[KLUG Members] What is an *.la file (in /usr/lib; concerning GroupWise plugin)

[Adam Williams]

I'm working with OpengroupWare, and checked out the CVS module for the
evolution plugin to see if it was there yet (it's not).

BTW....
$ export CVSROOT=":pserver:anonymous@cvs.opengroupware.org:/cvs"
$ cvs login # (just press enter for the password)
$ cvs checkout OpenGroupware.org
{They say - Any day now;  and don't do this in your homedirectory or
you'll drop the source into your evolution folders. :) }

But there is the source to Ximian's Novell Groupwise plugin.

So I was just curious if the Groupwise plugin would even compile.  I ran
"./autogen.sh; ./configure" - and that worked.  Then I ran "make" and it
seemed to be going along happily until...

make[2]: Entering directory
`/home/awilliam/packages/ogo/evolution/evolution-groupwise/lib'
/bin/sh ../libtool --mode=link gcc  -g -O2 -Wall -Wunused
-Wchar-subscripts -Wmissing-declarations -Wmissing-prototypes
-Wnested-externs -Wpointer-arith -Wsign-promo -Wno-sign-compare    -o
gw-client  gw-client.o ../lib/libgroupwise.a -pthread
-Wl,--export-dynamic -L/usr/lib/evolution/1.4 -L/usr/X11R6/lib -leshell
-lpcs -lcal-util -lcal-client -lical-evolution -lwombat -leutil
-lgal-2.0 -lgal-a11y-2.0 -lgnomeprint-2-2 -lsoup-2.0 -lglade-2.0
-lgnomeui-2 -lSM -lICE -lbonoboui-2 -lxml2 -lpthread -lz -lgnomecanvas-2
-lgnome-2 -lart_lgpl_2 -lpangoft2-1.0 -lgtk-x11-2.0 -lgdk-x11-2.0 -lXi
-lXinerama -lXext -latk-1.0 -lgdk_pixbuf-2.0 -lpangoxft-1.0 -lXft
-lfreetype -lXrender -lfontconfig -lpangox-1.0 -lX11 -lpango-1.0
-lbonobo-2 -lgconf-2 -lgnomevfs-2 -lbonobo-activation -lORBit-2 -lm
-llinc -lgmodule-2.0 -ldl -lgobject-2.0 -lgthread-2.0 -lglib-2.0
libtool: link: cannot find the library `/usr/lib/liblinc.la'
make[2]: *** [gw-client] Error 1
make[2]: Leaving directory
`/home/awilliam/packages/ogo/evolution/evolution-groupwise/lib'
make[1]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory
`/home/awilliam/packages/ogo/evolution/evolution-groupwise'
make: *** [all] Error 2

Now I have "ls /usr/lib/linlinc.*"

/usr/lib/liblinc.a  /usr/lib/liblinc.so  /usr/lib/liblinc.so.1 
/usr/lib/liblinc.so.1.0.0

and these are from -

[awilliam@estate2 evolution-groupwise]$ rpm -qf /usr/lib/liblinc.a
linc-devel-1.0.2-0.ximian.6.1
[awilliam@estate2 evolution-groupwise]$ rpm -q linc
linc-1.0.2-0.ximian.6.1
[awilliam@estate2 evolution-groupwise]$ rpm -q linc-devel
linc-devel-1.0.2-0.ximian.6.1

But what is a *.la file?  Is it different than a *.a?  Are these just
static libraries?

I don't even know if the GroupWise plugin works, and I don't have a
GroupWise server anyway.  I was just curious about the buildability and
then discovered this little gap in my understanding.