How to create a shared library (.so) in an automake script?

Question

Given some source file test.cpp I would like to create a shared library libtest.so . I am trying to do this within the scope of an automake file however I cannot seem to get this to work.

For example under g++ I do the following:

g++ -shared -fPIC test.cpp -o libtest.so

Then I can create another file that will depend on the shared library as follows:

g++ mytest.cpp libtest.so -o blah

---

I have read that automake only supports making shared libraries via libtool. I have tried to get my automake script to work as follows but it never seems to produce an .so . The closest I have gotten is for it to produce an .la and .o file:

In configure.ac:

AC_ENABLE_SHARED
AC_DISABLE_STATIC
AC_PROG_LIBTOOL(libtool)

in Makefile.am

lib_LTLIBRARIES=libtest.la
libtest_la_SOURCES=test.cpp
libtest_la_CFLAGS=-fPIC
libtest_la_CPPFLAGS=-fPIC
libtest_la_CXXFLAGS=-fPIC
libtest_la_LDFLAGS= -shared -fPIC

---

Could someone give me an example of building an .so based on the above?

Kingkingbird

You should replace AC_PROG_LIBTOOL with LT_INIT – Gambell

Bah... after writing this i realized that the above did in fact create the .so file in a hidden .libs directory of my source directory. Hopefully this helps someone else who wonders about this. – Kingkingbird

Can someone post the complete examples of the files here? Not the source files, but configure.ac and Makefile.am. I can't make this work using the information in this thread. – Nevermore

Answer 1

If you just put LT_INIT in configure.ac and in Makefile.am, do:

lib_LTLIBRARIES = libtest.la
libtest_la_SOURCES = test.cpp
libtest_la_LDFLAGS = -version-info 0:0:0

you should get a .so. You should not specify -fPIC to CFLAGS, etc. The -version-info specifier is not necessary, but is a good idea.

Gambell

If it's for a test and not to be installed, shouldn't it be check_LTLIBRARIES? – Dees

@Jack check_LTLIBRARIES will not build a .so! I think the "test" in the question is not referring to the same sort of test as the check_ prefix implies. – Gambell