Build Shared Library

http://www.yolinux.com/TUTORIALS/LibraryArchives-StaticAndDynamic.html

 

How to generate a shared object: (Dynamically linked object library file.) Note that this is a two step process.

1. Create object code
2. Create library
3. Optional: create default version using a symbolic link.

Library creation example:

    gcc -Wall -fPIC -c *.c

    gcc -shared -Wl,-soname,libctest.so.1 -o libctest.so.1.0   *.o

    mv libctest.so.1.0 /opt/lib

    ln -sf /opt/lib/libctest.so.1.0 /opt/lib/libctest.so

    ln -sf /opt/lib/libctest.so.1.0 /opt/lib/libctest.so.1

          

This creates the library libctest.so.1.0 and symbolic links to it.

Compiler options:

• -Wall : include warnings. See man page for warnings specified.
• -fPIC : Compiler directive to output position independent code, a characteristic required by shared libraries. Also see "-fpic".
• -shared : Produce a shared object which can then be linked with other objects to form an executable.
• -W1 : Pass options to linker.
  In this example the options to be passed on to the linker are: "-soname libctest.so.1 ". The name passed with the "-o" option is passed to gcc .
• Option -o : Output of operation. In this case the name of the shared object to be output will be "libctest.so.1.0 "

Library Links:

• The link to /opt/lib/libctest.so allows the naming convention for the compile flag -lctest to work.
• The link to /opt/lib/libctest.so.1 allows the run time binding to work. See dependency below.

Compile main program and link with shared object library:

Compiling for runtime linking with a dynamically linked libctest.so.1.0 :

    gcc -Wall -I/path/to/include-files
 -L/path/to/libraries
 prog.c -lctest -o prog

Use:

    gcc -Wall -L/opt/lib prog.c -lctest -o prog

      

Where the name of the library is libctest.so . (This is why you must create the symbolic links or you will get the error "/usr/bin/ld: cannot find -lctest".)
The libraries will NOT be included in the executable but will be dynamically linked during runtime execution.

List Dependencies:

The shared library dependencies of the executable can be listed with the command: ldd name-of-executable

 

Example: ldd prog

        libctest.so.1 => /opt/lib/libctest.so.1 (0x00002aaaaaaac000)

        libc.so.6 => /lib64/tls/libc.so.6 (0x0000003aa4e00000)

        /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x0000003aa4c00000)

    

Run Program:

• Set path: export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
• Run: prog