shared libraries, when to use them

[Kaleb Keithley]

In article <8448 at auspex.auspex.com> guy at auspex.auspex.com (Guy Harris) writes:
>
> >You can't, because SunOS doesn't have shared libraries.  (What it does
> >have is shared object files.  What's the difference?  You can link in
> >part of a library without linking in the rest, among other things.)
>
>Just out of curiosity, who *has* implemented shared libraries?
>("Multics" is, unless I misremember, not the correct answer.)

This sounds like a semantics debate.  A library is a set of object files.
A *shared* library is a set of *shared* object files, maybe?

So, if I understand SunOS and its shared libraries (and it's possible
I don't.)  The shared libraries are created with the link editor, and
one monolithic binary "library" is created.  Later, at run-time, if a 
reference to one symbol in a SunOS shared library causes the whole image 
to be loaded into memory (unused sections may be paged out later) then 
perhaps Sun has a poor implementation?

Two questions come to mind, one easy, one hard:

How do SV.[34] shared libraries differ from SunOS shared libraries?

What is the "correct" way to implement X Widget libraries, specifically,
should the class record be in the libXaw.sa.4.2 part of the shared library?

-- 

Kaleb Keithley                               kaleb at thyme.jpl.nasa.gov

No flashy sig. No clever quips. No famous quotes. This space for rent.