Author Topic: Static Linking 2014? (Read 5810 times)

cdelorme · « **on:** June 12, 2014, 04:47:36 am »

First I have to say I am loving SFML; it's both easy and clean to code in and has great performance.

**My question is how do I compile code that depends on SFML to use a static linked copy of it instead of a dynamic library or framework on OSX?**

---

My objective is static linking for OSX, and in the future probably with Linux (and Windows as a matter of requirement). There was a thread about this [back in 2011](http://en.sfml-dev.org/forums/index.php?topic=6162.0), for reference. I'll explain my reasoning as best I can.

I don't have anything against dynamic libraries; they do a great job saving hard drive space and eliminating code redundancy. However they impose some serious limitations that affect developers as well as users:

- Software changes and may cause code that depends on it to break unless it is also actively maintained.
- In software that is actively worked on and changes often this is a lot of extra work; fast moving software I see as a good thing.
- Software with dependencies on two (or more) incompatible versions of the same library becomes a problem.
- Anyone who wants to install this software must run through an extra step to install its dependencies, and added complexity reduces users.

As SFML continues to improve I suspect the code may change, and instead of worrying about my software breaking, or adding complexity to installation, I would rather resolve both problems pre-emptively by compiling a copy of the version of SFML that my software depends on, and in a way that does not interfere with anything else on the system. The only cost here is megabytes.

---

Let me preface this by saying **I do not use xCode**, therefore any xCode related answers are not going to help me.

I use Sublime Text, and a terminal. This has worked for me for years, I have no desire to switch to an overcomplicated IDE, which only hides the commands being run and the logic surrounding them.

I have installed gcc and g++ 4.8 via homebrew, and have been using this to compile and build my c++ tests.

I initially installed a global copy of SFML using the supplied `install.sh` script, but have since removed them to test static linking of a local copy of SFML.

---

Here is my complete scenario to clarify my problem.

Let's assume the following layout:

- `src/example.cpp`
- `lib/SFML-2.1/`

The `example.cpp` file contains a simple window that exits on close:

    #include <iostream>
    #include <string>
    #include <SFML/Graphics.hpp>
    int main() {
        sf::RenderWindow window(sf::VideoMode(600, 600), L"&#12354;&#12426;&#12364;&#12392;&#12358;");
        while(window.isOpen()) {
            sf::Event e;
            while(window.pollEvent(e)) {
                if (e.type == sf::Event::Closed) {
                    window.close();
                }
            }
        }
        return 0;
    }

 

Here are my attempted commands and subsequent errors: