Tracking Issue for `-Z link-native-libraries`

This is a tracking issue for the unstable rustc flag -Z link-native-libraries.

About tracking issues

Tracking issues are used to record the overall progress of implementation.
They are also used as hubs connecting to other relevant issues, e.g., bugs or open design questions.
A tracking issue is however not meant for large scale discussion, questions, or bug reports about a feature.
Instead, open a dedicated issue for the specific matter and add the relevant feature gate label.
Discussion comments will get marked as off-topic or deleted.
Repeated discussions on the tracking issue may lead to the tracking issue getting locked.

Steps

• Open an MCP and have it accepted. At the time of impl, there was no such requirement.
• Implementation
  • https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/pull/70095
• Adjust documentation (see instructions on rustc-dev-guide)
  • https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/pull/116213
• Stabilization PR (see instructions on rustc-dev-guide)

Unresolved Questions

• What does this unstable rustc flag -Z link-native-libraries do, exactly?
• How does it relate to the stable #[link] attribute?
• What does this mean for the #[link] attribute (which is a stable attribute)?
• How does this unstable flag relate to -Z link-directives?

  Seems fine to me. Perhaps we should proactively remove the other Zlink-native-libraries flag as a "failed experiment"?

  I think we still need -Zlink-native-libraries to deal with prebuilt rlibs - ie, the sysroot libraries.
  https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/pull/107675#issuecomment-1489041015

Implementation history

• https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/pull/70095
• https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/pull/116213

Related links

• https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/70093
• https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/pull/70095
• https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/134947

Start with the tracking issue, the existing documentation PR #116213, and the rustc-dev-guide stabilization and documentation instructions. Review the unresolved questions about -Z link-native-libraries and its relationship to #[link] and -Z link-directives. Done means resolving the documentation and stabilization checklist items with the required pull requests.