Error: Libtool Library Used but 'Libtool' Is Undefined

I am trying to automake the OrientDb C++ library, but getting some errors.

Makefile.am:10: error: Libtool library used but 'LIBTOOL' is undefined
Makefile.am:10:   The usual way to define 'LIBTOOL' is to add 'LT_INIT'
Makefile.am:10:   to 'configure.ac' and run 'aclocal' and 'autoconf' again.
Makefile.am:10:   If 'LT_INIT' is in 'configure.ac', make sure
Makefile.am:10:   its definition is in aclocal's search path.

I have configure.ac and Makefile.am already defined.

I run the following autotools

  • aclocal

  • autoheader

  • automake:

libtool (GNU libtool) 2.4.2

configure.ac

# -*- Autoconf -*-
# Process this file with autoconf to produce a configure script.

AC_PREREQ([2.69])
AC_INIT([orientdb-c],[0.9])
AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR([src/o_query_internal.h])
AC_CONFIG_HEADERS([config.h])
AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE()

# Checks for programs.
AC_PROG_CXX
AC_PROG_AWK
AC_PROG_CC
AC_PROG_CPP
AC_PROG_INSTALL
AC_PROG_LN_S
AC_PROG_MAKE_SET

LT_INIT

# Checks for libraries.

# Checks for header files.
AC_CHECK_HEADERS([malloc.h memory.h netdb.h netinet/in.h stdlib.h string.h sys/ioctl.h sys/socket.h     sys/time.h unistd.h])

# Checks for typedefs, structures, and compiler characteristics.
AC_TYPE_SIZE_T

# Checks for library functions.
AC_FUNC_MALLOC
AC_FUNC_REALLOC
AC_CHECK_FUNCS([gethostbyname memset socket strchr strcspn strdup strerror])

AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile])
AC_OUTPUT

Things I already tried:

  • autoreconf

  • aclocal -I /usr/share/libtool

  • aclocal -I .

2

7 Answers

A good answer for me was to install libtool:

sudo apt-get install libtool
1

Fixed it. I needed to run libtoolize in the directory, then re-run:

  • aclocal

  • autoheader

4

In my case on macOS I solved it with:

brew link libtool

For mac users who might have had a bad experience with brew, unpredictable download behavior, endless dependencies, time to download, and the large amount of space it consumed, I offer an alternative below. Maybe I was brewing incorrectly, but it couldn't hurt to be aware of yet another way (in addition to MacPorts, port install libtool, or xcode, xcode-select --install ).


Download the tar.gz file, then extract it

tar -xzf libtool-2.4.tar.gz

then

configure
make
sudo make install
2

For folks who ended up here and are using CYGWIN, install following packages in cygwin and re-run:

  • cygwin32-libtool
  • libtool
  • libtool-debuginfo

For mac it's simple:

brew install libtool

For people using Tiny Core Linux, you also need to install libtool-dev as it has the *.m4 files needed for libtoolize.

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Alexander Ross

Alexander Ross

Gaming, Esports & Interactive Media Writer

Alexander Ross has covered the video game industry for a decade, writing deep dives on game design, esports tournaments, VR developments, and gaming culture.

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