11. Using libtool with other languages

Libtool was first implemented in order to add support for writing shared libraries in the C language. However, over time, libtool is being integrated with other languages, so that programmers are free to reap the benefits of shared libraries in their favorite programming language.

This chapter describes how libtool interacts with other languages, and what special considerations you need to make if you do not use C.

11.1 Writing libraries for C++

Creating libraries of C++ code should be a fairly straightforward process, because its object files differ from C ones in only three ways:

1. Because of name mangling, C++ libraries are only usable by the C++ compiler that created them. This decision was made by the designers of C++ in order to protect users from conflicting implementations of features such as constructors, exception handling, and RTTI.

2. On some systems, the C++ compiler must take special actions for the dynamic linker to run dynamic (i.e., run-time) initializers. This means that we should not call `ld' directly to link such libraries, and we should use the C++ compiler instead.

3. C++ compilers will link some Standard C++ library in by default, but libtool does not know which are these libraries, so it cannot even run the inter-library dependence analyzer to check how to link it in. Therefore, running `ld' to link a C++ program or library is deemed to fail.

Because of these three issues, Libtool has been designed to always use the C++ compiler to compile and link C++ programs and libraries. In some instances the main() function of a program must also be compiled with the C++ compiler for static C++ objects to be properly initialized.

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