How to compile a file using a shared library? - gcc

I am trying to compile a source given a .so file libfoo.so. The only thing in this library is a function that just returns a number (yeah, I know, advanced stuff). The header file equivalent (I was provided with both, but am only supposed to use the .so) is named foo.h and the function is named int foo().
My source file is main.c:
#include <stdio.h>
#include "foo.h"
int main()
{
int x = foo();
printf("%d", x);
return 0;
}
Now, when trying to compile I have the following commands:
gcc -Wall -fPIC -c main.c -o main.o
gcc -Wall -fPIC main.o -o main -lfoo -L.
The first command fails to create the object file, outputting the following error:
fatal error: foo.h: No such file or directory
I am using Ubuntu 16.04.
I have also tried exporting the current location to LD_LIBRARY_PATH as I've seen suggested on a few other answers.
export LD_LBIRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:machine/Desktop/lib_test

You need to have the interface definition from the .h file and that file must be in the current directory or a directory on the include search path.
Note that on some systems filenames and paths are case dependent.

Related

g++ 5.4.0 - unable to use C++14 standard

I installed gcc 5.4.0 recently, on Windows using Cygwin, because I wanted to test the C++14 standard features of g++. When I tried to compile, I get the following error:
$ g++-5.4.0 -std=c++14 test.cpp
-bash: g++-5.4.0: command not found
This is the code I wrote inside test.cpp:
#include <iostream>
int main()
{
auto lambda = [](auto x){ return x; };
std::cout << lambda("Hello generic lambda!\n");
return 0;
}
What could be the problem? I also tried replacing C++14 with C++11 in the command, but got the same error.
When Cygwin installs a g++ version (in your case, 5.4.0), it will place the g++ executable in your PATH variable. But the installation name is just g++.exe, so you can call the program like this:
g++ -std=c++14 test.cpp
If you really wanted to call the compiler with g++-5.4.0, you could symlink the actual g++ executable to that name:
ln -s /usr/bin/g++.exe /usr/bin/g++-5.4.0.exe
then you will be able to call the program from the command line with either g++ or g++-5.4.0:
g++-5.4.0 -std=c++14 test.cpp
g++ -std=c++14 test.cpp

calling functions from a different c file

actually I was compiling with multiple files. Following are the files:
file main.c -->
#include <stdio.h>
void foo3(void)
{
printf("INSIDE foo3 function\n");
}
int main()
{
foo1();
foo2();
foo3();
}
file 1.c -->
#include <stdio.h>
void foo1(void)
{
printf("INSIDE foo1 function\n");
}
file 2.c-->
#include <stdio.h>
void foo2(void)
{
printf("INSIDE foo2 function\n");
}
Now I compiled using gcc as follows-->
gcc 1.c 2.c main.c -o main
following was the output -->
INSIDE foo1 function
INSIDE foo2 function
INSIDE foo3 function
My doubt is how could main() call foo1() and foo2() when they are not declared in main.c. But now if I change main.c as follows ( writing the definition of foo3() after main()) like this:
edited main.c -->
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
foo1();
foo2();
foo3();
}
void foo3(void)
{
printf("INSIDE foo3 function\n");
}
and then if I compile I get this error:
main.c:9:6: warning: conflicting types for ‘foo3’ [enabled by default]
void foo3(void)
^
main.c:6:2: note: previous implicit declaration of ‘foo3’ was here
foo3();
^
why was this error not shown earlier in case of foo1() and foo2() . Thankyou in advance.
My doubt is how could main() call foo1() and foo2() when they are not declared in main.c
Because the GCC compiler defaults to the old ANSI C (aka as C89) language, where undeclared functions are permitted and defaults to giving int result.
Try to invoke the compiler as e.g.
gcc -std=c99 -Wall -g -c main.c
or (if you want to compile all files at once)
gcc -std=c99 -Wall -g 1.c 2.c main.c -o main
You could ask for link time interprocedural optimizations with gcc -flto instead of gcc using a recent GCC, e.g. GCC 4.9 in september 2014.
This would want a C99 conforming source code where all functions should be declared.
The -Wall asks for (almost) all warnings. The -g option produces a debuggable object code (or executable for the last command compiling all files at once).
In your edited main.c when foo3 first occurrence (inside main) is encountered, the compiler guesses that it is a function returning int. When the compiler sees the definition of foo3 it rightly complains.
You could use the -Wstrict-prototypes warning option to gcc (but it is implied by -Wall which I always recommend using).
At link time, the type (and signature) of C functions does not matter. The linker just uses name to do its job (but C++ use name mangling). Of course, calling a function with the incorrect arguments or result is undefined behavior.
The good conventional practice is to have a common header file declaring all the used and public functions and types (and constants) and include that header file in your source files (this avoids to have to copy and paste these declarations several times). So you whould have a new header file myheader.h like
// file myheader.h
#ifndef MY_HEADER_INCLUDED
#define MY_HEADER_INCLUDED
void foo1(void);
void foo2(void);
void foo3(void);
#endif /*MY_HEADER_INCLUDED*/
and you would add #include "myheader.h" in all your source files (after the #include <stdio.h> directive there). Notice the include guard trick with MY_HEADER_INCLUDED.
In practice, header files usually contain comments explaining the API of your program.
Learn also about GNU make. It will ease the building of your multi-source code files programs (you just compile and build by running make). See this and that examples of Makefile. Understand that C preprocessing is the first phase of C compilation.

