2004-08-30 00:08:13 +08:00
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GNU Libtool
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***********
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1999-03-07 23:27:23 +08:00
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2004-08-30 00:08:13 +08:00
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1. In the near future
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=====================
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2000-09-08 05:25:03 +08:00
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2004-08-30 00:08:13 +08:00
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1.1. libtool
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------------
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1999-02-25 14:46:55 +08:00
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2004-09-01 17:48:25 +08:00
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* Factor common shell preamble and function definitions into a separate
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file and substitute the contents into all of our shell scripts at
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bootstrap, to avoid any synchronisation issues.
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1999-03-30 20:40:22 +08:00
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* We could have an option to hardcode paths into libraries, as well as
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2004-08-30 00:08:13 +08:00
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binaries: `... -Wl,-soname -Wl,/tmp/libtest.so.0 ...'. This is not
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possible on all platforms, and is in part obviated by the ability of
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linking libtool libraries specified with -lname, but it might still
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be desirable.
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1998-01-26 03:35:11 +08:00
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1999-02-25 14:46:55 +08:00
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* Lists of exported symbols should be stored in the pseudo library
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2004-08-30 00:08:13 +08:00
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so that the size of lt_preloaded_symbols can be reduced.
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1999-02-25 14:46:55 +08:00
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2001-04-18 15:24:13 +08:00
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* Have some option to tell libtool not to include -L flags that point
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2004-08-30 00:08:13 +08:00
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into a certain tree in the dependence list of an installed library.
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For example: -L-$top_builddir would let one link with libtool
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libraries in sibling subdirectories within a project, using the -L
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notation, without getting builddir pathnames ever mentioned in .la
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files that get installed.
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2001-04-18 15:24:13 +08:00
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2001-04-22 01:36:45 +08:00
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* Eric Lemings <elemings@cyberia.lemings.com> writes:
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Because of a growing number of config scripts for packages in GNOME 1.2
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(e.g. glib-config, xml-config, orbit-config. etc), development of GNOME
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2.0 spawned a separate tool called pkg-config that allows all packages
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to use one tool rather than several different scripts to query compile
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flags, link flags, and other configuration data.
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The functionality of pkg-config seems to me to have a lot of overlap
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with the goals of libtool. I was wondering if anyone had considered
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adding an eighth mode to libtool that just queries the installed
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library for the same information that pkg-config provides. Since
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most packages that use pkg-config also use libtool, I think this
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would be a good way to reduce maintainer and developer dependencies.
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2004-08-30 00:08:13 +08:00
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1.2. libtldl
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------------
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* Fix the following bugs in libltdl:
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- error reporting of tryall_dlopen():
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if the file actually doesn't exist (stat() fails or it wasn't dlpreopened)
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-> report `file not found'
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if it cannot be loaded (e.g. due to missing dependencies)
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-> report dlerror
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open question: which error should be reported if all dlloaders fail
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or if a specific module type can only be loaded by one of them, how report its dlerror?
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Also report dlerror() for dlclose and dlsym if available
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- Make sure that the dependency_libs of a dlpreopened module won't be loaded.
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2. In the future
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================
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2.1. Documentation
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------------------
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2001-04-22 01:36:45 +08:00
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2004-08-30 00:08:13 +08:00
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* Need to finalize the documentation, and give a specification of
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`.la' files so that people can depend on their format. This would be
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a good thing to put before the maintainance notes.
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2.2. test suite
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---------------
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* Rewrite the whole thing in Autotest. This will enable us to remove
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all the tests/*demo noise, and duplication; and thus speed up bootstrap
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and make writing new tests a whole lot more pleasant.
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* We should include tests with convenience libraries and reloadable
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objects in the testsuite.
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* Write a test case for linkage with gnu ld scripts (per 2004-08-25 patch
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from Paolo Bonzini).
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2.3. libtool
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------------
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* If not cross-compiling, have the static flag test run the resulting
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binary to make sure everything works.
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* Another form of convenience library is to have undocumented utility
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libraries, where only the shared version is installed.
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* We could use libtool object convenience libraries that resolve
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symbols to be included in a libtool archive. This would require some
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sort of -whole-archive option, as well.
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* Currently, convenience libraries (.al) are built from .lo objects,
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except when --disable-shared. When we can build both shared and
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static libraries, we should probably create a .al out of .lo objects
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and also a .a out of .o objects. The .al would only be used to create
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shared libraries, whereas the .a would be used for creating static
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libraries and programs. We could also explicitly support `empty'
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convenience libraries, that behave as macros that expand to a set of
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-Rs, -Ls and -ls switches.
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* Filenames containing shell meta-characters are not properly handled
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by libtool. Compiling a file named "a;b.c", for example, fails.
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* We could introduce a mechanism to allow for soname rewriting, to
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ease multi-libc support. Installers could specify a prefix, suffix or
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sed command to modify the soname, and libtool would create the
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corresponding link. This would allow for rebuilding a library with
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the same version number, but depending on different versions of libc,
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for example. In the future, we might even have an option to encode
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the sonames of all dependencies of a library into its soname.
