Trying to statically link Boost

Question

I am working in Linux, Eclipse CDT, g++, with Boost library. Having existing program which uses Boost thread, I try to link it statically instead of dynamically. /usr/local/lib directory contains the following files:

libbost_thread.a
libbost_thread.so
libbost_thread.1.41.0

Dynamic linking works:

g++  -o"MyProgram"  ./main.o   -lboost_thread

Static linking:

g++ -static -o"MyProgram"  ./main.o   -lboost_thread

produces huge number of messages like:

undefined reference to `pthread_mutex_init'

How can I link statically to the Boost library?

This is almost identical to your previous question stackoverflow.com/questions/2328439/boost-static-linking and duplicate posts are generally frowned-upon. — Dirk Eddelbuettel
@Dirk - they are related but definitely different. The previous question was how to tell the linker to use the .a instead of the .so. This question is about problems that happens once he does that. It's better to post a new related question then to tack on new questions to an existing one. — R Samuel Klatchko
@Samuel: I stand corrected, and learned from you about the -pthread linker option. Thanks! — Dirk Eddelbuettel

R Samuel Klatchko R Samuel Klatchko · Accepted Answer · 2010-02-27T17:12:44

For pthread_mutex_init, you want to compile/link with -pthread option:

g++ -static -pthread -o"MyProgram"  ./main.o   -lboost_thread

The problem is that functions like pthread_mutex_init are in a separate library. Dynamic libraries can include the metadata for the fact that it needs the separate library (so libboost_thread.so includes the fact that it needs libpthread).

But static libraries don't have that information. So you need to provide the reference to any necessary libraries when you link statically.

As for using -pthread instead of -lpthread, it's slightly preferable because it not only links the necessary library, but provides any other options that should be used (such a -D_REENTRANT to the compiler).

Trying to statically link Boost

3 Answers