arbitrary build can't find libs - right way to do this?

[Paul Schmehl]

--On November 20, 2007 3:34:29 PM -0700 Steve Franks 
<stevefranks at ieee.org> wrote:

> I'm trying to compile a non-port application for the first time ever.
> The associated library built and installed just fine - I can see them
> right in /usr/local/lib and usr/local/include/libnamefoo.h  However,
> when I run ./configure for the application, it clearly can't find the
> libs.  So my question is, should I be changing my path, is there a
> standard variable I need to export, or what?  Obviously for ports this
> just works, so I've never had to do it.  I'm sure there's a standard
> way, so I thought I'd get in the habit of doing that right from the
> start...
>
The first thing you should do is read the install docs - usually README 
and INSTALL.  Then run this command in the directory where you untar'd the 
source files:
# ./configure --help

This will tell you all the available options for configure, most likely 
ones like --includedir and --libdir and --bindir and others that may be 
helpful.

As a lost resort you can edit the Makefile to add pointers to the 
libraries, but that usually is not necessary.

Paul Schmehl (pauls at utdallas.edu)
Senior Information Security Analyst
The University of Texas at Dallas
http://www.utdallas.edu/ir/security/