link static lib in eclipse cdt

Question

I am sorry! I have googled this a lot and cannot find an answer! It's dumb I know.

I cannot link in static libraries(*.a) in eclipse cdt. I listed them all in Project->Settings-> GCC C++ linker -> Libraries. I used the absolute path to make sure I had the lib correct... and i get:

cannot find -l/usr/local/lib/libboost_date_time.a

I am sure it's stupid whatever I am doing wrong :(

Edit -- and i should mention i am linking the libraries at run time...

Answer 1

I remember having a similar issue way back when I was compiling our code under linux (coming from a windows background) and if I recall correctly specifying the absolute path to the static lib also didn't work.

Are you aware that to link to "libboost_date_time.a", you need to specify "boost_date_time" without the "lib" and the ".a"? In my case that solved the problem. /usr/local/lib should be on your path in any case AFAIR.

Answer 2

Static libraries or archives are just a collection of object files.

Add the archive as Other Objects under C/C++ Build -> Settings -> C++ Linker -> Miscellaneous:

Some folks cry bloody murder over specifying a full pathname. I find it works in practice (unlike theory at times), and its no worse than breaking the path and filename, and then specifying them with -L and -l. And did I mention it actually works in practice...