10.11 Library Projects

Library projects are projects whose object code is placed in a library. (Note that this facility is not yet supported on all platforms)

To create a library project, you need to define in its project file two project-level attributes: Library_Name and Library_Dir. Additionally, you may define the library-related attributes Library_Kind, Library_Version and Library_Elaboration.

The Library_Name attribute has a string value that must start with a letter and include only letters and digits.

The Library_Dir attribute has a string value that designates the path (absolute or relative) of the directory where the library will reside. It must designate an existing directory, and this directory needs to be different from the project's object directory. It also needs to be writable.

If both Library_Name and Library_Dir are specified and are legal, then the project file defines a library project. The optional library-related attributes are checked only for such project files.

The Library_Kind attribute has a string value that must be one of the following (case insensitive): "static", "dynamic" or "relocatable". If this attribute is not specified, the library is a static library. Otherwise, the library may be dynamic or relocatable. Depending on the operating system, there may or may not be a distinction between dynamic and relocatable libraries. For example, on Unix there is no such distinction.

The Library_Version attribute has a string value whose interpretation is platform dependent. On Unix, it is used only for dynamic/relocatable libraries as the internal name of the library (the "soname"). If the library file name (built from the Library_Name) is different from the Library_Version, then the library file will be a symbolic link to the actual file whose name will be Library_Version.

Example (on Unix):

     project Plib is
     
        Version := "1";
     
        for Library_Dir use "lib_dir";
        for Library_Name use "dummy";
        for Library_Kind use "relocatable";
        for Library_Version use "libdummy.so." & Version;
     
     end Plib;

Directory lib_dir will contain the internal library file whose name will be libdummy.so.1, and libdummy.so will be a symbolic link to libdummy.so.1.

When gnatmake detects that a project file (not the main project file) is a library project file, it will check all immediate sources of the project and rebuild the library if any of the sources have been recompiled. All ALI files will also be copied from the object directory to the library directory. To build executables, gnatmake will use the library rather than the individual object files.