"Transitive" dynamic link in c++

Question

Let's say I have a dynamic lib a.so.

Then I'm building b.so against a.so only if a.so is present on the machine.

Then I'm building executable c against b.so.

I was hoping to forget everything about a.so in c Makefile, but it appears that I need to add a in -L flags or I got undefined reference to a.so symbol during c link.

Is this normal with dynamic link or am I forgetting anything here?

Mariner

Yes, it is normal. If your executable depends on both a and b, then it certainly requires some (or all) exported symbols from both. Accordingly, you have to link against both so that these required symbols are resolved properly. To run the application you'd need both *.so as well. – Pratte

Possible duplicate: #5664838 – Evyn