Loading Shared Libraries with the SHARED_LIBRARY_LIST Configuration Variable

You can use the SHARED_LIBRARY_LIST configuration variable to specify a list of shared libraries to load at program startup, or as the result of a SET ENVIRONMENT statement during program execution. You can set SHARED_LIBRARY_LIST in three ways:

• In the environment
• In the runtime configuration file
• Programmatically with the SET ENVIRONMENT statement

Library names in SHARED_LIBRARY_LIST are delimited by spaces or colons. You can set SHARED_LIBRARY_LIST with the SET ENVIRONMENT statement any number of times during program execution. Each time, the runtime loads the libraries listed. Previously loaded libraries remain loaded.

On some systems, if the shared module is a member of an archive, you must specify the name of the member in parentheses after the name of the archive. For example, on AIX:

SHARED_LIBRARY_LIST=/usr/opt/program/lib/archive.a(lib.o)

SHARED_LIBRARY_LIST is similar to the runtime "-y" command-line option except that:

• You do not need to set SHARED_LIBRARY_EXTENSION when you use SHARED_LIBRARY_LIST.
• With SHARED_LIBRARY_LIST, you can mix ".a" and ".so" libraries.

You can use the SHARED_LIBRARY_PREFIX configuration variable to specify a list of directories to search when the runtime attempts to load a shared library. The values are applied if the shared library is specified without path information and the runtime fails to find the object in the default directories. For more information, see SHARED_LIBRARY_PREFIX.