"/usr/bin/ld: cannot find -lz" but libz exists

Question

While making my program on Redhat based linux (amd64), I get this error:

/usr/bin/ld: cannot find -lz
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status

Searching internet reveals that I have t install zlib 32bit version. A quick search shows that I have that package

[root@localhost trunk]# find / -name libz*
/lib64/libz.so.1
/lib64/libz.so.1.2.3
/lib/libz.so.1
/lib/libz.so.1.2.3
/usr/lib64/libz.so
/usr/lib64/purple-2/libzephyr.so
/usr/lib64/libzip.so.1.0.0
/usr/lib64/libzip.so.1

As you can see both /lib and /lib64 contain the libz file. Next I tried to find the ldd search path and it shows that both 32 bit and 64 bit folders are included

[root@localhost trunk]# ldconfig -v | grep -v ^$'\t'
/usr/lib64/ctapi:
/usr/lib64/mysql:
/usr/lib64/tcl8.5/tclx8.4:
/usr/lib64/xulrunner-2:
/lib:
/lib64:
/usr/lib:
/usr/lib64:
/lib/i686: (hwcap: 0x0008000000000000)
/lib64/tls: (hwcap: 0x8000000000000000)  
/usr/lib64/tls: (hwcap: 0x8000000000000000)
/usr/lib64/sse2: (hwcap: 0x0000000004000000)
/lib/i686/nosegneg: (hwcap: 0x0028000000000000)

SO I wonder why still I get that error!!!!

UPDATE

I installed zlib-devel (both i686 and x86_64) and here is the confirmation

 [root@localhost trunk]# yum list zlib-devel
 Installed Packages
 zlib-devel.i686     1.2.3-27.el6             @sl
 zlib-devel.x86_64   1.2.3-27.el6             @sl

However still I get the same error.

UPDATE 2

After fixing the incorrect symbolic link, I now have

[root@localhost trunk]# ls -l /lib/libz.so*
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root    18 Feb 23 22:58 /lib/libz.so -> /usr/lib64/libz.so
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root    13 Feb 18 12:06 /lib/libz.so.1 -> libz.so.1.2.3
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 root root 75332 Dec 10  2011 /lib/libz.so.1.2.3

But error still exists

SOLUTION

SOLUTION

I found that I have to install static libraries. Don't know why Makefile searches for static libraries! Please refer to my comments for the name of packages.

Thanks fuero for help

Solution 1

Install zlib-devel or add a libz.so symlink to the lib directories.

yum list lists ALL packages, not just the installed ones. To find out whether it's installed, try this:

yum list installed | grep zlib

This is from a RHEL 6.3 reference system:

# rpm -ql zlib-devel
/usr/include/zconf.h
/usr/include/zlib.h
/usr/lib64/libz.so                  <---- the symlink I mentioned
/usr/lib64/pkgconfig/zlib.pc
/usr/share/doc/zlib-devel-1.2.3
/usr/share/doc/zlib-devel-1.2.3/README
/usr/share/doc/zlib-devel-1.2.3/algorithm.txt
/usr/share/doc/zlib-devel-1.2.3/example.c
/usr/share/doc/zlib-devel-1.2.3/minigzip.c
/usr/share/man/man3/zlib.3.gz
# rpm -ql zlib-devel.i686
/usr/include/zconf.h
/usr/include/zlib.h
/usr/lib/libz.so                    <---- the symlink I mentioned
/usr/lib/pkgconfig/zlib.pc
/usr/share/doc/zlib-devel-1.2.3
/usr/share/doc/zlib-devel-1.2.3/README
/usr/share/doc/zlib-devel-1.2.3/algorithm.txt
/usr/share/doc/zlib-devel-1.2.3/example.c
/usr/share/doc/zlib-devel-1.2.3/minigzip.c
/usr/share/man/man3/zlib.3.gz

What the symlinks point to:

# ls /usr/lib/libz.so -lhA
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 23 Feb 23 20:32 /usr/lib/libz.so -> ../../lib/libz.so.1.2.3
# ls /usr/lib64/libz.so -lhA
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 25 Feb 23 20:24 /usr/lib64/libz.so -> ../../lib64/libz.so.1.2.3

Solution 2

If it helps anyone - my issue was that cmake was running /usr/bin/g++ -static-libstdc++ which caused the error output: /usr/bin/ld: cannot find -lstdc++.

The fix (on RHEL/CentOS) was to run sudo yum install libstdc++-static.x86_64 since it was looking for the static lib.

Comments

[Admin]

If an answer helped you resolve your issue, you should indicate so by upvoting and accepting it. This also indicates to the system, and community, that the matter has been resolved.

[fuero]

see the updated answer

[mahmood]

I think a wrong path is confusing ld. How can I find that?

[fuero]

another update. don't forget to run ldconfig. Perhaps sharing how you call the compiler helps.

[mahmood]

OK. The problem with -lz will be solved by installing static version of zlib named zlib-static. Now I am getting some other -l errors like -lm and that will be solved by installing glibc-static. I don't know why the program searches for static librsries

[hoefling]

It did help me, thank you :-)