There is a need to use Protocol Buffers on the real-time OS where there is no pthread. I am able to link protobuf statically this way
g++ -g -Wall example.pb.cc example.cc -o example -static -lprotobuf -lpthread
However without pthread I get link errors. Is it possible to configure protobuf to work without pthread?
Not really. See this unresolved issue.
Someone has patched an older protobuf version to not depend on pthreads, see here – which you might take a look at if you really need it, and possibly forward port.
Also note that you’re supposed to use pkg_config to get the proper compiler and linker flags when using protobuf, e.g.