Orchid XP v8 <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> Weirdly, most software you compile from scratch has an uncanny ability 
> to figure out what libraries are installed, no matter whether you're 
> using RPM or DEB or EMERGE or...

  Most libraries are installed in a directory which the compiler directly
checks when you tell it to link that library in. Thus to check whether the
library is in the system it's enough to try and compile something which
tries to link that library and see if it succeeds.

  Moreover, all libraries are installed in the same few semi-standard system
directories in all popular Unix-based operating systems, so even if the
compiler is not used to check for the existence of the library, it's just a
matter of looking for them in those established directories.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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