[FFmpeg-devel] archive ffmpeg all objs into one lib, feasible?

Gwenole Beauchesne gb.devel at gmail.com
Thu Sep 18 10:15:40 CEST 2014


Hi,

2014-09-17 16:37 GMT+02:00 Lynn Yu <yuqilin1228 at gmail.com>:
> I've build ffmpeg static libraries,  and all necessary objs (*.o) generated
> in their source directory.
>
> I use 'ar' to archive all these objs into one libffmpeg.a.
>
> command: *ar rc libffmpeg.a *.o*
>
> I notice that, there are some objs have same name in different dirs, for
> example *libavformat/4xm.o and libavcodec/4xm.o*.
>
> by 'nm libffmpeg.a', it seems both objs are there?
>
> 'man ar' I find that, if obj with same name and Exactly with same function
> symbols, latter one will be replaced ,right?
>
> by this 'ar' way, will libffmpeg.a work correctly? because there so many
> symbols I can't test every one.

What you describe is possible, but I don't recommend you to do so,
just as is. What are you precisely trying to achieve?

Something that I usually do, which is simple and clean to maintain,
is: ship with a dedicated DSO (shared library) of FFmpeg, with only
the symbols you are interested in, but placed into a separate
namespace so that to avoid clashes with a system version that might
(under particular conditions) get in indirectly, depending on the
nature of your project and its dependencies.

Hints:
1. Fetch FFmpeg sources at compile-time, e.g. a specific version you
are interested in, make it a git submodule, if you use git.
2. Configure FFmpeg with --enable-static --enable-pic --disable-shared
--disable-all --enable-decoder="decoders_you_want"
--enable-demuxer="demuxers_you_want" [...], etc. You see the picture?
enable only the components you are interested in, FFmpeg is very
flexible for that.
3. Agglomerate all the generated *.a into a DSO and use a linker
script to place all av* symbols into a particular namespace and make
all other symbols private, internal. e.g. SOMETHING_FFMPEG { global:
av*; local: *; };
4. Link the rest of your project with those built-in FFmpeg headers
and libraries, ship with the FFmpeg DSO.

Of course, you still have the option to link against system libraries,
which would be the preferred process in most cases, IMHO.

Regards,
-- 
Gwenole Beauchesne
Intel Corporation SAS / 2 rue de Paris, 92196 Meudon Cedex, France
Registration Number (RCS): Nanterre B 302 456 199


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