Can a statically linked application also link to some dynamic libraries?

Question

I'm building an application using Qt 5.8 and setting up for static builds (since this seems to be the best way to get OpenSSL working when deploying the application to other computers). However, we also have a dependency on WebEngine which cannot be built statically.

Is it possible to build the application using a statically built Qt5.8 but still dynamically link the WebEngine libraries when compiling?

I can get the application working with a fully dynamic build - so will it simply dynamically link any libraries that weren't built into the static compiler? Obviously, I will still need to provide the dynamic library with the executable when deploying.

@Asesh very helpful, thank you – HorusKol Jun 23 '17 at 04:35 — HorusKol, Jun 23 '17 at 04:35

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 23 '17 at 05:07

0

Yes you can. Almost all build systems used in Qt (qmake, cmake, qbs) provide easy options for linking both static and dynamic libraries.

What build system are you using?

answered Jun 23 '17 at 05:07

snoopy

328
1
12

qmake and nmake - MSVC-2015 – HorusKol Jun 23 '17 at 05:11

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 23 '17 at 06:12

Yes, you can do it. I had to build Net-SNMP which gave me a ./configure file in which I mentioned the shared and static library, wherein the system libraries were dynamically linked and OpenSSL was statically linked.

You can go through ./configure file post downloading Net-SNMP and go through the file which does the same task and tweak the values according to your usage and environment.

Additionally, go through link 1 and link 2 which will give you a brief idea about how to create a shared and dynamic library.

Can a statically linked application also link to some dynamic libraries?

2 Answers2