[omniORB] linkHacks.h and "sophisticated" linkers

[Wolfgang Textor]

Hi,

when compiling one of the latest builds using Metrowerks CodeWarrior  
8.3 I encountered the problem, which has been described in the thread  
"Problems with SGI and OmniORB-4.0.0". The solution presented in the  
message archived as  
<http://www.omniorb-support.com/pipermail/omniorb-list/2003-January/ 
022836.html> did work for me as well, and I suggest to change the  
linkHacks mechanism according to this solution. I did, however, include  
the "if" statement into the function omni_codeSet_initialiser::attach()  
[exactly: after the line containing "omniCodeSet::logCodeSets();"].

Some technical background:
Even if they are forced to link any static initializers, some linkers  
include only initializers from every source file THEY LOOK AT. As I had  
to find out, the capitalized words are the important part. If those  
linkers completely ignore a file, because no functions from this file  
have to be included into the output, they never keep the initializers  
from this source file. In this case the only solution is to force the  
linker to include at least one function or variable from this file by  
explicitly referencing it from active code.

I have posted the suggestion below onto one of the CodeWarrior  
newsgroups and I am waiting for a response from Metrowerks. Maybe users  
of other compilers should suggest the same to their respective compiler  
manufacturers.

> At least for static initializers the following logic for determining  
> "used code" should be added:
> "If a source file contains any static initialization code and this  
> code references any variable from another source file, the  
> initialization code must be included."
> This rule covers initializers with side effects and should allow  
> dead-stripping in any case.

Regards,

Wolfgang Textor