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2.4. libtool autoconf macros
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----------------------------
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1999-03-07 23:27:23 +08:00
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2000-09-17 04:08:07 +08:00
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* The definitions for AC_LTDL_SHLIBEXT, AC_LTDL_SHLIBPATH and
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2004-08-30 00:08:13 +08:00
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AC_LTDL_SYSSEARCHPATH should not rely on the _LT_AC_LTCONFIG_HACK
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macro. This involves moving the code which sets the variables
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library_names_spec, shlibpath_var and sys_lib_dlsearch_path_spec from
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into a separate macro, and AC_REQUIRING the newly extracted macro in the
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respective ltdl.m4 macros.
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2.5. libltdl
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------------
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* Try to find a work-around for -[all-]static and libltdl on platforms
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that will fail to find dlopening functions in this case. Maybe
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creating an alternate libltdl that provides only for dlpreopening, or
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creating an additional static library to provide dummy implementations
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of the functions that can't be linked statically. This could hardly
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be made completely transparent, though.
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2000-09-17 04:08:07 +08:00
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1999-02-25 14:46:55 +08:00
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* Godmar Back writes:
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libltdl uses such stdio functions as fopen, fgets, feof, fclose, and others.
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2004-02-07 01:23:40 +08:00
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These functions are not async-signal-safe. While this does not make
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libltdl unusable, it restricts its usefulness and puts an
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1999-02-25 14:46:55 +08:00
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unnecessary burden on the user.
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As a remedy, I'd recommend to replace those functions with functions
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that POSIX says are async-signal-safe, such as open, read, close.
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This will require you to handle interrupted system calls and implement
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fgets, but the former isn't hard and there's plenty of implementations
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out from which you can steal the latter.
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I believe relying on async-signal-safe functions to the greatest extent
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2004-02-07 01:23:40 +08:00
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possible would greatly improve libltdl's ability to be embedded in and
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1999-02-25 14:46:55 +08:00
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used by other systems.
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1998-03-09 13:34:02 +08:00
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2004-08-30 00:08:13 +08:00
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2.6. win32 support
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------------------
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1999-05-26 08:00:40 +08:00
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* Arrange that EXEEXT suffixes are stripped from wrapper script names
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2004-08-30 00:08:13 +08:00
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only when needed, and that a timestamp file or a wrapper program is
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created with the EXEEXT suffix, so that `make' doesn't build it every
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time.
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1998-12-24 01:30:12 +08:00
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* Figure out how to use data items in dlls with win32.
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2004-08-30 00:08:13 +08:00
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The difficult part is compiling each object which will be linked with an
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import lib differently than if it will be linked with a static lib. This
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will almost definitely require that automake pass some hints about linkage
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in to each object compilation line.
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1998-12-24 01:30:12 +08:00
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2004-08-30 00:08:13 +08:00
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* jeffdb@goodnet.com writes:
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all you need to do for mutually dependent .dll's is to create an implib from
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a .def file so it appears that we might need to detect and handle mutual
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dependencies specially on win32 =(O|
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1999-03-23 18:40:00 +08:00
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1997-11-28 00:57:00 +08:00
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2004-08-30 00:08:13 +08:00
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3. Wish List
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============
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1997-08-12 23:19:11 +08:00
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2004-08-30 00:08:13 +08:00
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* Maybe implement full support for other orthogonal library types
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(libhello_g, libhello_p, 64 vs 32-bit ABI's, etc). Make these types
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configurable.
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1997-08-12 23:19:11 +08:00
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2004-08-30 00:08:13 +08:00
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* Perhaps the iuse of libltdl could be made cleaner by allowing
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registration of hook functions to call at various points. This would
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hopefully free the user from having to maintain a parallel module
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list with user data. This would likely involve being able to carry
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additional per user module data in the lt_dlmodule structure -- perhaps
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in the form of an associative array keyed by user name?
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1997-06-30 20:20:49 +08:00
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1997-07-22 01:31:05 +08:00
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2004-08-30 00:08:13 +08:00
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--
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Copyright (C) 2004 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
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1999-01-20 18:21:01 +08:00
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2004-08-30 00:08:13 +08:00
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The canonical source of this file is maintained with the
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GNU Libtool package. Report bugs to bug-libtool@gnu.org.
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1999-05-21 07:55:28 +08:00
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2004-08-30 00:08:13 +08:00
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GNU Libtool is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
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modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as
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published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2
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of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
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1999-04-29 17:58:41 +08:00
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2004-08-30 00:08:13 +08:00
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As a special exception to the GNU General Public License,
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if you distribute this file as part of a program or library that
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is built using GNU libtool, you may include it under the same
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distribution terms that you use for the rest of that program.
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1999-03-30 20:40:22 +08:00
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2004-08-30 00:08:13 +08:00
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GNU Libtool is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
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but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
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MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
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General Public License for more details.
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1999-05-21 07:55:28 +08:00
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2004-08-30 00:08:13 +08:00
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You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
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along with GNU Libtool; if not, write to the Free Software
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Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA
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02111-1307 USA
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2001-02-01 00:26:48 +08:00
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1997-04-02 03:04:40 +08:00
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2004-08-30 00:08:13 +08:00
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Local Variables:
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mode: text
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fill-column: 72
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End:
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