Re: Forcing the linking language

[Norman Gray]

Ralf,

On 2004 Oct 18 , at 13.17, Ralf Wildenhues wrote:

> * Norman Gray wrote on Fri, Oct 15, 2004 at 11:19:21PM CEST:
> > I'm assembling a (shared) library using convenience libraries:
> >
> > lib_LTLIBRARIES = libfoo.la
> > libfoo_la_SOURCES =
> > libfoo_la_LIBADD = stuff/libconvenience.la
>
> Well.  Imagine the following: Your libconvenience.la is not built by
> you, it's rather the implementation of a published interface, so in
> general you cannot know which language it actually consists of.

Thanks for your remarks, here.

I see the point you're making, but would think that if the convenience 
library in question were not under my control in the way you suggest, 
then building it as a convenience library is probably a rather poor 
idea anyway.  But this is arguable.

I'd only want to do this in a situation where I know that I know 
important information about the objects and libraries in question, that 
automake couldn't be expected to find out for itself.

> But then again, I'd suggest you drop your convenience library and
> use subdir-objects (with a recent Automake).  Problem solved (apart
> from any subdir-object related Libtool bugs).

Ah, I hadn't thought of that.  I've been vaguely aware of the 
subdir-objects work, without yet examining it in detail.

> > I've managed to get this to work by setting
> >
> > libfoo_la_SOURCES = dummy.f
> >
> > where dummy.f is a trivial Fortran routine.  That tells automake that
> > Fortran is involved somewhere, and it consequently does The Right
> > Thing.  But this seems like a bit of a hack.
>
> I think that is by far the easiest way to achieve what you want.

That's reassuring.  Reassuring, apart from anything else, that there 
isn't some terrible bear-trap I hadn't thought about.

I vaguely wondered if there was/could be something like

libfoo_la_LINKLANGUAGE = fc

(or the $languages{} key of your choice).  Naw, that's asking for 
trouble, I'm sure, and is tantamount to exposing automake internals....

All the best,

Norman


--
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Norman Gray  :  Physics & Astronomy, Glasgow University, UK
http://www.astro.gla.ac.uk/users/norman/  :  www.starlink.ac.uk