ltmain.in: defer warn dependency to static library
When linking old library to any libtool target that is not an
executable, libtool warns that it might not be portable, in particular
because shared libraries need PIC from the static library to be working.
However, when adding an old library as dependency to a static libtool
library, there is no linkage, and thus no portability issue, so there's
no reason to warn. If the static libtool library is then linked to a
shared library, the dependency will be forwarded and the warning will
happen at this time.
tests: extend archive-in-archive with dependency forwarding check
Verify that the old library dependency is recorded in
dependency_libs of the target .la file, and that an executable
linked against the target can resolve symbols from the forwarded
dependency.
Previously, adding a static archive library, aka. old library, as a
dependency of a new libtool library compiled as a static archive (be it
a convenience library or an installed static library) resulted in the
dependency archive being added into the target archive as-is.
However, linkers are usually not able to use nested archive as-is. It
results in errors like these on Linux and Darwin at least:
/usr/bin/ld: ./.libs/libfoo.a: member ./.libs/libfoo.a(libbar.a) in
archive is not an object
or
/usr/bin/nm: libbar.a: file format not recognized
With libfoo.a being the static libtool target and libbar.a being the
nested/linked static library.
Libtool has a quite close behaviour with convenience libraries, where
the content (objects) of the convenience library are extracted and added
back into the new target, but that´s mostly a libtool creation.
The static dependencies should not be "linked" into other static
libraries as there should not be linking involved, and we don´t want to
potentially duplicate symbols like done for the convenience libraries.
Instead, keep them in the dependency_libs of the new libtool archive
created and forward them until we link a shared library or an
executable. We do need to ensure they are referenced with absolute path
since we can link from a different folder than the one it was referenced
from.
We also need to filter out the shared library case since we don't want
to include the static archives in dependencies again.
The test was marked XFAIL since 2010 because the fix for the
nested-archive bug was incomplete. Now that ltmain.in properly
forwards old library dependencies instead of archiving them,
the test passes: remove the AT_XFAIL_IF and correct the
foo.$OBJEXT assertion (objects from the dependency must NOT
appear in the target archive).
Absolute paths are forwarded as-is like above.
Relative paths are transformed into absolute using pwd.
The old deplibs are not appended if they have been linked
into a shared library output already.
m4/libtool.m4: fix emscripten CXX postdeps using non-PIC sysroot
Commit d8a934458b251b465b7d31da9ba9148a128a146d introduced shared
libraries support for emscripten, using -sSIDE_MODULE=1, but the CXX
dependency detection in _LT_SYS_HIDDEN_LIBDEPS will only try to use
`-shared` link option to discover implicit dependencies.
The libraries and search paths reported by em++ differ depending on
whether -sSIDE_MODULE=2 is passed:
Without -sSIDE_MODULE=2, the detected postdeps contain the non-PIC
sysroot path and system libraries. These get injected into the CXX
shared library link line before emcc can append the PIC sysroot,
causing wasm-ld to resolve system libraries from non-PIC archives,
typically in VLC build system:
error: R_WASM_MEMORY_ADDR_LEB cannot be used against symbol;
recompile with -fPIC
We resolved the issue in VLC by patching the postdeps but they were not
generated properly in the first place.
Fix by overriding output_verbose_link_cmd for emscripten in
_LT_LANG_CXX_CONFIG. The override passes -sSIDE_MODULE=2, matching what
archive_cmds actually uses at link time so that the detected paths point
to the PIC sysroot.
When linking a program, GNU Libtool recognises libfoo.so arguments, but
it does not when linking shared libraries. Now, libfoo.so will be
equivalent to linking with -l:libfoo.so or -lfoo.
* build-aux/ltmain.in: Link an explicit shared library.
* Makefile.am: Add new test file, deplib-path.at.
* tests/deplib-path.at: Add new test for shared linking deplibs by the
libN.so name.
Alexey Samsonov [Wed, 11 Feb 2026 08:07:26 +0000 (08:07 +0000)]
ltmain.in: Handle clang's -resource-dir flag.
When Clang is used to cross compile, the user may list
-resource-dir flag that Clang driver uses to discover
target-specific headers and runtime libraries.
* build-aux/ltmain.in: Pass clang's '-resource-dir=*' flag for
choosing compiler resource files, such as runtime libraries
through libtool unchanged.
* NEWS: Update.
ltmain.in: add parentheses to support values with spaces
The variable may contain a value with spaces that cause errors due
to the standard splitting of command line arguments by linux shells.
See https://github.com/autotools-mirror/libtool/pull/4/files.
