cuda: pass static archives to nvcc without -Xlinker= prefix

mesonbuild/backend/backends.py

@@ -1080,6 +1080,15 @@ def build_target_link_arguments(self, compiler: 'Compiler', deps: T.List[build.T
                 continue
             if compiler.get_language() == 'd':
                 arg = '-Wl,' + arg
+            elif compiler.get_linker_id() == 'nvlink' and arg.endswith('.a'):
+                # We need to pass static archives without -Xlinker= to nvcc,
+                # since they may contain relocatable device code. When passing
+                # the static archive to nvcc with -Xlinker=, we bypass the
+                # frontend which means we lose the opportunity to perform device
+                # linking. We only need to do this for static archives, since
+                # nvcc doesn't support device linking with dynamic libraries:
+                # https://docs.nvidia.com/cuda/cuda-compiler-driver-nvcc/index.html#libraries
+                pass
             else:
                 arg = compiler.get_linker_lib_prefix() + arg
             args.append(arg)

mesonbuild/compilers/cuda.py

@@ -382,8 +382,11 @@ def _to_host_flags(self, flags: T.List[str], phase: _Phase = _Phase.COMPILER) ->
                 # This is ambiguously either an MVSC-style /switch or an absolute path
                 # to a file. For some magical reason the following works acceptably in
                 # both cases.
+                # We only want to prefix arguments that are NOT static archives, since
+                # the latter could contain relocatable device code (-dc/-rdc=true).
+                prefix = '' if flag.endswith('.a') else f'-X{phase.value}='
                 wrap = '"' if ',' in flag else ''
-                xflags.append(f'-X{phase.value}={wrap}{flag}{wrap}')
+                xflags.append(f'{prefix}{wrap}{flag}{wrap}')
                 continue
             elif len(flag) >= 2 and flag[0] == '-' and flag[1] in 'IDULlmOxmte':
                 # This is a single-letter short option. These options (with the