make --static only apply to libraries. link exes with static flag when all libraries are static.

[gernest]

I'm using macos

$ zig version
0.3.0+634d11ab

I created a simple zig program from zig init-exe without any modification. Only updated build.zig to addStaticExecutable.

Full build.zig

const Builder = @import("std").build.Builder;

pub fn build(b: *Builder) void {
    const mode = b.standardReleaseOptions();
    const exe = b.addStaticExecutable("static_bin", "src/main.zig");
    exe.setBuildMode(mode);

    const run_step = b.step("run", "Run the app");
    const run_cmd = b.addCommand(".", b.env_map, [][]const u8{exe.getOutputPath()});
    run_step.dependOn(&run_cmd.step);
    run_cmd.step.dependOn(&exe.step);

    b.default_step.dependOn(&exe.step);
    b.installArtifact(exe);
}

I buiild zig from source

this is what I get when running zig build

$ zig build
lld: error: Unable to find library for -lcrt0.o

The following command exited with error code 1:
/Volumes/code/zig/zig-src/build/bin/zig build-exe /Volumes/code/projects/static_bin/src/main.zig --cache-dir /Volumes/code/projects/static_bin/zig-cache --output /Volumes/code/projects/static_bin/zig-cache/static_bin --name static_bin --static

Build failed. The following command failed:
/Users/g.ernest/Library/Application Support/zig/stage1/artifact/XnaMzL5v9s474uerZy7ikLO3pLp1uXTHKR3RfyZEdDzTvlhJt65NT14QPxOVaKjU/build /Volumes/code/zig/zig-src/build/bin/zig /Volumes/code/projects/static_bin /Volumes/code/projects/static_bin/zig-cache

Am I missing something?

[andrewrk]

I think we need to rework what "static" means in the context of executables. I started off by using the same concept as exists in C compilers, but then drifted away as other ideas started to make more sense, and now I think there is a clear direction for where to take this.

Here is some background:

• On Linux it's possible to create fully static executables because the stable syscall ABI is at the interrupt level.
• On Windows all executables dynamically link against kernel32.dll which is the stable syscall ABI.
• On MacOS all executables dynamically link against libSystem which is the stable syscall ABI.
• On FreeBSD all executables dynamically link against libc which is the stable syscall ABI.

So for an executable, there's not really any concept of "static" except on Linux. But even there, there's an easy way to determine if an executable should be static: it should be static if and only if all of its libraries are static, and this is only ever true for Linux and Freestanding.

I think we should remove the --static flag for executables. It really only applies to libraries.

[andrewrk]

Mind if I hijack this issue and turn it into an accepted proposal?

[andrewrk]

--static is no longer an option that Zig offers. Instead, everything is as static as possible, and if you want something dynamic instead, use -dynamic.