Subject: Re: libpthread busted?
To: None <tls@rek.tjls.com>
From: Gary Duzan <gary@duzan.org>
List: tech-userlevel
Date: 03/05/2003 19:13:02
In Message <20030305181704.GA9003@rek.tjls.com> ,
   Thor Lancelot Simon <tls@rek.tjls.com> wrote:

=>It seems to me that any executable that wishes to dlopen() objects that
=>may reference pthread functions *is inherently a threaded application*
=>and must, therefore, itself be linked to libpthread at compile time.  Any
=>method of hiding the fact that one is changing boats mid-stream seems
=>highly prone to error and highly likely to come back to bite us in the
=>future.

   It would be fairly evil, but it seems that some bit of magic to
automagically link in pthreads when dlopen() is referenced in the
object file would deal with the problem. I doubt you can ever predict
accurately whether or not a program which calls dlopen() is going to
try to load something threaded, so it would be safest to assume that
you will, which is going to require pthreads.

   Of course, I have no idea how hard this would actually be, and
it could cause other problems, e.g., if these pluggable authentication
schemes which use dlopen() ever show up, but it is a thought.

					Gary Duzan