What exactly does "ar" utility do?
c, unix
Solution
The primary purpose is to take individual object files (`*.o`) and bundle them together into a static library file (`*.a`). The .a file contains an index that allows the linker to quickly locate symbols in the library.
Tar doesn't create files that linkers understand.
Problem
I don't really understand what `ar` utility does on Unix systems. I know it can be somehow used for creating c libraries, but all that man page tells me is that it is used to make archives from files, which sounds similar to, for example, `tar`....