Subject:   -41- Why are some non-shared libraries missing in IRIX 5.x?
Date: 02 Jan 1995 00:00:01 EST

  - Some of the non-shared libraries which do come with IRIX 5.x are
    installed by default and some are not.  The shared library you want
    may be in one of the "speclibs" subsystems,
    e.g. dev.sw.irix_speclibs, which contains /usr/lib/nonshared/crt1.o,
    a very popular item among those compiling nonshared.

  - IRIX 5.x does not have non-shared versions of some libraries,
    notably libX11.a. Nonshared libraries are provided if 1) they are
    required by the MIPS ABI (Application Binary Interface), a
    binary-compatibility standard, 2) they are needed to compile
    benchmarks (these are the libraries in the "speclibs" subsystems) or
    3) SGI hasn't gotten around to providing a shared library.

  So, why do you want that nonshared library?

  - If you just want to compile something whose link statement
    explicitly specifies a particular nonshared library, substitute the
    shared version (e.g. libX11.so.1 instead of libX11.a).

  - If you really need a nonshared application, and you can't find all
    the nonshared libraries you need, you're out of luck.