Alexandre, greetings,
On Wednesday, July 30, 2003, at 06:40 PM, Alexandre Duret-Lutz wrote:
Here is a second version of this section, so that we have
This looks great -- it's very clear indeed. As an ignorant user, I'm much more confident that I know what's going on. I have a few comments.
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Libtool abstracts shared and static libraries into a unified concept henceforth called "libtool libraries". Libtool libraries are files using the `.la' suffix, and can designate a static library, a shared [...] the `.lo' suffix. Libtool libraries are built from these libtool objects.
[I would add, here:]
You don't need to know anything about the structure of `.la' or `.lo' files (and they are subject to change), but it is these files that libtool and automake use to coordinate the dependencies in a package, and it is these which you should use to express those dependencies. In other words, the existence of the libtool libraries and objects is part of the automake API; the content is not.
[Incidentally, pace Guido, I agree with Alexandre that giving any detail about the .libs directory is probably undesirable, other than perhaps saying `no user-servicable parts inside'. The typical users of automake are likely to be the sort of folk who aren't shy of looking at the source to work out what's possible; thus this manual is possibly unusual in being heavily concerned with what users should _not_ hack at, if they want their makefiles to survive the next automake upgrade. Less of a manual, more a style-guide, perhaps?]
[...]
Also, note that if you include the declarations for building a shared library, automake will automatically build the corresponding static library [this is true, isn't it?] Thus you do _not_ need to include and configure (and keep in sync!) both sets of rules.
The important implementation detail you have to bwe aware of is that
[typo: `be aware']
For libraries whose destination directory is known when Automake runs, Automake will automatically supply the appropriate `-rpath' option to libtool. This is the case for libraries listed explicitly in some `DIR_LTLIBRARIES' variable.
[I'm not sure exactly what this means (I'm valuably ignorant about automake, remember!). How about:]
...in some `_LTLIBRARIES' variable, such as `lib_LTLIBRARIES'.
[...if that's correct]
Libtool Libraries with Conditional Sources ------------------------------------------
Conditional compilation of sources in a library can be achieved in the same way as conditional compilation of sources in a program (*note Conditional Sources::). The only difference is that `_LIBADD' should be used instead of `_LDADD' and that it should mention libtool objects (`.lo' files).
[This was the thing that was terribly unclear to me before]
Nowadays, the computation of `LTLIBOBJS' for `LIBOBJS' is performed automatically by Autoconf (*note `AC_LIBOBJ' vs. `LIBOBJS': (autoconf)AC_LIBOBJ vs LIBOBJS.).
[?add]
Recall that you will typically not assign to either `LIBOBJS' or `LTLIBOBJS', either in `automake' or `configure'; your only contact with it is to declare which library depends on these missing functions. [or am I still confused, sigh?]
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I hope these are useful.
All the best,
Norman
-- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Norman Gray http://www.astro.gla.ac.uk/users/norman/ Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow [EMAIL PROTECTED]
