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hellodear
Asked: 2014-07-25 03:56:38 +0800 CST

How to install a library when I have its source code? [duplicate]

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I want to include some libraries in my project like json-glib, beecrypt or libffi.
Usually, I install all the libraries using sudo apt-get install XYZ.
But sometimes, I get a .tar file of any library which I extract at some place on my desktop.
I don't know how to install these type of libraries for which I have the source code. I get the installed files in /usr/include or sometimes in /usr/lib folder when I install using the above command written.
How to do it in case of source code?

12.04

1 Answers

  1. The recommended way to install a library which was downloaded in its source code form is:

    1. Assuming you are in the home folder, extract the .tar, .tar.gz, .tar.bz2, .tar.xz file using,

      tar xf source_filename

    2. Go to the folder /home/some_user/libxxx/ (the folder into which the previous tar command extracted the files)

    3. Run,

      ./configure --prefix=/usr/local

      make

      sudo make install

    This installs the library in '/usr/local' which is the recommended path according to the convention when you are not installing a software via any package manager. Also, this will not pollute the existing libraries in '/usr/lib' which makes maintenance easy in case you wish to uninstall the library in future.

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