Estimated build time: &zlib-time; Estimated required disk space: &zlib-compsize; &aa-zlib-shortdesc; &aa-zlib-dep;   Prepare Zlib for compilation: ./configure --prefix=/usr --shared Zlib is known to build its shared library incorrectly if CFLAGS is specified in the environment. If you are using your own CFLAGS variable, be sure to add the -fPIC directive to your CFLAGS for the duration of the above command, then remove it afterwards. Compile the package: make This package has a test suite available which can perform a number of checks to ensure it built correctly. The test suite for Zlib is quick and painless so we recommend it be run. The following command will test the shared library: make check Install the shared library: make install Now also build the non-shared (static) library: make clean ./configure --prefix=/usr make The following command will test the static library: make check Install the static library: make install And fix the permissions on the static library: chmod 644 /usr/lib/libz.a It is good policy and common practice to place important libraries into the /lib directory. This matters most in scenarios where /usr is on a separate partition. Essentially, the run-time components of any libraries depended upon by programs in /bin or /sbin should reside in /lib so that they are on the root partition and available in the event of /usr being inaccessible. Therefore we move the run-time components of the shared Zlib into /lib by issuing the following command: mv /usr/lib/libz.so.* /lib Now we need to fix up the /usr/lib/libz.so symlink because we just moved the location of the file it points to: ln -sf ../../lib/libz.so.1 /usr/lib/libz.so