usr/bin/ld: cannot find -l

Question

I\'m trying to compile my program and it returns this error :

usr/bin/ld: cannot find -l

in my makefile I use the c

Answer 1

Apart from the answers already given, it may also be the case that the *.so file exists but is not named properly. Or it may be the case that *.so file exists but it is owned by another user / root.

Issue 1: Improper name

If you are linking the file as -l then library file name MUST be of the form lib If you only have .so file, rename it!

Issue 2: Wrong owner

To verify that this is not the problem - do

ls -l /path/to/.so/file

If the file is owned by root or another user, you need to do

sudo chown yourUserName:yourUserName /path/to/.so/file