I believe it would be that way, if not for performance. The linker keeps track of unresolved symbols, and resolves those symbols while parsing subsequent object files. So if you list a dependency before it is used, that dependency won’t be linked at all, resulting in unresolved symbols — thus the need for object files to be listed in a particular order.
Edit: and the need for listing a dependency twice is to resolve mutually dependent object files. If A depends on symbols from B and B depends on symbols from A, you can link A,B,A or B,A,B (per the aforementioned reasoning).
Edit: and the need for listing a dependency twice is to resolve mutually dependent object files. If A depends on symbols from B and B depends on symbols from A, you can link A,B,A or B,A,B (per the aforementioned reasoning).
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