Ask A Scientist© Computer Science Archive

Index Key:   CSI009
Author:      SJW
Subject:     UNIX library
Text:        I have a question about UNIX. I found that there are lots of 
files with .so suffix in usr/lib directory.  What does it mean? I need 
libX11.a, but I do not have it.  I have libX11.so and libX11.so.5.0.  Are they 
related?  Could I transfer .so to .a?  How would I do that?  Thanks.

Response #: 1 of 1
Author:     Mooney
Text:       ".so" means "shareable object", and you can use a .so file inplace 
of a .a file if you tell the linker it is ok.  On the Sun, you do this by 
specifying the "-Bdynamic" switch to the linker, ld.  In general, type "man 
ld" or "man cc" to find out what to do.