Static Libraries
Historically, libraries could only be static. A static library, also known as an archive, consists of a set of routines which are copied into a target application by the compiler, linker, or binder, producing object files and a stand-alone executable file. This process, and the stand-alone executable file, are known as a static build of the target application. Actual addresses for jumps and other routine calls are stored in a relative or symbolic form which cannot be resolved until all code and libraries are assigned final static addresses.
Dynamic linking
Dynamic linking means that the subroutines of a library are loaded into an application program at runtime, rather than being linked in at compile time, and remain as separate files on disk. Only a minimum amount of work is done at compile time by the linker; it only records what library routines the program needs and the index names or numbers of the routines in the library. The majority of the work of linking is done at the time the application is loaded (loadtime) or during execution (runtime). The necessary linking code, called a loader, is actually part of the underlying operating system. At the appropriate time the loader finds the relevant libraries on disk and adds the relevant data from the libraries to the process’s memory space.
Some operating systems can only link in a library at loadtime, before the process starts executing; others may be able to wait until after the process has started to execute and link in the library just when it is actually referenced (i.e., during runtime). The latter is often called “delay loading” or “deferred loading”. In either case, such a library is called a dynamically linked library.
