%general-entities; ]> Zlib Zlib is known to build its shared library incorrectly if CFLAGS is specified in the environment. If using a specified CFLAGS variable, be sure to add the -fPIC directive to the CFLAGS variable for the duration of the configure command below, then remove it afterwards. Prepare Zlib for compilation: ./configure --prefix=/usr --shared --libdir=/lib Compile the package: make To test the results, issue: make check. Install the shared library: make install The previous command installed a .so file in /lib. We will remove it and relink it into /usr/lib: rm -v /lib/libz.so ln -sfv ../../lib/libz.so.&zlib-version; /usr/lib/libz.so Build the static library: make clean ./configure --prefix=/usr make To test the results again, issue: make check. Install the static library: make install Fix the permissions on the static library: chmod -v 644 /usr/lib/libz.a Installed libraries libz.{a,so} Short Descriptions libz Contains compression and decompression functions used by some programs libz