1 | <chapter id="general-genlib">
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2 | <?dbhtml filename="genlib.html" dir="general"?>
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3 | <title>General Libraries</title>
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4 |
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5 | <para>Libraries contain code which is often required by more than
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6 | one program. This has the advantage that each program doesn't need to
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7 | duplicate code (and risk introducing bugs), it just has to call
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8 | functions from the libraries installed on the system. The most obvious
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9 | example of a set of libraries is <application>glibc</application> which is
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10 | installed during the <acronym>LFS</acronym> book. This contains all of
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11 | the <application>C</application> library functions which programs use.</para>
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12 |
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13 | <para>There are two types of library, static and shared. Shared libraries
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14 | (usually <filename>libXXX.so</filename>) are loaded into memory from the shared
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15 | copy at runtime (hence the name). Static libraries (<filename>libXXX.a
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16 | </filename>) are actually linked into the program executable file itself, thus
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17 | making the program file larger. Quite often, you will find both static and
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18 | shared copies of the same library on your system.</para>
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19 |
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20 | <para>Generally, you only need to install libraries when you are
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21 | installing software which requires functionality which they supply. In
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22 | the <acronym>BLFS</acronym> book, each package is listed with a list of (known)
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23 | dependencies. Thus, you can figure out which libraries you need to have
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24 | before installing that program. If you are installing something without
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25 | using <acronym>BLFS</acronym> instructions, usually the <filename>README
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26 | </filename> or <filename>INSTALL</filename> file will contain details of the
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27 | programs requirements.</para>
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28 |
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29 | <para>There are certain libraries which nearly <emphasis>everyone</emphasis>
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30 | will need at some point. In this chapter we list these and some others and
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31 | explain why you may want to install them.</para>
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32 |
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33 | &openssl;
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34 | &pcre;
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35 | &popt;
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36 | &slang;
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37 | &libfam;
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38 | &libxml;
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39 | &libxml2;
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40 | &libxslt;
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41 | &readline;
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42 | &gmp;
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43 | &gdbm;
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44 | &GLib;
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45 | &GLib2;
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46 | &expat;
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47 | &libesmtp;
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48 | &aspell;
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49 | &ispell;
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50 | &guile;
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51 | &slib;
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52 | &gwrap;
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53 | &LZO;
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54 | </chapter>
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