Constructors of library objects doesn't get called

[Rüdiger Ranft <_rdi_ at web dot de>]

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Hi list,

I figured out a stange behavior, when a progamm is linked aginst a lib
archive. If there are object files in the archive, which have
constrution functions, they do not get called, unless some other symbol
of the object file is referenced by the using program. When the linking
is done directly with the .o files instead an .a file, the ctors are
called. Also the ctors are get called when a symbol of the library is
referenced from another program part. So I guess when there is no
referencing part to the library during linking, the whole archive gets
silently dropped by the linker.

I attached a test case for this behavior, which builds 4 demonstration
programs:
~    | Residence of i | link    | result
- ----+----------------+---------+-------
vll | lib            | lib     | ok
vlo | lib            | objects | ok
vpl | program        | lib     | BAD
vpo | program        | objects | ok

The main problem for me is that I use a tool for generating some
autoregistration stuff for a plugin system, which relies on the call to
the constructors of a c++ object inside the sources.

bye
Rudi.

PS: Please CC me, I'm not on the list

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