Re: aCC link options

[Ralf Wildenhues]

Hello David,

* David Everly wrote on Thu, Aug 03, 2006 at 09:24:29PM CEST:
> I would like to suggest the use of +k (-Wl,+k) for linking.  Without
> this, under certain ld failures, the executable is created anyway (but
> without execute permissions).  This means that the next time make
> runs, the file is present and up to date and so make thinks it can
> continue.

The opinions on this matter are certainly not unanimous.
On the one hand, there is the issue you mention that re-make thinks the
target is up-to-date, although it isn't (it exists but is result of a
failed link, and does not have execute permission).  On the other hand,
a link may take a long time, and the output file from a failed link may
give useful clues as to the problem a programmer may encounter.

IMHO there should be a way to choose here, rather than forcing the user
one way or another.  Such a choice would best not be implemented in
Libtool, as it is independent of library creation.  Not sure which of
Autoconf, Automake, or Gnulib would be the best home for a macro to
provide a portable choice, as...

> HP-UX B.11.23 U ia64 2505142627

...this is an issue not only on HP-UX, but also IRIX (and maybe others),
if I remember correctly.  For HP-UX, you should be able to get around
with
  ./configure LDFLAGS=-Wl,+k

for the time being.

Maybe a macro for Automake, defaulting to removing broken link outputs,
but leaving a choice to turn this off.  Want to give it a shot?

Cheers,
Ralf