zlib-1.1.4

Warning

This package is deprecated from BLFS

The reason for the removal of this package from the main BLFS book is that as of LFS-4.0 it is part of the main LFS book. If you are using a version of LFS prior to this, you still need to install it; otherwise, you can ignore all references to dependencies on this package.

Zlib provides compression and decompression functions to programs. Most people will want zlib because both servers and clients are likely to need the openssl libraries which in turn require zlib. Servers will want openssl because it is needed for running OpenSSH services and clients because most web browsers need it to deal with https (secure) websites.

Introduction to zlib

Download location:             ftp://swrinde.nde.swri.edu/pub/png/src/zlib-1.1.4.tar.bz2
Version used:                   1.1.4
Package size:                   177 KB
Estimated Disk space required:  1.3 MB

The zlib package contains the zlib libraries which are used by other programs to provide compression and decompression routines.

Installation of zlib

Install zlib by running the following commands:

./configure --prefix=/usr &&
make &&
make install &&
./configure --prefix=/usr --shared &&
make &&
make install &&
cp zlib.3 /usr/share/man/man3


Command explanations

The reason we run the ./configure && make && make install routine twice is because zlib's configure routine is nicely broken meaning that we can't compile and install the shared and static libraries at the same time. Therefore, we have to do them separately.

We do cp zlib.3 /usr/share/man/man3 because zlib doesn't install its man page correctly.

Configuring zlib

Configuration Information

As with most libraries, there is no configuration to do, save that the library directory i.e. /usr/lib or /usr/local/lib should appear in /etc/ld.so.conf so that ldd can find the shared libraries. After checking that this is the case, /sbin/ldconfig should be run whilst logged in as root.

Contents

The zlib package contains the zlib library which is used by many programs for compression and uncompression functions.