How do I load a shared object in C++?

Question

I have a shared object (a so - the Linux equivalent of a Windows dll) that I'd like to import and use with my test code.

I'm sure it's not this simple ;) but this is the sort of thing I'd like to do..

#include "headerforClassFromBlah.h"

int main()
{
    load( "blah.so" );

    ClassFromBlah a;
    a.DoSomething();
}

I assume that this is a really basic question but I can't find anything that jumps out at me searching the web.

Answer 1

It depends on the platform. To do it at runtime, on Linux, you use dlopen, on windows, you use LoadLibrary.

To do it at compile time, on windows you export the function name using dllexport and dllimport. On linux, gcc exports all public symbols so you can just link to it normally and call the function. In both cases, typically this requires you to have the name of the symbol in a header file that you then #include, then you link to the library using the facilities of your compiler.

Answer 2

You need to #include any headers associated with the shared library to get the declrarations of things like ClassFromBlah. You then need to link against the the .so - exactly how you do this depends on your compiler and general instalation, but for g++ something like:

g++ myfile.cpp -lblah

will probably work.

Answer 3

There are two ways of loading shared objects in C++

For either of these methods you would always need the header file for the object you want to use. The header will contain the definitions of the classes or objects you want to use in your code.

Statically:

#include "blah.h"
int main()
{
  ClassFromBlah a;
  a.DoSomething();
}

gcc yourfile.cpp -lblah

Dynamically (In Linux):

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <dlfcn.h>
int main(int argc, char **argv) {
    void *handle;
    double (*cosine)(double);
    char *error;
    handle = dlopen ("libm.so", RTLD_LAZY);
    if (!handle) {
        fprintf (stderr, "%s\n", dlerror());
        exit(1);
    }
    dlerror();    /* Clear any existing error */
    cosine = dlsym(handle, "cos");
    if ((error = dlerror()) != NULL)  {
        fprintf (stderr, "%s\n", error);
        exit(1);
    }
    printf ("%f\n", (*cosine)(2.0));
    dlclose(handle);
    return 0;
}

*Stolen from dlopen Linux man page The process under windows or any other platform is the same, just replace dlopen with the platforms version of dynamic symbol searching.

For the dynamic method to work, all symbols you want to import/export must have extern'd C linkage.

There are some words Here about when to use static and when to use dynamic linking.