How to find a library

[Simon Barner]

Hi Jonathon,

> I'm coming over from Win32 development, and I have a question about finding
> a library to find what you need.
> 
> Currently, if I need a function, it can be found somewhere in MFC.  However,
> since I want to start porting some of our software to Unix, I need to know
> how to find/use similar functions that are not part of Unix base
> functionality.
> 
> What is the best way to find these libraries?

I think you have to give a few more details.

I which languages do you intend to program? -> Most probably C or C++. As you
have remarked, FreeBSD offers (mostly) ISO/ANSI compatible C and C++ libraries.
It also implements (most of) the POSIX standard.

Since you are from a MFC background, I can imagine, that you are looking for a
GUI toolkit, or maybe a database.

> Once found, is it only a matter of including the .h file and linking?

Yes, there are lots of libraries in the ports collection. When you install them,
everything is in the right place, and they wait unpatiently for you to link
against them :-)

Most of the ports also install documentation (quite important for programming),
either as man pages, or in $(PREFIX)/share/doc/<name of the ports>.

Okay, but what's the best way to find the library? Either search the ports
collection for a key word (cd /usr/ports; make search key=bla), search with your
favorite search engine, ...
Of course, you can also ask here, which kind of library would fit your needs
best.

Cheers,
 Simon
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