Shared Library won't compile, *.a file missing

Question

I'm trying to make a shared library, in Linux, which is a *.so. My DMD version is 2, latest. I'm just trying yo compile a simple empty shared library, with the code that Mono-D(plugin for MonoDevelop) creates. When I try to compile it, it tells me to check the build log, this is what's in the build log:

Building Solution: QScr (Debug)

Building: QScr (Debug)
Performing main compilation...
Current dictionary: /home/nafees/Desktop/Projects/QScr/QScr
dmd -debug -gc "myclass.d" "dllmain.d"  "-I/usr/include/dmd" "-L/IMPLIB:/home/nafees/Desktop/Projects/QScr/QScr/bin/Debug/libQScr.a" "-odobj/Debug" "-of/home/nafees/Desktop/Projects/QScr/QScr/bin/Debug/libQScr.so" -w -vcolumns
/usr/bin/ld: cannot find /IMPLIB:/home/nafees/Desktop/Projects/QScr/QScr/bin/Debug/libQScr.a: No such file or directory
collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status
--- errorlevel 1
Exit code 1
Build complete -- 1 error, 0 warnings

---------------------- Done ----------------------

Build: 1 error, 0 warnings

This is what dllmain contains:

module dllmain;

And in myclass.d:

module myclass;

class MyClass
{
    //TODO: Enter class code here
}

export:
extern(D):

MyClass createMyClass()
{
    return new MyClass();
}

I have no idea what is that a file, I'm still fairly new to D, and Linux. How do I get it to compile? And could someone explain to me what is an .a file?

EDIT: No, it's not a duplicate, I'm trying to compile, while that question is about loading libraries.

EDIT2: I checked the directory, the .a file doesn't exist.

Possible duplicate of [Linux error while loading shared libraries: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/480764/linux-error-while-loading-shared-libraries-cannot-open-shared-object-file-no-s) — t0mm13b, Apr 09 '16 at 12:37
A .a file is typically a static library. These are usually created with the `ar` utility. For example, see `man ar`. — rkersh, Apr 12 '16 at 04:11

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 09 '16 at 12:43

1

/usr/bin/ld: cannot find /IMPLIB:/home/nafees/Desktop/Projects/QScr/QScr/bin/Debug/libQScr.a: No such file or directory

/IMPLIB is a Windows linker switch. Your IDE is misconfigured (or just buggy).

Try changing the project settings in the IDE or filing a bug against the IDE.

answered Apr 09 '16 at 12:43

Vladimir Panteleev

24,651
6
70
114

So what should be there instead of /IMPLIB? – Nafees Apr 09 '16 at 12:46
AFAIK ELF does not need import libraries at all, since all symbols share a global namespace. – Vladimir Panteleev Apr 09 '16 at 16:04
I've updated the question, could you take a look at EDIT2? – Nafees Apr 10 '16 at 05:39
On Windows, `/IMPLIB` tells the linker where to *create* the import library, so it's expected that it wouldn't exist. – Vladimir Panteleev Apr 10 '16 at 12:14

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 09 '16 at 12:47

Few things.

extern(D) would not be needed for free functions since it is default
You don't need createMyClass function at all, new will work fine
-shared must be passed to dmd for it to create a shared library

In case you didn't know, you will be passing the files in the shared library as import files when compiling the host binary.

Shared Library won't compile, *.a file missing

2 Answers2