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c++static-librariesstatic-linkingone-definition-rule

Linking to a library that links to a lib I'm already linking to

Forgive the convoluted title.

The setup for this problem is as follows:

I have an open source lib I have built into a bunch of .libs (VTK if you were curious)

I have a library that uses the aforementioned static lib. Lets call it Lib A.

I also have an application that uses the aforementioned library (i.e. VTK) AND also uses Lib A.

During build time, I get a linker error telling me that a function called from Lib A has already been defined in a library that is linked to the application (error: LNK2005)

Any ideas on how to fix this short of switching everything to be dynamically linked?

Solution

  • Alright. I figured out what I was doing wrong.

    Lib A was using the statically built version of VTK while the main app was linking against a dynamic-linked version of VTK.

    So the problem really was that I had the same functions defined in a .lib and a .dll which caused the linker to fail.