Re: using autotools for a library project

[aaragon]

On Oct 19, 1:24 pm, Ralf Wildenhues <Ralf.Wildenh...@gmx.de> wrote:
> Hello Alejandro,
>
> * aaragon wrote on Fri, Oct 19, 2007 at 06:09:29AM CEST:
>
> > Hi everyone, I'm new in this group so I hope this is the right place
> > to ask this question.
> > I'm using autotools to write a library and now it seems that I need to
> > use another library (the gmp for arbitrary precision arithmetic). Now,
> > the problem is that when I create my library, all the functions that I
> > use from the gmp are not "saved" in my library.
>
> That's normal, and to be expected.  Are you talking about static or
> shared libraries, by the way?  Do you use Libtool?
>
> > Therefore, when I
> > install the library on a different machine, it complains that it
> > cannot find the gmp library or that the library has not the same
> > version.
>
> The usual way to solve this is to require the user to install gmp first.
> It's common to add a test to configure that checks for installed library
> and header files.  If I recall correctly, then the gmp distribution
> provides a macro that you can use for this.
>
> > So, I was wondering if there is a way to put the gmp functions that I
> > use in my own library, like a bundle so I don't need to have the gmp
> > library on other machines.
>
> That would be rather uncommon.
>
> > Thanks for any suggestions. I apologize if this is not the right place
> > to ask this, but I didn't find a more autotools related group and I
> > found some questions posted.
>
> It's sure ok here.  {autoconf,automake,libto...@gnu.org exist, but from
> the generality of your question it's not clear which of those lists
> would be most appropriate.  As long as you don't cross-post, you could
> have picked either one of those.
>
> Hope that helps.
>
> Cheers,
> Ralf

Thanks Ralf for replying. I guess you're right and I will have to use
some checks to configure the library. I'm using libtool for this and
I'm creating a static librar .a. Could you expand on the differences
between static and dynamic libraries? Or forward me a link where I can
see the differences?
Once again, I appreciate your comments.

a²