[m-rev.] for review: linking with shared Mercury libraries

[Fergus Henderson]

On 16-Jan-2003, Simon Taylor <stayl at cs.mu.OZ.AU> wrote:
> 
> There is now a third kind of object file, `.lpic_o'.
> These files are compiled with `--pic-reg' but not
> with CFLAGS_FOR_PIC, so they can be linked with shared
> Mercury libraries.

The new file extension should be documented in user_guide.texi.

> This doesn't work with Mmake because ml doesn't know
> which libraries are Mercury libraries, so it can't
> link with the static versions of those libraries if
> MERCURY_LINKAGE is set to "static".

Couldn't we figure out at `mmake depend' time which libraries
are Mercury libraries?

> NEWS:
> README.Linux:
> compiler/options.m:
> doc/user_guide.texi:
> 	Document MERCURY_LINKAGE, LINKAGE, --linkage,
> 	--mercury-linkage and -R.

There should also be some mention of these options in the
"Using Libraries" section.

What effect do these options have if they are set when
you are building a shared library?

Why does `mmc' use different option names for what are conceptually
the same options as `ml'? 

	mmc				ml

	--mercury-linkage shared	--mercury-libs shared
	--mercury-linkage shared	--mercury-libs static
	--linkage shared		--shared
	--linkage static		--static

Some general comments:

You should add some test cases to the test suite to test this change.

Please test that your change works with the `--target asm' back-end
before committing it.

-- 
Fergus Henderson <fjh at cs.mu.oz.au>  |  "I have always known that the pursuit
The University of Melbourne         |  of excellence is a lethal habit"
WWW: <http://www.cs.mu.oz.au/~fjh>  |     -- the last words of T. S. Garp.
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