Re: ld fails to link if library order is reversed

[Nilmoni Deb]

On Mon, 7 Mar 2005, Ian Lance Taylor wrote:

> Nilmoni Deb <address@hidden> writes:
>
> > > This is correct and documented behaviour.  All Unix linkers behave
> > > this way.
> >
> > In other words, its a feature, not a bug. It seems that the ICC (intel
> > cc) on linux does not have this feature.
>
> Really?  I haven't tried it myself.
>
> > Just wondering why not looking backwards (for ld) is considered desirable.
>
> 1) It's traditional Unix behaviour, so changing it will break some
>    programs.

Any example ?

>
> 2) It is more efficient, as the linker can just walk through an
>    archive's symbol table, include all required objects, and then move
>    on.

In other words, save an average of half the time by not looking back.

>
> You may want to look at the --start-group --end-group options.

Thanks. I will.

>
> Ian
>