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cconventions

Distribute Libraries Written in C

Suppose I have some code written in C with some data structures defined and some functions to work with those structures and all that is in a directory called src1. Suppose now I want to distribute this code.

If I want to use the external code in src1 in a project what should I do? Should I compile the code in src1 to an .a archive and then include that archive in the other projects I want to use?

Basically what I need to know is the correct conventions to use external code in a project.

Thanks in advance.

Solution

  • To distribute the code in the form of libraries you need follow the below steps:

    1. List down the set of structure, functions, macros etc which you want to expose to other projects.
    2. Group the set of data listed in Point-1 into a set of header files. Rest of your internal stuff can be in other header files.
    3. Compile your code into a static(It will .a for linux based systems or .lib for windows) or dynamic library (It will be a .so/.sl for linux based systems or .dll for windows)
    4. Provide your library and the set of exposed header files (as decided in point-2 above) to the other projects.

    Link for creating static or shared libraries using gcc is here

    Link for creating static or dynamic libraries in Windows using MSVC is here