Distributing static libraries

[Fabian Greffrath]

Am 11.08.2011 05:22, schrieb Andres Mejia:
> I have seen a commit with mp4v2 that disables building of the static
> library. Though I know binaries in Debian are normally linked with
> shared libraries, distributing the static library is beneficial to
> users with different requirements for software they distribute.
>
> I have heard of various use cases involving distribution of stand
> alone binaries (no dependent shared libraries).

The problem with this specific library is its license, which prohibits 
linking against about 99% of packages that come into consideration to 
make use of it. So most probably any application that statically links 
against it commits a license violation. :/

Therefore, many applications fall back to dlopen() the library, in 
which case only the header files (if at all) are required.

A similar case is libdvdcss. All applications that I know to make use 
of it try to dlopen() it instead of explicit linking, because they 
know that this library is widely considered undistributable - though 
for other reasons.

  - Fabian