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Compiling code to an object file needs to be done position-independent if the object file is intended to be loaded as a shared library ( .so ), because the base virtual address that the shared object file is loaded into in different processes may be different. Now I didn't encounter errors when I tried to load an .so file compiled and linked without the -fpic GCC option on 32bit x86 computers, while it fails on 64bit bit x86 computers. Random websites I found say that I don't need -fpic on 32bit because code compiled without -fpic works by coincidence according to the X86 32bit ABI also when used in a position-independent manner. But I still found software that ship with separate versions of libraries in their 32bit versions: One for PIC, and one for non-PIC. For example, the intel compiler ships with libirc.a and libirc_pic.a , the latter being compiled for position-independent mode (if one wants to link that .a file into an .so file). I wonder what the precise difference between using -fpic and not using it is for 32bit code, and why some packages, like the intel compiler, still ship with separate versions of libraries?

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