[GHC] #9498: GHC links against unversioned .so files

[GHC]

#9498: GHC links against unversioned .so files
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        Reporter:  Kritzefitz        |                   Owner:
            Type:  feature request   |                  Status:  new
        Priority:  low               |               Milestone:
       Component:  Compiler (FFI)    |                 Version:  7.6.3
      Resolution:                    |                Keywords:  Debian
Operating System:  Linux             |            Architecture:
                                     |  Unknown/Multiple
 Type of failure:  Other             |               Test Case:
      Blocked By:                    |                Blocking:
 Related Tickets:                    |  Differential Revisions:
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Changes (by trommler):

 * owner:  trommler =>


Comment:

 Replying to [comment:9 rwbarton]:
 > That means we need to record the fact that `-lcurl` is necessary when
 linking against the static Haskell library but not when linking against
 the dynamic Haskell library, right?
 You are right, the dynamic library is linked against the versioned C
 library and no extra `-lcurl` is required. At build time we need the
 development package for libcurl so the link editor (ld) can link the
 dynamic Haskell library. To use the dynamic Haskell library the
 unversioned library is not needed anymore.

 To load a static library we use the RTS linker and the RTS linker needs to
 load dependent C libraries explicitly. Unfortunately we cannot assume that
 the C library with a specific version is installed. So the RTS linker
 looks for the unversioned library and tries to load that.

 So yes, the unversioned C library is currently necessary to load a static
 Haskell library but not needed to load a dynamic Haskell library.

 Perhaps we could make cabal record the version information for C libraries
 in the package database as suggested in comment:8 and change the RTS
 linker to use that information?

 I don't have time to work on this now, so I am disowning the ticket.

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Ticket URL: <http://ghc.haskell.org/trac/ghc/ticket/9498#comment:10>
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