gcc - Very strange linker behavior

Question

This is strange because I was able to get the error below to go away by removing the reference to libm.

gcc -o example example.o -Wl -L/home/kensey/cdev/lib -L/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu   -lmysqlclient -lpthread -lz -L/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu -lm -lrt -ldl -lcdev -L/home/kensey/www.tools/gplot-lib -lgplot -L/home/kensey/www.tools/gd1_3ret -lgd -lxml2 -lcurl
/usr/bin/ld: /home/kensey/www.tools/gplot-lib/libgplot.a(set.o): undefined reference to symbol 'floor@@GLIBC_2.2.5'
/usr/bin/ld: note: 'floor@@GLIBC_2.2.5' is defined in DSO /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libm.so so try adding it to the linker command line
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libm.so: could not read symbols: Invalid operation
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status

So, if I remove the -lm part of the command, I do not get the error. However, I wonder if anyone knows as to why removing a reference to a library that is needed would fix this. How does the linker know which library to look in? Also - is there a way to query a built executable and say 'which library did you resolve the reference to 'floor'? obviously, there is something going on that I don't understand, and that bothers me...

Answer 1

The explanation to what's happening is very simple:

1. Your libgplot.a depends on libm.so, yet the order of -lm and -lgplot on the link line is wrong. The order of libraries on the link line does matter. In general, system libraries (-lpthread, -lm, -lrt, -ldl) should follow everything else on the link line.

2. When you remove -lm from the link line, libm.so.6 is still pulled into the link by some other library that appears later on the link line (libgd, libxml2 or libcurl) because that library depends on libm.so.6. But now libm.so.6 is in correct place on the link line, and so everything works.

if I put -lm at the end of the link command, listing it as the last library, I do not get the error.

That confirms above explanation.