Properly install a library?

[Kirsle]

I didn't find any good information on this by searching or browsing the FAQs...

What's the proper way to install a library? A lot of libraries I've found have "Makefile" files in them. The header and lib files usually don't compile correctly straight out-of-the-box.

What's the proper way to install a library? Perl had a standard method of doing this to install modules:

perl Makefile.PL
nmake test
nmake install

(or make test/make install for non-Windows). And this would install the module (and sometimes its dependencies) into the Perl folders and it would be then fully installed and could be simply used in any Perl program.

Does C++ have an easy installation method like this for libraries?

 

[Salem]

> What's the proper way to install a library?
That depends entirely on your compiler, and the requirements of the library.

> The header and lib files usually don't compile correctly straight out-of-the-box.
This is typical for most packages when porting them to a new operating system / compiler.
Unless the package comes with a description of how to compile for win32, then expect all kinds of 'porting' problems.

--