The libnetcdf library should be compiled with -fPIC on alpha at least. I'll attach a patch for the libsrc/Makefile file. The patch has been tested on alpha and x86.
Created attachment 29081 [details, diff] fPIC patch to /libsrc/Makefile
May I ask why you think -fPIC is necessary? As far as I can see it builds only static libraries, and PIC stuff is only relevant for shared libs. Please correct me if I'm wrong there. What goes wrong if it is compiled without -fPIC?
Actually if static libs aren't compiled PIC, then some issues come up on 64-bit installs (e.g., amd64). See bug #44274 or bug #40646.
Created attachment 29641 [details] Relocation errors from missing -fPIC. I'm getting gp-relative relocation errors when emerging ScientificPython which links against netcdf. See attached emerge log. Another solution would be to inherit the 64-bit.eclass and doing something like '64-bit && append-flags -fPIC', although I think patching the Makefile is cleaner.
Ok, all docs I saw talked about "shared objects", which I thought is different from a static library, but you sound very convincing :-) Have put that into portage, thanks.
