C shared library

It looks in the default directories /lib then /usr/lib (disabled with the -z nodeflib linker option).

When the -fsanitize=address option is used to link a program, the GCC driver automatically links against libasan . If libasan is available as a shared library, and the -static option is not used, then this links against the shared version of libasan .

gcc -l links with a library file. gcc -L looks in directory for library files.

A shared library can be accessed through different names :

A shared library is a file containing object code that several a. out files may use simultaneously while executing. When a program is link edited with a shared library, the library code that defines the program’s external references is not copied into the program’s object file . Instead, a special section called .

You can’t statically link a shared library (or dynamically link a static one). The flag -static will force the linker to use static libraries (. a) instead of shared (. so) ones.