Re: RFC: Building a Shared Library (take 2)

[Tim Van Holder]

> >  Norman> Also, note that if you include the declarations 
> for building a shared
> >  Norman> library, automake will automatically build the 
> corresponding static
> >  Norman> library [this is true, isn't it?]  
> > 
> > Honestly I don't know.  Perhaps it's true, I guess it is, but
> > even tho I wouldn't assume that if libfoo.la exists then
> > libfoo.a exists.  Since I've requested libfoo.la, I shall only
> > use libfoo.la.  Static linking against libfoo.la can be forced
> > using libtool's -static or -all-static options.
> 
> It's certainly true with automake 1.7.5 -- I currently depend on it.

Well yes and no - AFAIK, it's _libtool_ that always builds static
libraries - automake really has no control over it.

> It seems a Good Thing, however, because if you're building shared
> libraries, you very likely want to build the corresponding static
> libraries also, and even if you don't for some reason, there's no real
> harm in getting them (though it should be configurable, of course).

It currently isn't; --enable-shared --disable-static still builds
static libraries.  There's a thread on the libtool mailing list about
this; seems some people want this behaviour changed.