What's the difference between gcc and g++/gcc-c++?

It seems to me that gcc can deal with both c and c++ projects,so why is g++/gcc-c++ needed?
What's the difference between g++ and gcc-c++?
gcc will compile C source files as C and C++ source files as C++ if the file has an appropriate extension; however it will not link in the C++ library automatically.
g++ will automatically include the C++ library; by default it will also compile files with extensions that indicate they are C source as C++, instead of as C.
From http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Invoking-G_002b_002b.html#Invoking-G_002b_002b:
C++ source files conventionally use one of the suffixes .C, .cc, .cpp, .CPP, .c++, .cp, or .cxx; C++ header files often use .hh, .hpp, .H, or (for shared template code) .tcc; and preprocessed C++ files use the suffix .ii. GCC recognizes files with these names and compiles them as C++ programs even if you call the compiler the same way as for compiling C programs (usually with the name gcc).
However, the use of gcc does not add the C++ library. g++ is a program that calls GCC and treats .c, .h and .i files as C++ source files instead of C source files unless -x is used, and automatically specifies linking against the C++ library. This program is also useful when precompiling a C header file with a .h extension for use in C++ compilations.
For example, to compile a simple C++ program that writes to the std::cout stream, I can use either (MinGW on Windows):
g++ -o test.exe test.cpp
gcc -o test.exe test.cpp -lstdc++
But if I try:
gcc -o test.exe test.cpp
I get undefined references at link time.
And for the other difference, the following C program:
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
int* new;
int* p = malloc(sizeof(int));
*p = 42;
new = p;
printf("The answer: %d\n", *new);
return 0;
}
compiles and runs fine using:
gcc -o test.exe test.c
But gives several errors when compiled using:
g++ -o test.exe test.c
Errors:
test.c: In function 'int main()':
test.c:6:10: error: expected unqualified-id before 'new'
test.c:6:10: error: expected initializer before 'new'
test.c:7:32: error: invalid conversion from 'void*' to 'int*'
test.c:10:9: error: expected type-specifier before '=' token
test.c:10:11: error: lvalue required as left operand of assignment
test.c:12:36: error: expected type-specifier before ')' token
As far as I know, g++ uses the correct C++ linker options whereas gcc uses the C linker options (so you may get undefined references, etc.).

linking g++ code with shared library build with gcc

I made shared library using gcc . I would like to link this library using g++ comiler with source code *.c.
Example
test_init.c
#include<stdio.h>
int test_init()
{
printf(" test init success\n");
return 0;
}
gcc -shared -o libtest.so test_init.c
test.c
#include<stdio.h>
extern int test_init();
main()
{
test_init();
}
g++ -I. -L. -ltest test.c
/tmp/ccuH5tIO.o: In function main':
test.c:(.text+0x7): undefined
reference totest_init()' collect2:
ld returned 1 exit status
Note: If i compile test.c with gcc it works, but i would like to use this approach due to other dependencies. Is it possible??
You call C routines from C++ by declaring them
extern "C" {
....
}
Look into a few header files on your system or Google around -- that's the only way to do it because of different function signature systems between the languages.
As Dirk said, change extern int test_init(); to extern "C" { int test_init(); }
Usually -llibrary should be after object files or c/c++ files in gcc command line
g++ -I. -L. test.c -ltest
The linker searches for the symbols mentioned in test.c after it's processed and when you put -llib before test.c, it's just unable to find them.
See man ld for more info.
Not sure how the things are when you use extern, perhaps something is different in this case.

include stdio makefile

I'm trying to use the sprintf() function. Therefore I have to include the stdio.h in my C project. If I compile the project without including the stdio.h in my makefile, the compiler generates the error that sprintf() is a unknown function. Including the stdio.h to the makefile generates the error that there is "no rule to make target."
The makefile template gives the options as follows:
NAME = test
CC = arm-none-eabi-gcc
LD = arm-none-eabi-ld -v
AR = arm-none-eabi-ar
AS = arm-none-eabi-as
CP = arm-none-eabi-objcopy
OD = arm-none-eabi-objdump
CFLAGS = -I./ -c -fno-common -O0 -g -mcpu=cortex-m3 -mthumb
AFLAGS = -ahls -mapcs-32 -o crt.o
ASFLAGS = -Wa,-gstabs
LFLAGS = -Tlinkerscript_rom.cmd -nostartfiles
CPFLAGS = -Obinary
ODFLAGS = -S
I hope that you can help me out, because I have no desire to rewrite every standard function.
Sven
Makefiles don't read include files. The C preprocessor reads include files, before the resulting file is compiled by the compiler. You should include the header in your C file. Just add:
#include <stdio.h>
Somewhere close to the top, before any function definitions etc.
This will show a declaration of the function to the compiler, which will remove the warning.
Just include stdio.h at the top of your c file
#include <stdio.h>
The only reason to put a .h file in your makefile is so that the files dependent upon your header will be recompiled if anything in the header is changed. Needless to say, this is most commonly with header files you have written.
If there is an error after including stdio.h, you have a broken tool chain. If you update your question to indicate your platform, we may be able to help you fix it :)

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