to export or not to export, that is the question

[Rick Jones <rick jones2 hp com>]

Having read:

<http://developer.gnome.org/doc/API/2.0/glib/glib-Dynamic-Loading-of-Modules.html>

and despite its not being Shakespear I am left asking:

To export or not to export, that is the question. Whether 'tis nobler to 
suffer... well anyway, when should one use "gmodule-2.0" with pkg-config 
and when should one use the "export" version or the "no-export" version? 
 The API reference is mute on the topic.

The reason I ask stems from a problem I am encountering using pkg-config 
- it is not always the case that the compiler used to compile the 
libraries to be used is the same compiler used to compile the program 
which wishes to use those libraries.  This means that the full --cflags 
and/or --libs may contain options that the compiler being used to 
compile the program will not understand.  In my specific case, I am 
using the glib (and libxml) from http://hpux.connect.org.uk/ which was 
compiled with GCC but wish to compile netperf4 with HP ANSI C.  Or, more 
to the point, I do not wish to dictate the compiler used by the person 
wishing to use netperf4.  Netperf4 is to be "portable" C code and so 
should not depend on a specific compiler.

Those gcc-compiled bits have --pthread in the --cflags and --libs 
output, which is an option not understood by HP ANSI C.  So, I find 
myself experimenting with --cflags-only-I, --libs-only-L and 
--libs-only-l  which will leave only options known to all (or at least 
99 out of 10) compilers  but I'm leaving stuff like -pthread and 
-Wl,--export-dynamic on the floor  which may or may not be "OK" and 
while looking into that I came across the "export" and "no-export" 
flavors of gmodule pkg-config packages.

rick jones

FWIW, it would seem that the GCC with Xcode for 10.3.9 is 3.3 which also 
does not grok -pthread under OSX, so this meta-issue seems to crop-up 
even between versions of gcc.

PPS and yes, I have asked the meta question about differing compilers in 
the pkg-config mailing list :)