Run configure to test for the library and create the Makefile: We messed up :( config.log to the rescue: configure:1659: checking for aa_init in -laalib configure:1678: gcc -o conftest -g -O2 -L/usr/local/lib -lm -ldl conftest.c -laalib 1>&5 */usr/bin/ld: cannot find -laalib* collect2: ld returned 1 exit status configure: failed program was: #line 1667 "configure" #include "confdefs.h" /* Override any gcc2 internal prototype to avoid an error. We use char because int might match the return type of a gcc2 builtin and then its argument prototype would still apply. */ char aa_init(); int main() { aa_init() ; return 0; } ]]> The library is called 'aa' (and not 'aalib'), so we fix config.m4: 29 30 LIBNAME=aa # you may want to change this 31 LIBSYMBOL=aa_init # you most likely want to change this 32 ]]>