Proper way to link a static library using GCC

Question

Why is it that some static libraries (lib*.a) can be linked in the same way that shared libraries (lib*.so) are linked (ld -l switch), but some can not?

I had always

Answer 1

The correct way to link a static library is using -l, but that only works if the library can be found on the search path. If it's not then you can add the directory to the list using -L or name the file by name, as you say.

The same is true for shared libraries, actually, although they're more likely to be found, perhaps.