add compiler.get_linker_id() method

this can be useful for if/elif where linker behaviors must be
considered.

For example, clang with "link" vs gcc with "ld.bfd" etc.

ci for compiler.get_linker_id() method

doc

add @FeatureNew check

Co-Authored-By: Daniel Mensinger <daniel@mensinger-ka.de>

1 files changed, 23 insertions, 24 deletions

diff --git a/docs/markdown/Compiler-properties.md b/docs/markdown/Compiler-properties.md
index 4f5ebdb..5d29dd1 100644
--- a/docs/markdown/Compiler-properties.md
+++ b/docs/markdown/Compiler-properties.md
@@ -25,13 +25,16 @@ know the operating system your code will run on, issue this command:
 host_machine.system()
 ```
 
-Compiler id
-==
+## Compiler id
 
-The compiler object has a method called `get_id`, which returns a
-lower case string describing the "family" of the compiler.
+The compiler object method `get_id` returns a
+lower case string describing the "family" of the compiler. Since 0.53.0
+`get_linker_id` returns a lower case string with the linker name. Since
+compilers can often choose from multiple linkers depending on operating
+system, `get_linker_id` can be useful for handling or mitigating effects
+of particular linkers.
 
-The compiler object also has a method `get_argument_syntax` which 
+The compiler object also has a method `get_argument_syntax` which
 returns a lower case string of `gcc`, `msvc`, or another undefined string
 value; identifying whether the compiler arguments use the same syntax as
 either `gcc` or `msvc`, or that its arguments are not like either. This should
@@ -41,11 +44,14 @@ with `has_argument`.
 See [reference tables](Reference-tables.md#compiler-ids) for a list of supported compiler
 ids and their argument type.
 
-Does code compile?
-==
+## Does code compile?
 
 Sometimes the only way to test the system is to try to compile some
-sample code and see if it works. This is a two-phase operation. First
+sample code and see if it works. For example, this can test that a
+"C++17" compiler actually supports a particular C++17 feature,
+without resorting to maintaining a feature list vs. compiler vendor,
+compiler version and operating system.
+Testing that a code snippet runs is a two-phase operation. First
 we define some code using the multiline string operator:
 
 ```meson
@@ -65,8 +71,7 @@ depending on whether the compilation succeeded or not. The keyword
 argument `name` is optional. If it is specified, Meson will write the
 result of the check to its log.
 
-Does code compile and link?
-==
+## Does code compile and link?
 
 Sometimes it is necessary to check whether a certain code fragment not
 only compiles, but also links successfully, e.g. to check if a symbol
@@ -90,11 +95,11 @@ depending on whether the compilation and linking succeeded or not. The
 keyword argument `name` is optional. If it is specified, Meson will
 write the result of the check to its log.
 
-
-Compile and run test application
-==
+## Compile and run test application
 
 Here is how you would compile and run a small test application.
+Testing if a code snippets **runs** versus merely that it links
+is particularly important for some dependencies such as MPI.
 
 ```meson
 code = '''#include<stdio.h>
@@ -126,9 +131,7 @@ if result.stdout().strip() == 'some_value'
 endif
 ```
 
-
-Does a header exist?
-==
+## Does a header exist?
 
 Header files provided by different platforms vary quite a lot. Meson
 has functionality to detect whether a given header file is available
@@ -142,8 +145,7 @@ if compiler.has_header('sys/fstat.h')
 endif
 ```
 
-Expression size
-==
+## Expression size
 
 Often you need to determine the size of a particular element (such as
 `int`, `wchar_t` or `char*`). Using the `compiler` variable mentioned
@@ -163,8 +165,7 @@ In older versions (<= 0.30) meson would error out if the size could
 not be determined. Since version 0.31 it returns -1 if the size could
 not be determined.
 
-Does a function exist?
-==
+## Does a function exist?
 
 Just having a header doesn't say anything about its
 contents. Sometimes you need to explicitly check if some function
@@ -192,8 +193,7 @@ report the function as missing. Without the header however, it would lack
 the necessary availability information and incorrectly report the function
 as available.
 
-Does a structure contain a member?
-==
+## Does a structure contain a member?
 
 Some platforms have different standard structures. Here's how one
 would check if a struct called `mystruct` from header `myheader.h`
@@ -205,8 +205,7 @@ if compiler.has_member('struct mystruct', 'some_member', prefix : '#include<myhe
 endif
 ```
 
-Type alignment
-==
+## Type alignment
 
 Most platforms can't access some data types at any address. For
 example it is common that a `char` can be at any address but a 32 bit