Re: [BUG] ld behavior varies for C++ static initializer dependingon .a or .o input

[Hal Black <black at ieee dot org>]

Alexandre Oliva wrote:
> On Apr 12, 2003, Hal Black <hablack at vt dot edu> wrote:
>
>
> > Why should it be different for a .a file with the same .o files in
> > it?  Should .a files not be used for C++?
>
>
> Because .o files are copied to the output, whereas .a files are used
> as libraries, i.e., only members that offer symbols that are being
> looked for are copied to the output.  Can you imagine the bloat if any
> time you linked with a static library, all of the code in it was
> copied to your executables?

What I'm saying is not to use all the symbols, but to include all static 
initializers as "symbols that are being looked for".  Even if they 
aren't explicitly referenced by annother piece of code, they are 
implicitly referenced by virtue of being static initializers.


------------------
  From the C++ draft spec 2 December 1996:

 Section 3.7.1:
 2 If an object of static storage duration has initialization or a
 destructor with side effects, it shall not be eliminated even if it
 appears to be unused, except that a class object or its copy may be
 eliminated as specified in 12.8.
------------------

I would say that not looking for static initializers constitutes 
eliminating them...