OT: Generall (GCC) compiler question

[Raffaele Sandrini <rasa@gmx.ch>]

Hi,

I have a short question about Libraries in GCC.

I recognized that almost everywhere there is a libxyz.a AND libxyz.so
or under Windows a libxyz.a AND xyz.dll.
Whats the difference or for what are the *.a files and the *.so OR *.dll files 
used?
Could it be true that the *.a files have to be comlield with the SAME compiler 
than the programm wich uses it but the *.so or *.dll don't. Or is it ture 
that the *.a files are only used at compile time?
And then there are *.la files and stuff like that... weird...

cheers,
Raffaele

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Raffaele Sandrini <rasa@gmx.ch>
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