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From: ok@goanna.cs.rmit.oz.au (Richard A. O'Keefe)
Newsgroups: 
 comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.c,comp.lang.c++,comp.lang.modula2,comp.lang.misc
Subject: Re: Grouping data from different modules together
Message-ID: <16940@goanna.cs.rmit.oz.au>
Date: 10 Mar 93 07:43:53 GMT
References: <1993Mar1.153217.3290@ibr.cs.tu-bs.de>
 <1993Mar4.080713.19045@ibr.cs.tu-bs.de>
Followup-To: comp.lang.c
Organization: Comp Sci, RMIT, Melbourne, Australia
Date: 1993-03-10T07:43:53+00:00
List-Id: <comp.lang.ada>

In article <1993Mar4.080713.19045@ibr.cs.tu-bs.de>, hestermeyer@ida.ing.tu-bs.de (Andreas Hestermeyer) writes:
> But how should we tell the linker ?
    [ about grouping things ]
> If we don't do that in the language
> we again run into a situation where we would have to make changes in more 
> than one file, if we change only one thing. 
> And, looking at the way linkers presently get their instructions what to do :
> it's all in the language by using keywords like 'extern' (C,C++). Why shouldn't
> something like this be used here ?

Read the manual for the UNIX System V linker.  It will surprise you.
The on-line manual page says something like

	An input file [specified on the command line] that is not an
	object file is assumed to be an archive library (see ar(1))
	OR A TEXT FILE CONTAINING LINK EDITOR DIRECTIVES (see "The
	Link Editor" in the [System V] Programmer's Guide).

You can do amazing things with the System V linker.  And what's more,
you can do them with _all_ supported languages.  System dependent concepts
belong in system dependent tools.