I have a set of C files that I would like to use. Can I just copy them to my include directory, or do I have to compile them. I would think they would be compiled in the final binary.
+1
A:
Yes, they need to be compiled so that they are available at the linking step. C is not an interpreted language, so having the sources present in an include directory would do nothing for execution.
danben
2010-07-10 11:55:18
+2
A:
You need to compile those C files if you want to use them.
To make use of what's in those C files, you'll nead a header file that declares what's inside them. Those header files is what you'd put in your include folder, and you'll compile the C files together with your other C files. (Or you could make a library out of those C files)
nos
2010-07-10 11:57:11
A:
You can keep the source files at the same location. The include files will be in the include directory. You can use the compilation option -I./<include-file-directory> to specify from where to fetch the include files.
The final binary will be compiled version of all your source files which you give to the compiler. You have to explicitly specify every file to be compiled along the with final executable name.
In case you dont do so a default executable is created with the name a.out(i am assuming the platform to be linux and compiler to be gcc) in the directory where you compile.
Check the link for more details on compilation using Makefile.
Praveen S
2010-07-10 13:27:40