The check for Objective C++ was combined with the check for
Objective C, which caused Objective C++ tests to fail if language
support was enabled for OBJC but not OBJCXX. Additionally, a syntax
error with macros LT_PROG_OBJC and LT_PROG_OBJCXX was observed on
Fedora, exhibiting differing behaviour than observed on other
GNU/Linux operating systems.
* m4/libtool.m4: Add separate check for Objective C++.
* tests/flags.at, tests/infer-tag.at: Update to check cached variable
for Objective C++, objcxx_compiles.
Elizabeth Figura [Mon, 25 Aug 2025 23:10:18 +0000 (18:10 -0500)]
ltmain.in: Pass through all warning flags to the linker.
When link-time optimization (LTO) is used, some warnings are reported
while linking, and the flags must be passed to the linker to enable or
disable them.
-W* also catches -Wl,* and -Wa,*, but the former is already accounted
for in an earlier switch case, and the latter is already passed through.
* build-aux/ltmain.in: Pass through all warning flags to the linker.
* Makefile.am: Add versioning_script.at to testsuite.
* doc/libtool.texi: Update to describe new test file.
* tests/versioning_script.at: Autotest file for testing the output of
the libtool-next-version script.
* Makefile.am: Pass ML64 flags to tests.
* configure.ac: Add language support for the Microsoft Macro Assembler.
* doc/libtool.texi: Update documentation to include ML64.
* m4/libtool.m4: Enable macro support for ML64.
* tests/flags.at: Add test for ML64 flags.
* tests/infer-tag.at: Add test for ML64 tag.
* NEWS: Update.
* libltdl/libltdl/lt__alloc.h: Change FREE and MEMREASSIGN macros for
-Wcompound-token-split-by-macro.
* libltdl/libltdl/lt_system.h: Change LT_STMT_START and LT_STMT_END
macros for -Wcompound-token-split-by-macro.
* libltdl/loaders/loadlibrary.c: Add support for icx, icpx, ifx.
* libltdl/ltdl.c: Fixes for Clang.
* m4/libtool.m4: Add support for icx, icpx, and ifx.
* NEWS: Update.
* build-aux/ltmain.in: Use one or two slashes with Window's command
prompt based on cached value in lt_cv_cmd_slashes.
* m4/libtool.m4: Cache whether one or two slashes are needed with
Window's command prompt, when cygpath is not installed in path.
libtool: Support MSYS and MSYS2 file path conversions
MSYS does not have cygpath installed by default, so during configure,
a check for cygpath is cached. If cygpath is not found, Window's command
prompt will be used with a forward slash escape on the 'c' flag:
"cmd //c".
* build-aux/ltmain.in: Choose file path conversion for MSYS(2) by
whether cygpath is installed.
* m4/libtool.m4: Cache whether cygpath is installed in user path.
On MSYS2, file path conversion will no longer result in libtool hanging,
but the original MSYS will not be able to do file path conversions
without cygpath. Original MSYS support for file path conversions will be
re-added before commit 1377b68b4aed0d6ee3c390131eb763d26e5b642d migrates
to master.
When building libltdl with the MSVC toolchain, Fortran checks can cause
issues with finding symbols, but users can avoid this by setting the
Fortran compiler environment variables to "no".
Mitch [Mon, 2 Dec 2024 20:47:48 +0000 (22:47 +0200)]
libtool: Fix MSVC cl.exe .exp extension collision
MSVC's compiler uses the .exp entension for their own export format,
which causes a build failure when a subsequent build is run. The
MSVC compiler, cl.exe, errors for an invalid file format. This is fixed
by using a similar extension name to avoid the naming collision.
Translating file paths from MSYS to W32 has been causing libtool to
indefinitely hang when 'cmd.exe //c' is called. Instead, 'cygpath' is
packaged on MSYS, so it will now handle the path conversion.
* build-aux/ltmain.in: Replace 'cmd.exe //c' with 'cygpath' usage.
* m4/libtool.m4 (global_symbol_to_import, global_symbol_to_cdecl,
global_symbol_to_c_name_address,
global_symbol_to_c_name_address_lib_prefix): List valid C symbol names
only in lt_<modname>_LTX_preloaded_symbols array.
On Cygwin, gawk-4.1.4-3 and newer do not treat the input stream as text
any more, leaving us behind with carriage return in symbol names.
* m4/libtool.m4 (lt_cv_sys_global_symbol_pipe): In AWK script for MS
dumpbin drop CR first.
libtoolize.in: Create symlinks with mklink for MSVC
Symlink files are not generated properly with 'ln -s' for MSVC to
process, so mklink is used, which swaps the argument order of target
and link_name. This also requires absolute paths, generated with the
use of cygpath.
