From e19a49b8957cd06d6f121812b7b00ef60a57fc7c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: David Seifert <16636962+SoapGentoo@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Mon, 9 Sep 2019 01:48:57 +0200
Subject: Fix static archives stripping (#5905)

* Do not strip static archives

Stripping static archives without more fine-grained options (e.g. `-g`)
leads to failures such as

    ld: libfoo.a: error adding symbols: archive has no index; run ranlib to add one

because GNU strip removes *every* symbol in a static archive by default.
Given that static archives are not final build artifacts (unlike
executables and shared libraries), stripping them gains little and only
causes more edge case failures.

* Gentoo's portage only strips debug information:
  https://github.com/gentoo/portage/blob/86f211e3a552753eb945670a39c1a3b14c3c3bd1/bin/estrip#L322
* Fedora also only strips debug information:
  https://github.com/rpm-software-management/rpm/blob/e9c13c6565cf4782d1f73255ee9144dd9bd2aca7/scripts/brp-strip-static-archive#L18
* Debian also only does some very light stripping:
  https://github.com/Debian/debhelper/blob/72ed1d3261730d56da6afde0ec7f52f32976e04d/dh_strip#L374

Fixes #4138

* Add test case for static archive stripping
---
 mesonbuild/backend/backends.py | 15 ++++++++++++++-
 1 file changed, 14 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

(limited to 'mesonbuild/backend')

diff --git a/mesonbuild/backend/backends.py b/mesonbuild/backend/backends.py
index c0b2666..773c75e 100644
--- a/mesonbuild/backend/backends.py
+++ b/mesonbuild/backend/backends.py
@@ -1089,7 +1089,20 @@ class Backend:
             install_mode = t.get_custom_install_mode()
             # Install the target output(s)
             if isinstance(t, build.BuildTarget):
-                should_strip = self.get_option_for_target('strip', t)
+                # In general, stripping static archives is tricky and full of pitfalls.
+                # Wholesale stripping of static archives with a command such as
+                #
+                #   strip libfoo.a
+                #
+                # is broken, as GNU's strip will remove *every* symbol in a static
+                # archive. One solution to this nonintuitive behaviour would be
+                # to only strip local/debug symbols. Unfortunately, strip arguments
+                # are not specified by POSIX and therefore not portable. GNU's `-g`
+                # option (i.e. remove debug symbols) is equivalent to Apple's `-S`.
+                #
+                # TODO: Create GNUStrip/AppleStrip/etc. hierarchy for more
+                #       fine-grained stripping of static archives.
+                should_strip = not isinstance(t, build.StaticLibrary) and self.get_option_for_target('strip', t)
                 # Install primary build output (library/executable/jar, etc)
                 # Done separately because of strip/aliases/rpath
                 if outdirs[0] is not False:
-- 
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