Re: removal of .la files from Debian and a possible solution to the libtool shared libs problem

[Ralf Wildenhues]

Hello,

* Bob Friesenhahn wrote on Tue, Aug 25, 2009 at 05:17:49PM CEST:
> On Tue, 25 Aug 2009, Anssi Hannula wrote:
> >
> >I think the proper way to solve this is to not link to dependency_libs
> >when linking dynamically on systems where it is not needed to link to
> >those. I haven't seen any correctly working patches that implement this.
> 
> Relying on the OS's implicit dependency features seems to be an
> approach which is fraught with peril.

With GNU/Linux, and libraries all being in directories searched by
default by both the link editor and the runtime linker, the problems
are fairly limited.  IIRC Debian requires that you link directly against
all libraries that you require directly.

The problems start as soon as you link (directly or indirectly) against
libraries in directories not searched by default.  IOW: typically
anything not provided by a properly packaged Debian package, installed
by the user or the system maintainer.

Cheers,
Ralf