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authormidipix <writeonce@midipix.org>2016-05-03 19:12:22 -0400
committermidipix <writeonce@midipix.org>2016-05-03 19:14:33 -0400
commitddc3e662578c37074722923904701067738cb4bc (patch)
treefd9ee32a480671d7119e2e8d63f1994a749aa76e
parent99b63ddd83c8a9bcc19831a154d37416f6619115 (diff)
downloadslibtool-ddc3e662578c37074722923904701067738cb4bc.tar.bz2
slibtool-ddc3e662578c37074722923904701067738cb4bc.tar.xz
project: added a pragraph about .la wrappers to the README document.
-rw-r--r--README19
1 files changed, 19 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/README b/README
index 5cd8965..dc8c5a9 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -76,6 +76,25 @@ While `slibtool` aims to be compatible with all common usages of libtool at the
build system level, there exist several differences at the implementation level
that should be noted.
+- `.la wrappers` are always generated, but by default are never installed;
+ `.la wrappers` contain key information that is provided to libtool when
+ generating a shared library or static archive, and which is needed when
+ passing the archive or library as an input argument in .la form to the
+ compiler driver in subsequent link steps. Since `slibtool` is entirely
+ independent of the above wrappers with respect to its own functionality,
+ and given its announced goal to remain compatible with the script-based
+ libtool as much as possible, `slibtool`'s behavior is to always produce
+ `.la wrappers` on the one hand, yet fully ignore their content on the
+ other.
+
+ Despite their internal nature, installed .la wrappers are often [ab]used
+ in strange and mysterious ways by distro-related tools other than libtool
+ itself. For the sake of distributions that depend on the aforementioned
+ wrappers, slibtool comes with three special symlinks named `clibtool`,
+ `clibtool-shared`, and `clibtool-static`, respectively. The `'c'` in
+ `clibtool` stands for `compatible`, and accordingly indicates an end-user's
+ preference towards perfect emulation of legacy behavior.
+
- `-rpath` argument values are passed to the compiler and linker as needed only;
`-rpath` is often [mis]used by libtool to add redundant paths to a program's
linker search path. When using slibtool, `-rpath` argument values are only