
    Starting with version 2.5.31-18 of flex we have started providing
 a static library compiled with position independent code, namely,
 libfl_pic.a.  The problem is with packages that contain shared
 libraries with a flex scanner compiled in. Since flex generates code
 that is not self contained, and the missing symbols live in
 libfl.a. However, since linking a shared library with a object
 containing non position independent code stopped working with gcc 4.1
 (apparently, it was sheer luck that it worked at all). So now we also
 provide libfl_pic.a for shared library packages to link with.

	An alternative would have been to provide a full fledged
 shared library, but that would have been a major break with upstream
 and other distributions that also have flex, and would entail
 creating new library and devel packages for flex, which is more work
 that seems justified (considering that we would have to maintain the
 fork, and keep track of any ABI changes, and all that).

 manoj

arch-tag: 7421b315-d205-4e09-9a81-0fef07ba57b7

 -- Manoj Srivastava <srivasta@debian.org>, Thu, 17 Apr 2014 01:11:31 -0700
