undefined reference while linking with a shared object - linux

I'm a dumb newbie.
I've got a file named file.c with the functions my_putstr(char *) and my_strlen(char *)
my_putstr() writes the parameter with write() (unistd.h)
I wanted to create a library from file.c so I did :
gcc -fPIC -c file.c
gcc -shared -o libfile.so file.o
Then I created a main.c file and called my_putstr() from it.
I tried to compile and link my .so
gcc -L. -lfile main.c -o test
But I got an undefined reference to my_putstr()
I tried to create a .h with my_putstr() and my_strlen() in it, and include it to the main but I got the same error.
Sorry for stupid questions.
Havaniceday.

Your question suffers lack of information, but I can suggest you at first try
gcc main.c ./libfile.so -Wl,-rpath . -o test
If this will fail, you have something wrong with your sources.
If everything is ok at this point, then try
gcc main.c -L . -lfile -Wl,-rpath . -o test
If this will output undefined reference, then probably you already have something like libfile.a without my_putstr(may be from previous experiments) in your lib path.
If everything is ok with it, then your linker is sensible to order in which libraries is supplied to command string, and you must remember, then library always comes after object, that uses this library.

Related

How do I correctly link a shared object (.so file) in a makefile when cross-compiling?

I have some C++ code on an openSuse platform that I need to compile to be executed on a different linux-based target. Part of the code is a dynamic library libfoo.so. I compile everything with make and then copy the compiled executable prog together with the libfoo.so to the target. When I then run the executable, I get some errors indicating the libfoo could not be initialized. I've tried everything I could find to tell the executable where it can find the libfoo.so but I still get the error.
Could anybody tell me what I am doing wrong here? I feel like it could be an error in the Makefile.
I am very new to C++ and using Makefiles in general, and on top of it all, the target runs kind of a proprietary linux version, so I cannot provide much information about it. I do have the appropriate compiler for it though.
My directory structure on the openSuse platform:
|src
|--Foolib
|----foolib.h
|----libfoo.so
|--Otherlib
|----otherlib.h
|----otherlib.hpp
|---+OtherlibSrcDirectory
|--bar.cpp
|--bar.h
|--Makefile
Directory structure on the target:
|program
|--libfoo.so
|--prog
My Makefile:
LIBS = -LFoolib -lfoo
INC = -I OtherLib -I Foolib
CXXFLAGS += -lpthread -std=c++11 -D_GLIBCXX_USE_NANOSLEEP $(INC)
LDFLAGS = '-Wl,-rpath,$$ORIGIN'
SRC_FILES = bar.cpp
OBJ = $(SRC_FILES:%.cpp=%.o)
prog: $(OBJ)
$(CXX) $(CXXFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS) $(LIBS) -o $# $^
%.o: %.cpp
$(CXX) $(CXXFLAGS) $(LIBS) -c $<
Basically, bar.h includes Foolib/foolib.h as well as Otherlib/OtherlibSrcDirectory and bar.cpp includes bar.h. Then some functions from foolib.h are called in bar.cpp and they return error values. If necessary I can provide some more insights into the code but I'll leave it out for now to keep it a bit shorter.
Any help would be highly appreciated!
Found my mistake.
libfoo.so was already on the target machine and it was located in the correct folder (/lib). My program had been able to find it without problems.
My mistake: I executed my program on the target machine without root permissions.
Without root permissions, I am not allowed to initialize Foolib.
sudo ./prog fixed everything.

strange g++ linking behavior depending on arguments order

I was trying to compile a simple opengl program on msys using g++. To my surprise the linker was complaining on undefined references:
$ g++ -mwindows -lopengl32 glut_md2.cpp
C:\Users\...\cceQtYAy.o:glut_md2.cpp:(.text+0x67a): undefined reference to `glGenTextures#8'
C:\Users\...\cceQtYAy.o:glut_md2.cpp:(.text+0x696): undefined reference to `glBindTexture#8'
....
After googling for a while I found that the problem was in g++ arguments order:
$ g++ glut_md2.cpp -mwindows -lopengl32
--- all ok! ---
The interesting thing is that the correct argument orders in g++ is in the first example. That is:
$ g++ --help
Usage: g++.exe [options] file...
....
Am I missing something? Why moving options after the file argument makes a compilation success? I never had this issue when compiling natively on linux...
I bumped into this problem once or twice, you should put -L and -l at the end of command line. g++ doesn't link, it invokes ld and pass arguments, ld man:
The linker will search an archive only once, at the location where it
is specified on the command line. If the archive defines a symbol
which was undefined in some object which appeared before the archive
on the command line, the linker will include the appropriate file(s)
from the archive. However, an undefined symbol in an object appearing
later on the command line will not cause the linker to search the
archive again.
ld -o /lib/crt0.o hello.o -lc

What's the difference between object file and static library(archive file)?

