G++/GCC Compiler is giving undefined reference error when optiomzation is turned off

I have a HUGE C++ program which compiles fine with -O3 optimization but gives a "undefined reference to strings_array_multilevel variable" error, when compiled with -g option (-O3 is removed).

I have reduced the testcase somewhat. If you have encountered a similar error, let me know how you fixed it. I have a library named libtest.so. The file test.c is compiled into a library using standard gcc commands. The thing to note is that header file test.h has an array declared as an extern (strings_array_multilevel)

const struct mystruct elem3 = = {
                        {30, 9, 26},
                        {
                            {
                                {9, 9},
                                {9, 9}
                            },
                            {
                                {9, 11},
                                {9, 11}
                            }
                        },
                        (char**)strings_array_multilevel
                    };

test.h : Please see here http://ift.tt/1HWRPtc

test.c : Please see here http://ift.tt/1DqEt92

Makefile :Please see here http://ift.tt/1DqEt94

Now, when I include test.h in my a project and link it against libtest.so with option -g, I get following error

cat use_library.c 
#include <stdio.h> 
int main () { 
    printf ("hello world\n"); 
    return 0; 
}

Following works.

g++ -O3 use_library.c -L<original_directory> -ltest     

The following fails

g++ -g use_library.c -L<original_directory> -ltest     


Undefined reference to  strings_array_multilevel

Please let me know if you can figure this out. Sorry, because of private nature of code, I cannot share it here.

Thanks