive the scripting, but are using the MinGW
native Windows compiler) this variable describes how to convert
file names from the format used by the build platform to the
format used by host platform. Normally set to
`func_convert_file_noop', libtool will autodetect most cases in
which other values should be used. On rare occasions, it may be
necessary to override the autodetected value (*note Cygwin to
MinGW Cross::).
-- Variable: to_tool_file_cmd
If the toolchain is not native to the build platform (e.g. if you
are using some Unix to drive the scripting together with a Windows
toolchain running in Wine) this variable describes how to convert
file names from the format used by the build platform to the
format used by the toolchain. Normally set to
`func_convert_file_noop'.
-- Variable: version_type
The library version numbering type. One of `libtool',
`freebsd-aout', `freebsd-elf', `irix', `linux', `osf', `sunos',
`windows', or `none'.
-- Variable: want_nocaseglob
Find potential files using the shell option `nocaseglob', when
`deplibs_check_method' is `file_magic'. Normally set to `no'. Set
to `yes' to enable the `nocaseglob' shell option when looking for
potential file names in a case-insensitive manner.
-- Variable: whole_archive_flag_spec
Compiler flag to generate shared objects from convenience archives.
-- Variable: wl
The C compiler flag that allows libtool to pass a flag directly to
the linker. Used as: `${wl}SOME-FLAG'.
Variables ending in `_cmds' or `_eval' contain a `~'-separated list
of commands that are `eval'ed one after another. If any of the
commands return a nonzero exit status, libtool generally exits with an
error message.
Variables ending in `_spec' are `eval'ed before being used by
libtool.

File: libtool.info, Node: Cheap tricks, Prev: libtool script contents, Up: Maintaining
15.5 Cheap tricks
=================
Here are a few tricks that you can use in order to make maintainership
easier:
* When people report bugs, ask them to use the `--config',
`--debug', or `--features' flags, if you think they will help you.
These flags are there to help you get information directly, rather
than having to trust second-hand observation.
* Rather than reconfiguring libtool every time I make a change to
`ltmain.in', I keep a permanent `libtool' script in my `PATH',
which sources `ltmain.in' directly.
The following steps describe how to create such a script, where
`/home/src/libtool' is the directory containing the libtool source
tree, `/home/src/libtool/libtool' is a libtool script that has been
configured for your platform, and `~/bin' is a directory in your
`PATH':
trick$ cd ~/bin
trick$ sed 's%^\(macro_version=\).*$%\1@VERSION@%;
s%^\(macro_revision=\).*$%\1@package_revision@%;
/^# ltmain\.sh/q' /home/src/libtool/libtool > libtool
trick$ echo '. /home/src/libtool/ltmain.in' >> libtool
trick$ chmod +x libtool
trick$ libtool --version
ltmain.sh (GNU @PACKAGE@@TIMESTAMP@) @VERSION@
Copyright (C) 2011 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO
warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
trick$
The output of the final `libtool --version' command shows that the
`ltmain.in' script is being used directly. Now, modify `~/bin/libtool'
or `/home/src/libtool/ltmain.in' directly in order to test new changes
without having to rerun `configure'.