Static vs Dynamic Linking

[siddjain]

I see following code in piper CMakeLists.txt:

target_link_libraries(piper -static-libgcc -static-libstdc++)

I am not a C++ programmer but the understanding I have developed is that if the top level application is linked statically against the core C/C++ libraries then all the dependencies should be linked statically as well. Otherwise it can introduce subtle problems e.g., related to exception handling. is that correct? and in that case, are all the deps of piper linked statically to the core C/C++ lib as well?

Can someone explain to me? I understand this code:

target_link_libraries(piper -static-libgcc -static-libstdc++)

is linking piper statically to libgcc and libstdc++. It does NOT cause the deps to be linked statically as well. to do that the CMakeLists.txt of all the deps should have this directive as well.

Also why is static linking above done only in case of Linux? Why not do it on Windows and Mac as well?