Re: strip makes libs unusable

[Dale Harris <rodmur at maybe dot org>]

On Thu, Sep 23, 1999 at 10:38:09AM -0400, David Ronis elucidated:
> 
> I ran strip/ranlib on all the .a libs (actually by mistake) and that
> made some programs (but not all)  unlinkable,
> specifically,  ones with calls to stat or lstat.   I reinstalled
> libc_nonshared.a and the problem went away.

Well, at least you didn't do it on purpose.  Why didn't you just stick to 
make install?

> 
> 1.  Why?

I'm assuming it is because they have symbols.  Do an nm on one of those 
libraries, in the case of shared libraries, ld-linux.so needs to see them;
for archive libraries the linker needs those symbols to be able to reference
the bit of code for which you are looking.  Lucky you didn't to it on the 
shared libraries, otherwise you have a nonfunctioning system.

> 2.   Do all the other .a libs have to be reinstalled.

Any you stripped, sure.

> 3.   I thought strip was supposed to be safe on .a or .so libs--I guess
> it isn't.

Guess not.

> 
> THIS SHOULD BE ADDED TO THE FAQ/INSTALL INSTRUCTIONS.
> 

Well, maybe and maybe not, if you had FAQ for hammers, would you need a 
warning not to hit yourself in the head with it?  Course when you got 
people suing for hot coffee they spilled on themselves, maybe they should
add it.


--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dale Harris  <rodmur@maybe.org>   GPG key: 372FBD57    http://www.maybe.org/
          M.A.Y.B.E. = Maybe is an Altruistic Yet Bohemian Enigma