They're runtime checks, but they're inserted by the compiler at compile time. So yeah, if you link in code that wasn't compiled with them, then that code isn't protected.
You're right that a summary seems hard to find; http://www.delorie.com/gnu/docs/gcc/gccint_124.html has some decent stuff in it, but given that it's random GCC docs, the details may not be 100% accurate today, I dunno, I'm on a flight layover right now, so that's all I've got at the moment :)
You're right that a summary seems hard to find; http://www.delorie.com/gnu/docs/gcc/gccint_124.html has some decent stuff in it, but given that it's random GCC docs, the details may not be 100% accurate today, I dunno, I'm on a flight layover right now, so that's all I've got at the moment :)