C++ Link external libraries

Question

i just started with c++ programming. For my new work, i have to download, install and take use of an external library. It is called ICE. It was composed as a .tar file, so i decomposed it inside my home-directory "/home/foo/ice". Now, there is the directory: "/home/foo/ice/src", within all the .h headers, i need for the program. But can i tell the compiler, where he can find all these new headers? I mean only with #include, he obviously doesn't know.

What i need:

#include <image.h>

"image.h" is inside "/home/foo/ice/src"

Greetings

Answer 1

If you have gcc compiler you can use -I option.

From the manual :

-I dir: Add the directory dir to the list of directories to be searched for header files.

So for you it should be something like this:

g++ myprog.cpp -I /home/foo/ice/src -o myprog

But it is better to install the library, you should have some readme.txt or INSTALL file about how to do this..

Answer 2

You asked about linking a library, but your description shows that you have problems with the include path, which klm123 answered already.

The library paths for linking is another option, usually -Llibpath It may help to check the options of you compiler, here for example the Directory Options of GCC