Re: what is -l prefix for

[Tassilo Horn]

pavan734@gmail.com writes:

Hi,

> Hello, In makefiles I have seen using like
>
>     -labc -lxyz  etc.
>
> What are they.

Have a look at the `ld' info page:

,----[ (info "(ld)Options") ]
| `-lARCHIVE'
| `--library=ARCHIVE'
|      Add archive file ARCHIVE to the list of files to link.  This
|      option may be used any number of times.  `ld' will search its
|      path-list for occurrences of `libARCHIVE.a' for every ARCHIVE
|      specified.
| 
|      On systems which support shared libraries, `ld' may also search
|      for libraries with extensions other than `.a'.  Specifically, on
|      ELF and SunOS systems, `ld' will search a directory for a library
|      with an extension of `.so' before searching for one with an
|      extension of `.a'.  By convention, a `.so' extension indicates a
|      shared library.
| 
|      The linker will search an archive only once, at the location
|      where it is specified on the command line.  If the archive
|      defines a symbol which was undefined in some object which
|      appeared before the archive on the command line, the linker will
|      include the appropriate file(s) from the archive.  However, an
|      undefined symbol in an object appearing later on the command line
|      will not cause the linker to search the archive again.
| 
|      See the `-(' option for a way to force the linker to search
|      archives multiple times.
| 
|      You may list the same archive multiple times on the command line.
| 
|      This type of archive searching is standard for Unix linkers.
|      However, if you are using `ld' on AIX, note that it is different
|      from the behaviour of the AIX linker.
`----


> Iam geeting a message like /usr/bin/ld: cannot find -labc .
>
> What file I need to include so that it compiles.

You can add the directory where `ld' should look for libabc with
-L/dir/of/libabc/.

HTH,
Tassilo
-- 
A child of five could understand this! Fetch me a child of five!