[Boost-users] double free when both shared library and executable linked to boost libraries

Subject: [Boost-users] double free when both shared library and executable linked to boost libraries
From: Eric Roller (eroller_at_[hidden])
Date: 2014-12-20 13:45:51

I've run into a run-time error (double free) with my software which
uses a plug-in architecture. The main executable (a.out) uses dlopen
to load a shared library (mylib.so). Both a.out and mylib.so utilize
the boost libraries (version 1.54) and are therefore linked separately
to them. Depending on whether I use static or dynamic linking to the
boost libraries I encounter the double free error as confirmed by
address sanitizer using gcc 4.9.2 on linux x86_64. Here is a summary
of the results:

a.out link    mylib.so link    double free?
static         dynamic          YES
static         static               NO
dynamic     dynamic          NO
dynamic     static              NO

So you can see, only when the main executable used static linking to
boost and the shared library used dynamic linking to boost is when I
saw the double free error at run time. My question is, why is the
error only triggered under that condition and what is the recommended
link configuration when using boost libraries for both a shared
library and an executable.

Ideally, the shared library plug-in should be free to use any boost
version with either static or dynamic linking, and it should be
independent from (i.e. not conflict with) the main executable's boost
version and link type. What compiler/link settings would be necessary
to achieve this, if it is even possible at all?

--
Eric Roller