Libav linking error: undefined references - linker

Question

Here's my problem:
I built ffmpeg from source (version 1.2), the libav* libraries are in /usr/local/lib and they're static
I'm compiling a ns3 (www.nsnam.org) module, so my only control over the linker is through the env variable LINKFLAGS
In the source the headers are in a "extern C" block, so it's not the usual g++ name mangling
I set LINKFLAGS="-I/usr/local/include/libavformat -I/usr/local/include/libavcodec -I/usr/local/include/libavutil -L/usr/local/lib -lavformat -lavcodec -lavutil", and the linker can't seem to find any of the libav* functions I call (I get a lot of "undefined reference" and then "collect2: error: ld returned status 1"
Can anyone help me? Thanks...
edit: here are a few of the undefined reference messages:
./libns3.14.1-qoe-monitor-debug.so: undefined reference to `av_guess_format'
./libns3.14.1-qoe-monitor-debug.so: undefined reference to `av_read_frame'
./libns3.14.1-qoe-monitor-debug.so: undefined reference to `avformat_write_header'
./libns3.14.1-qoe-monitor-debug.so: undefined reference to `av_interleaved_write_frame'
./libns3.14.1-qoe-monitor-debug.so: undefined reference to `av_find_stream_info'
./libns3.14.1-qoe-monitor-debug.so: undefined reference to `av_register_all'
./libns3.14.1-qoe-monitor-debug.so: undefined reference to `av_init_packet'
./libns3.14.1-qoe-monitor-debug.so: undefined reference to `avformat_alloc_context'
./libns3.14.1-qoe-monitor-debug.so: undefined reference to `av_dump_format'
./libns3.14.1-qoe-monitor-debug.so: undefined reference to `avio_close'
edit2: here is the message I get after "build failed":
-> task in 'scratch-simulator' failed (exit status 1):
{task 53952272: cxxprogram scratch-simulator.cc.1.o -> scratch-simulator}
['/usr/bin/g++', '-I/usr/local/include/libavcodec', '-I/usr/local/include/libavformat/',
'-I/usr/local/include/libavutil/', '-L/usr/local/lib', '-I/usr/local
/include/libavcodec', '-I/usr/local/include/libavformat/', '-I/usr/local/include
/libavutil/', '-L/usr/local/lib', '-pthread', '-pthread', '-Wl,-z,relro',
'scratch/scratch-simulator.cc.1.o', '-o', '/home/fede/Thesis/ns-allinone-3.14.1
/ns-3.14.1/build/scratch/scratch-simulator', '-Wl,-Bstatic', '-Wl,-Bdynamic',
'-Wl,--no-as-needed', '-L.', '-L.', '-L.', '-L.', '-L.', '-L.', '-L.', '-L.', '-L.',
'-L.', '-L.', '-L.', '-L.', '-L.', '-L.', '-L.', '-L.', '-L.', '-L.', '-L.', '-L.',
'-L.', '-L.', '-L.', '-L.', '-L.', '-L.', '-L.', '-L.', '-L.', '-L.', '-L.', '-L.',
'-L.', '-L.', '-L.', '-L.', '-L.', '-L/usr/lib', '-lns3.14.1-test-debug', '-lns3.14.1-
csma-layout-debug', '-lns3.14.1-point-to-point-layout-debug', '-lns3.14.1-netanim-
debug', '-lns3.14.1-lte-debug', '-lns3.14.1-spectrum-debug', '-lns3.14.1-antenna-
debug', '-lns3.14.1-aodv-debug', '-lns3.14.1-dsdv-debug', '-lns3.14.1-dsr-debug',
'-lns3.14.1-mesh-debug', '-lns3.14.1-olsr-debug', '-lns3.14.1-csma-debug', '-lns3.14.1-
wimax-debug', '-lns3.14.1-applications-debug', '-lns3.14.1-virtual-net-device-debug',
'-lns3.14.1-uan-debug', '-lns3.14.1-energy-debug', '-lns3.14.1-flow-monitor-debug',
'-lns3.14.1-nix-vector-routing-debug', '-lns3.14.1-tap-bridge-debug', '-lns3.14.1-
visualizer-debug', '-lns3.14.1-internet-debug', '-lns3.14.1-bridge-debug', '-lns3.14.1-
point-to-point-debug', '-lns3.14.1-mpi-debug', '-lns3.14.1-wifi-debug', '-lns3.14.1-
buildings-debug', '-lns3.14.1-propagation-debug', '-lns3.14.1-mobility-debug',
'-lns3.14.1-config-store-debug', '-lns3.14.1-tools-debug', '-lns3.14.1-stats-debug',
'-lns3.14.1-emu-debug', '-lns3.14.1-topology-read-debug', '-lns3.14.1-network-debug',
'-lns3.14.1-qoe-monitor-debug', '-lns3.14.1-core-debug', '-lrt', '-lgsl',
'-lgslcblas', '-lm', '-ldl', '-lgtk-x11-2.0', '-lgdk-x11-2.0', '-latk-1.0',
'-lgio-2.0', '-lpangoft2-1.0', '-lpangocairo-1.0', '-lgdk_pixbuf-2.0', '-lcairo',
'-lpango-1.0', '-lfreetype', '-lfontconfig', '-lgobject-2.0', '-lglib-2.0', '-lxml2',
'-lpython2.7']

Answer 1

The libraries are C. The library headers don't include an extern "C" when compiled as C++. Do this in your C++ source:
extern "C" {
#include <libavcodec/avcodec.h>
#include <libavformat/avformat.h>
}
Or, more generically, for mixed C and C++ source:
#ifdef __cplusplus
extern "C" {
#endif
#include <libavcodec/avcodec.h>
#include <libavformat/avformat.h>
#ifdef __cplusplus
}
#endif
And you should be fine.

Answer 2

I had this problem with av_find_stream_info and the problem was this function was deprecated. The problem was I had two ffmpeg installation on the box, and it was reading header from one installation and was using libraries from different installation.
After removing system default library, the problem resolved.
UPDATE: For Ubuntu I did following:
$ sudo dpkg -r libavcodec53
$ sudo dpkg -r libavformat53
$ sudo dpkg -r libavutil51
$ sudo dpkg -r libswscale2

Answer 3

Just came across this question in my own searching.
In waf building system, you should use STLIB and STLIBPATH to denote static library name and path, instead of using LINKFLAGS. Note that you should set STLIB to list of static library names to use without prefix or extension.
In wscript file, add
conf.env.append_value("STLIBPATH", ["/usr/local/lib"])
conf.env.append_value("STLIB", ["av*,av**"])