I've compiled and installed GTK+, but I can't get any programs to link with it! [GTK 2.x]

GTK+ FAQ
<<< Previous | How to find, configure, install, and troubleshoot GTK+ | Next >>>

# I've compiled and installed GTK+, but I can't get any programs to link with it! [GTK 2.x]

This problem is most often encountered when the GTK+ libraries can't be found or are the wrong version. Generally, the compiler will complain about an 'unresolved symbol'.

Make sure that the libraries can be found. You want to edit `/etc/ld.so.conf` to include the directories which contain the GTK libraries, so it looks something like:

`/usr/X11R6/lib`
`/usr/local/lib`

Then you need to run /sbin/ldconfig as root. You can find what libraries GTK requires using

`pkg-config gtk+-2.0 --libs`

If your system doesn't use ld.so to find libraries (such as Solaris), then you will have to use the LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable (or compile the path into your program, which I'm not going to cover here). So, with a Bourne type shell you can do (if your GTK libraries are in /usr/local/lib):

`export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/lib`

and in a csh, you can do:

`setenv LD_LIBRARY_PATH /usr/local/lib`

<<< Previous | Home | Next >>>
When compiling GTK+ I get an error like: `make: file `Makefile' line 456: Syntax error` [GTK 2.x] | Up | When installing a GTK+ application, configure reports that it can't find GTK. [GTK 2.x]