How to manage shared libraries

Shared libraries, .DLL in windows, .dylib in OSX and .so in Linux, are loaded at runtime. That means that the application executable needs to know where are the required shared libraries when it runs.

On Windows, the dynamic linker, will search in the same directory then in the PATH directories. On OSX, it will search in the directories declared in DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH as on Linux will use the LD_LIBRARY_PATH.

Furthermore in OSX and Linux there is another mechanism to locate the shared libraries: The RPATHs.

• Manage Shared Libraries with Environment Variables
  • Example
  • Using the tool from a different package
  • Building an application using the shared library from tool_a
  • Using shared libraries from dependencies
  • Using virtualrunenv generator
• Manage RPATHs
  • Default Conan approach
  • Different approaches