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> > I am unable to use static GnuWin32 libraries using the lib*.a naming
> > convention with an MSVC 8 2005 target.
>
> .a libraries are static libraries for MinGW. When you're using msvc you
> have to link against .lib.
> It sometimes works that msvc can also link against a .a but that's not
> intented and therefore cmake doesn't allow it.

Why would it be desirable to have the CMake IDE file generator silently
and erroneously mutilate valid filenames for libraries which the user
_manually_ selected within CMakeSetup?  

Or override the desires of a CMakeLists.txt author who _explicitly_
allowed a '.a' static naming extension convention using
CMAKE_FIND_LIBRARY_SUFFIXES ?

Let alone have that behavior inconsistent between nmake and Visual
Studio generators for the same target compiler.

All of this seems to fall into the realm of "a tool which fails to
behave as expected or documented".

I'll leave the question of whether a build tool should even be dictating
compiler binary compatibility decisions to philosophy class. (and based
only on file naming convention to boot).

Any work around (or reference to why using a few of the simpler static
gcc libs is sinful) is appreciated - for the time being I'm renaming my
.a files as .a.lib.

thanks,
braddock