check if a library is present

Question

Suppose I want to include a library:

#include <library.h>

but I'm not sure it's installed in the system. The usual way is to use tool like autotools. Is there a simpler way in C++? For example in python you can handle it with exceptions.

What operating system are you using? Autotools would imply Linux, correct? — trojanfoe
– trojanfoe, Commented Feb 2, 2011 at 20:11
Exceptions are a run-time thing; #include is a (pre-)compile-time thing. If the header file doesn't exist, the compiler will bomb out. What do you intend on doing if that were to happen? — Oliver Charlesworth
– Oliver Charlesworth, Commented Feb 2, 2011 at 20:15
#include <library.h> is not including a library. Perhaps this is merely semantics, but a ridiculously large percentage of the population does not understand that, so it would be wise to rephrase the question. — William Pursell
– William Pursell, Commented Feb 4, 2011 at 11:13
@trojanfoe Autotools does not imply Linux. The point of the autotools is to provide a portable package that will work on a large variety of unix-ish systems, including Linux. — William Pursell
– William Pursell, Commented Feb 9, 2011 at 15:01

Karl Bielefeldt · Accepted Answer · 2011-02-02 20:35:08Z

autotools is the best way to detect at compile time. It's very platform-specific, but assuming you're on Linux or similar, dlopen is how you check at runtime.

José Tomás Tocino · Accepted Answer · 2011-02-02 20:14:14Z

As far as I know, there's no way of checking whether a library is installed using code. However, you could create a bash script that could look for the library in the usual places, like /usr/lib or /usr/local/lib. Also, you could check /etc/ld.so.conf for the folders and then look for the libraries.

Or something like that.

Those who do not understand the autotools are doomed to reinvent them. Autoconf is a tool that builds a script exactly like you are describing. It is much easier to learn autoconf than it is to re-discover all of the pain involved in writing such a script.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

check if a library is present

2 Answers 2

Comments

1 Comment

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

Comments

1 Comment

Related