How to add shared libraries to Linux's system library path

Sometimes in Linux when you install a new software package the instructions tell you to add a directory of shared libraries to your $LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable in your .bashrc.

You may have noticed that if you then create a shortcut icon on your desktop to this application it won't start because it can't find the libraries.
A typical solution is to write a wrapper shell script to set the LD_LIBRARY_PATH and then call that application.

Well, I've discovered how to add them to your system's library path allowing all environments to access them. Note: There are differences between Debian and Ubuntu (the two flavours of Linux that I'm familiar with).

Ubuntu
Create a new file in /etc/ld.so.conf.d/ called .conf

Edit the file and add a line per directory of shared libraries (*.so files), it will look something like:

/usr/lib/APPLICATION/lib

Reload the list of system-wide library paths:

sudo ldconfig

Debian
Edit /etc/ld.so.conf

Add a line per directory of shared libraries (*.so files) to the bottom of the file, it will look something like:

/usr/X11R6/lib
/usr/lib/APPLICATION/lib

Reload the list of system-wide library paths:

ldconfig

If you run your new application it should now work fine without you having to set any LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variables.
If you still have problems you can obtain a list of the libraries that are on the system path by re-running the ldconfig command in verbose mode:

ldconfig -v

Technorati Tags: LD_LIBRARY_PATH, Ubuntu, Debian, Linux, Andrew Beacock