__imp link errors using g++ running under mingw

Question

I have a simple socket program that I'm trying to compile using g++ running in mingw (both the latest versions) on a Win8 system. I'm getting the common linker errors

undefined reference to `__imp_socket'
undefined reference to `__imp_gethostbyname'

I've tried adding -lws2_32 with no luck; i.e. it still can't find the references. Can someone suggest something else I might be missing?

Here's the full output:

G:\source\kak>g++ -o ./test_client -lws2_32 test_client.C
C:\Users\kenkahn\AppData\Local\Temp\ccDZTr9b.o:test_client.C:(.text+0x4f): undefined reference to `__imp_inet_addr'
C:\Users\kenkahn\AppData\Local\Temp\ccDZTr9b.o:test_client.C:(.text+0x6b): undefined reference to `__imp_socket'
C:\Users\kenkahn\AppData\Local\Temp\ccDZTr9b.o:test_client.C:(.text+0x8b): undefined reference to `__imp_connect'
d:/program files/mingw/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/4.8.1/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: C:\Users\kenkahn\AppData\Local\Temp\ccDZTr9b.o: bad reloc address 0xc in section `.xdata'
collect2.exe: error: ld returned 1 exit status

Answer 1

Try putting the -lws2_32 after the test_client.C parameter. The linker of gcc (ld) is touchy about the order of linkable things, this is probably why it doesn't find your imported functions at link time.