Problem using --as-needed during linking (Bug #2110)

Given the sample file:

#include <opencv/cxcore.h>
long check_cvCreateImageHeader(void) { return (long) cvCreateImageHeader; }
int main(void) { return 0; }

I can compile it without problems:

gcc -Wl,--as-needed `pkg-config opencv --cflags` -c check.c

If I try and link it using the command:

gcc -Wl,--as-needed `pkg-config opencv --libs` check.o -o check.out

I get the following errors as output:

check.o: In function `cvDecRefData':
check.c:(.text+0xb06): undefined reference to `cvFree_'
check.c:(.text+0xb8e): undefined reference to `cvFree_'
check.o: In function `cvGetRow':
check.c:(.text+0xca9): undefined reference to `cvGetRows'
check.o: In function `cvGetCol':
check.c:(.text+0xce0): undefined reference to `cvGetCols'
check.o: In function `cvReleaseMatND':
check.c:(.text+0xcff): undefined reference to `cvReleaseMat'
check.o: In function `cvSubS':
check.c:(.text+0xe5c): undefined reference to `cvAddS'
check.o: In function `cvCloneSeq':
check.c:(.text+0xe9e): undefined reference to `cvSeqSlice'
check.o: In function `cvSetNew':
check.c:(.text+0xf10): undefined reference to `cvSetAdd'
check.o: In function `cvGetSetElem':
check.c:(.text+0xfb9): undefined reference to `cvGetSeqElem'
check.o: In function `cvEllipseBox':
check.c:(.text+0x10a7): undefined reference to `cvEllipse'
check.o: In function `cvFont':
check.c:(.text+0x10e9): undefined reference to `cvInitFont'
check.o: In function `cvReadIntByName':
check.c:(.text+0x11d7): undefined reference to `cvGetFileNodeByName'
check.o: In function `cvReadRealByName':
check.c:(.text+0x128a): undefined reference to `cvGetFileNodeByName'
check.o: In function `cvReadStringByName':
check.c:(.text+0x1312): undefined reference to `cvGetFileNodeByName'
check.o: In function `cvReadByName':
check.c:(.text+0x1352): undefined reference to `cvGetFileNodeByName'
check.c:(.text+0x1368): undefined reference to `cvRead'
check.o: In function `check_cvCreateImageHeader':
check.c:(.text+0x1373): undefined reference to `cvCreateImageHeader'
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status

If I omit -Wl,--as-needed, then linking succeeds.

pkg-config is working fine:

mpenkov@misha-desktop:~/Desktop$ pkg-config --libs --cflags opencv
-I/usr/local/include/opencv -I/usr/local/include /usr/local/lib/libopencv_calib3d.so /usr/local/lib/libopencv_contrib.so /usr/local/lib/libopencv_core.so /usr/local/lib/libopencv_features2d.so /usr/local/lib/libopencv_flann.so /usr/local/lib/libopencv_gpu.so /usr/local/lib/libopencv_highgui.so /usr/local/lib/libopencv_imgproc.so /usr/local/lib/libopencv_legacy.so /usr/local/lib/libopencv_ml.so /usr/local/lib/libopencv_nonfree.so /usr/local/lib/libopencv_objdetect.so /usr/local/lib/libopencv_photo.so /usr/local/lib/libopencv_stitching.so /usr/local/lib/libopencv_ts.so /usr/local/lib/libopencv_video.so /usr/local/lib/libopencv_videostab.so

The reason this is a problem is I'm trying to build ffmpeg with opencv support (it uses opencv for some filtering), and it's configure script falls over the above error trying to detect opencv.

I've been having a conversation with one of the ffmpeg developers, he has an opinion that this is an opencv issue. The link to the conversation on Gmane is below:

http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.video.ffmpeg.user/38042

I'm using OpenCV version 2.4.1 on Linux x64 (Ubuntu 10.04 LTS) with gcc 4.4.3.