On 01/20/2014 03:43 PM, Juergen Beisert wrote:
> A *.a archive does not mean it is always a static library. The autotools for 
> example use them for internal libraries only. 'internal' means they get not 
> installed when "make install" runs, they are linked internally against the 
> produced binary, whatever it is.
> If this internal *.a library is intended to be linked against an application 
> its content is mostly compiled as NOPIC. If it is intended to be linked 
> against a shared library its content must be compiled as PIC.
> Thought this info could help you to sort out why the TDE buildsystem builds 
> more than variant of this library.
> 
> jbe

jbe,

  Thank you. It would have taken me hours to dig that knowledge up. And see my
presumption about it being graphics related was totally wrong. I'm no
autotools/cmake guru -- I end up fighting with them both more than using them.
Glad to know what an autotools archive is and at least understand what PIC and
NOPIC means in this context.

-- 
David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E.