* libtoolize.in: Check if linking with mklink and update processing.
When comparing expected output in LT_AT_CHECK_EXECUTE, several tests
fail with mismatched line endings. This patch should fix Windows
environments that have CRLF text line endings disabled and only use
the LF character for line endings.
* tests/testsuite.at: Removed '\r' from awk's printf command.
libtool: Fix mishandling compiler flags with MSVC tools
With MSVC, linker flags were not properly being linked in during a
compile command. A check has been added to verify if there are linker
flags set and then use a different command when linking.
Fixes applied for bug#74175.
* build-aux/ltmain.in: Fix command parser for '-Wl' option for MSVC.
* m4/libtool.m4: Fix MSVC compile commands.
* tests/flags.at: Use '$GREP --' instead of '$FGREP' when comparing with
stdout.
Manoj Gupta [Wed, 10 Oct 2018 07:50:23 +0000 (10:50 +0300)]
Pick up clang_rt static archives compiler internal libraries
Libtool checks only for libraries linked as -l* when trying to
find internal compiler libraries. Clang, however uses the absolute
path to link its internal libraries e.g. compiler_rt. This patch
handles clang's statically linked libraries when finding internal
compiler libraries.
https://crbug.com/749263
https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=27866
For many GNU/Linux systems, the shared library cache is not updated
after a "make install". Some reasoning is outlined in the
documentation now for users with instruction for how to update
the shared library cache if desired.
libtool: Add configuration options for CXX linking
Add configuration options to choose whether to use '-nostdlib' when
linking C++ shared libraries and modules.
* m4/libtool.m4: Replace '-nostdlib' with variable '$stdlibflag' and
set '$output_verbose_link_cmd' to be empty when enabling standard
library linking for C++ modules.
* m4/ltoptions.m4: Add new configuration options, --enable-cxx-stdlib
and --disable-cxx-stdlib, and add LT_INIT options, cxx-stdlib and
no-cxx-stdlib.
* doc/libtool.texi: Update for new configuration options.
* NEWS: Update.
Anthony Mallet [Sun, 23 Mar 2025 12:56:14 +0000 (13:56 +0100)]
libtool.m4: Fix postdeps in NetBSD
commit:c7be1f229 addresses an issue with building C++ modules on NetBSD, by
removing -lgcc_s and -lgcc. This may sometimes not work correctly, depending
on the architecture, as libgcc_s.so and libgcc.a may contain required code to
properly link the shared object. On NetBSD, libgcc.a is compiled with -fPIC
and can be linked to a shared object without any issue.
Julien ÉLIE [Thu, 20 Mar 2025 22:15:45 +0000 (00:15 +0200)]
ltmain.in: Supporting -S and -t flags from install-sh
Libtool silently discards options for install-sh that have not been
specified. Now the install directory and a suffix for backing up
files can be specified to be passed through libtool.
The documentation follows the traditional method of inserting newlines
before the 80 character limit, with a few exceptions. Now, the
documentation will use some semantic newlines, specifically inserting
newlines for clause breaks (commas, semicolons, colons, and so on).
However, it will only break on symbols, instead of also breaking for
phrases, and it will still utilize the 80 character limit should a
symbol break not exist first.
* doc/libtool.texi: Alter line breaks to use partial semantic newlines.
Bruno Haible [Wed, 26 Feb 2025 14:07:39 +0000 (15:07 +0100)]
New program libtool-next-version.
* libtool-next-version.in: New file, based on
gnulib/build-aux/libtool-next-version.
* doc/libtool.texi (Updating version info): Add sub-nodes
'Manual version info update', 'Guided version info update',
'Invoking libtool-next-version'.
* Makefile.am (BUILT_SOURCES): Add libtool-next-version.
(libtoolnextv_in): New variable.
(EXTRA_DIST): Add it.
(bin_SCRIPTS): Add libtool-next-version.
(libtool-next-version): New target.
(libtoolnextv_1): New variable. New target.
(dist_man1_MANS): Add it.
Takashi Yano [Wed, 19 Feb 2025 23:37:27 +0000 (01:37 +0200)]
ltmain.in: Fix mistaking a directory as an executable
find_executable() can return a directory of the same name as the target
executable if the directory is found earlier in the PATH, which causes
check_executable() to fail.
libtool.m4: Update NetBSD postdeps for shared libraries
* m4/libtool.m4: Linking a shared version of 'gcc' is not possible on
NetBSD, since the shared version of the library is 'gcc_s'. postdeps
have been updated to remove 'gcc' instances with sed.
projects / thirdparty / libtool.git / log
