Static library
set of routines, external functions and variables in computer science
A static library or statically linked library contains functions and data that can be included in a consuming computer program at build-time such that the library does not need to be accessible in a separate file at run-time. If all libraries are statically linked, then the resulting executable will be stand-alone, a.k.a. a static build.
Static libraries are collections of object files, usually augmented with a symbol table that accelerates the search for the needed file(s). On most systems (Unix-like systems and Microsoft Windows) this comes in the form of ar archive files, though on some systems such as z/OS and OpenVMS a different format is used. A static library is either merged with other static libraries and object files at build-time to form a single executable or loaded at run-time into the address space of their corresponding executable at a static memory offset determined at compile-time/link-time.
Comparison to dynamic linking
Historically, all library linking was static, but today dynamic linking is an alternative and entails inherent trade-offs.
An advantage of static over dynamic is that the application is guaranteed to have the library routines it requires available at run-time, as the code to those routines is embedded in the executable file. With dynamic linking, not only might the library file be missing, but even if found, it could be an incompatible version. Static avoids DLL Hell or more generally dependency hell and therefore can simplify development, distribution and installation.
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