Programming

-lxxx means search for libxxx.a if static and libxxx.so if dynamic. It is just shorthand for the library name. traditionally, never a space.

Actually, I downloaded libcrypto.a and then wrote:

g++ -o MyProg -lxxx -lyyy -lzzz -Bstatic -lcrypto

yet when I went to run it on another box, it still complained that it couldn't find libcrypto.so.8. How can this be?

Don't think -Bstatic works quite right in gcc, it's just a compatibility option borrowed from the flags of some esoteric compiler.

You don't need to link in a .a as a library, you can use it just like an object file. (that's what an .a is, essentially -- except it can have more than one .o in it)

Code:

gcc myprogram.c /usr/lib/libcrypto.a -o myprogram

It will dynamically link the C runtimes and such dynamically but pull static functions from libcrypto.a as needed, just like it would another .c or .o file.

If you don't have libcrypto.a, you may need to install openssl-dev or whatever your distro hides it under.

You might need -L to find it, too -- no find but dynamic found = dynamic. Hide the dynamic one.

If -Bstatic does not work, grep down the man page for static.

These are really ld options, I believe. Linker ld, language independent, checks out the .o from .a to go with your .o and makes the executable.

Thanks, guys. I think I'll try to treat libcrypto.a as though it were one of my object files. I hope that something works soon, because otherwise, I'll have to find the libcrypto source and include it in my product. My company needs my work to go out the door soon. Again, thanks.

That's all that's in an .a file -- several .o files.

Here is the result:

g++ -o Encode Encode06.o libcrypto.a

libcrypto.a(fips.o): In function `FIPSCHECK_verify':
(.text+0xafb): undefined reference to `dlopen'
libcrypto.a(fips.o): In function `FIPSCHECK_verify':
(.text+0xb0f): undefined reference to `dlsym'
libcrypto.a(fips.o): In function `FIPSCHECK_verify':
(.text+0xb25): undefined reference to `dladdr'
libcrypto.a(fips.o): In function `FIPSCHECK_verify':
(.text+0xb31): undefined reference to `dlclose'
libcrypto.a(fips.o): In function `FIPSCHECK_verify':
(.text+0xb83): undefined reference to `dlclose'
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status