Linking Archive Files - HP nld Manual

nld Utility

Linking Archive Files

The nld utility supports archive files for selecting input object files when building a new
object file. An archive file is created by the ar utility and contains a collection of object
files. Any type of file can be put into an archive, but nld uses only the relinkable
TNS/R native object files in an archive file.
To create an archive file, you can use the ar utility in either the Guardian environment,
the OSS environment, or on platforms running Windows. The nld utility supports
archive files existing in the Guardian and OSS environments, regardless of where the
archives were created. The ar utility is described in
In the OSS environment, archive files often have filenames that start with lib and end
with the filename suffix .a, such as libc.a.
You can specify archive files on the nld command line directly and with the options
or -lib on page 3-7. Specifying archive files with options is usually easier to understand
than specifying archive files on the command line.
nld resolves references using archive files in the order they are specified, either on
the command line directly or with -l or -lib options.
nld searches an archive file to resolve references. When nld finds object files that
satisfy references, it copies them from the archive file to the target object file. Unlike
Binder, nld copies the entire object file, not only the individual procedure.
For example, given object files obja, objb, and objc and archive files arc1 and
arc2 and the following nld command line:
nld obja objb -lib arc1 objc arc2 -o myexec
nld performs the following steps:
1. Copies obja and objb.
2. Searches arc1 for unresolved references in obja and objb. For those references
satisfied in arc1, nld copies the object file satisfying the reference.
3. Copies objc.
4. Searches arc2 for unresolved references in obja, objb, and objc. nld also
searches arc2 for unresolved references in object files copied from arc1.
A duplicate reference in an object file or an archive file is an error.
nld and noft Manual—520384-003
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Linking Archive Files
Section 6, ar Utility.
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