Question

When I create my own non-standard path for library files (say, ~/lib) I can run ldconfig -n ~/lib and this directory is added to the list of locations ld uses to search for non-standard libraries.

Is there a similar switch for GCC/G++ (or an appropriate gcc/++ config manager) related to include directories, and if so, what? I’m aware the -I flag will include non-standard directories, butI’d rather not have to go through all my projects and have to add all forms of magic to the makefiles to make them work — and then find that these changes are (of course) non-portable to any other system this code is built on (with collaborators, etc), so editing the makefile isn’t really an option….

Edit: Note that my ignorance assumes this solution is gcc/++ only. I’m happy for any solution, however, so if there’s a method that abuses some property of ldconfig or whatever, I’m not adverse to it!

Answer 1

Generally, just do man gcc. You’ll need -L <path> flag if you are willing to change the Makefiles. There’s also a solution similar to ldconfig – to use LIBRARY_PATH env. variable.

Similarly, there’s CPLUS_INCLUDE_PATH and C_INCLUDE_PATH and CPATH which are declaring a list of directories to search for header files.