Seems archive file can be generated from object file:
ar rvs libprofile.a profile.o
What's the difference between object file and archive file?
It seems to me that both can be used with gcc directly,e.g.:
gcc *.c profile.o or gcc *.c libprofile.a
What's the difference?
The static library is a collection of one or more object files, with an index to allow rapid searching. There are some minor differences in how the compiler deals with them. With an object file you link like this:
gcc f1.o f2.o -o myexe
with libraries you can also do that:
gcc f1.o libf2.a -o myexe
or you can use shorthand:
gcc d1.o -lf2 -L. -o myexe
Also, gcc will ALWAYS link .o files, but it will only search libraries and link from them if there are undefined names still to resolve.

How to include all objects of an archive in a shared object?

When compiling our project, we create several archives (static libraries), say liby.a and libz.a that each contains an object file defining a function y_function() and z_function(). Then, these archives are joined in a shared object, say libyz.so, that is one of our main distributable target.
g++ -fPIC -c -o y.o y.cpp
ar cr liby.a y.o
g++ -fPIC -c -o z.o z.cpp
ar cr libz.a z.o
g++ -shared -L. -ly -lz -o libyz.so
When using this shared object into the example program, say x.c, the link fails because of an undefined references to functions y_function() and z_function().
g++ x.o -L. -lyz -o xyz
It works however when I link the final executable directly with the archives (static libraries).
g++ x.o -L. -ly -lz -o xyz
My guess is that the object files contained in the archives are not linked into the shared library because they are not used in it. How to force inclusion?
Edit:
Inclusion can be forced using --whole-archive ld option. But if results in compilation errors:
g++ -shared '-Wl,--whole-archive' -L. -ly -lz -o libyz.so
/usr/lib/libc_nonshared.a(elf-init.oS): In function `__libc_csu_init':
(.text+0x1d): undefined reference to `__init_array_end'
/usr/bin/ld: /usr/lib/libc_nonshared.a(elf-init.oS): relocation R_X86_64_PC32 against undefined hidden symbol `__init_array_end' can not be used when making a shared object
/usr/bin/ld: final link failed: Bad value
Any idea where this comes from?
You could try (ld(2)):
--whole-archive
For each archive mentioned on the command line after the --whole-archive option, include every object file in the
archive in the link, rather than searching the archive for the required object files. This is normally used to turn
an archive file into a shared library, forcing every object to be included in the resulting shared library. This
option may be used more than once.
(gcc -Wl,--whole-archive)
Plus, you should put -Wl,--no-whole-archive at the end of the library list. (as said by Dmitry Yudakov in the comment below)

Compiling C++ program with POSIX AIO lib on Linux

I'm having difficulty with the linker when it comes to compiling a sample program that uses the POSIX aio library (e.g. aio_read(), aio_write(), etc) on Linux.
I'm running Ubuntu with a 2.6 kernel, and have used the apt-get utility to install libaio. But even though I'm linking with the aio library, the compiler still gives me linker errors.
root#ubuntu:/home# g++ -L /usr/lib/libaio.a aio.cc -oaio
/tmp/cc5OE58r.o: In function `main':
aio.cc:(.text+0x156): undefined reference to `aio_read'
aio.cc:(.text+0x17b): undefined reference to `aio_error'
aio.cc:(.text+0x191): undefined reference to `aio_return'
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
Where are all these aio_x functions actually defined, if not in the library libaio.a?
I also had issues linking against libaio in spite of the aio package being correctly installed and the -lrt flag being present.
It turned out that placing -l flags later (for example, last) in the gcc command invocation sometimes fixes this issue. I stumbled upon this solution here on Stack Overflow.
I stopped doing this:
gcc -Wall -Werror -g -o myExe -lrt myExe.c
And started doing this:
gcc -Wall -Werror -g -o myExe myExe.c -lrt
EDIT: according the the man page, libaio.so is not the correct library to link to:
man aio_read
SYNOPSIS
#include <aio.h>
int aio_read(struct aiocb *aiocbp);
Link with -lrt.
so you should link with this:
g++ -lrt aio.cc -o aio
The way libraries work with gcc is like this:
-L adds directory dir to the list of directories to be searched for -l.
-l adds a library itself, if the file is named libsomename.so, you just use "-lsomename"
Does -L specify the search path and -l specifies the actual library?
You want -laio in order to link to libaio. The argument of -o is what you want the compiled executable to be called.
Try:
sudo apt-get install libaio-dev
Then make sure you specify -laio on the link line.
Okay, Evan Teran is correct - it worked when I linked with -lrt. It seems the aio_x functions are defined in a general POSIX extension library.
Thanks, Evan.

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