My apologies if this is not the correct list. I'm not sure which one of automake or libtool is causing the trouble here.
I maintain a project ( https://github.com/OpenLightingProject/ola ) that uses autoconf / automake / libtool. I've noticed that if I add a new symbol to one of our libraries, the `make check` target will fail with "undefined reference to " to the new symbol. I realized that it's trying to link against the older version of the library installed in /usr/local/lib rather than the one in the builddir. The tests in ola/ are usually the first to fail. The linker command line is: $ g++ -I../include -I../include -I.. -I.. -Wall -Wformat -W -fvisibility-inlines-hidden -pthread -Werror -DTEST_SRC_DIR=\".\" -g -O2 -pthread -o .libs/OlaClientTester OlaClientTester-StreamingClientTest.o /usr/lib/libcppunit.so -ldl ../common/testing/.libs/libolatesting.a ../common/testing/.libs/libtestmain.a ../plugins/artnet/.libs/libolaartnet.so ../plugins/dummy/.libs/liboladummy.so ../plugins/e131/.libs/libolae131.so ../plugins/espnet/.libs/libolaespnet.so ../plugins/ftdidmx/.libs/libolaftdidmx.so ../plugins/karate/.libs/libolakarate.so ../plugins/kinet/.libs/libolakinet.so ../plugins/milinst/.libs/libolamilinst.so ../plugins/opendmx/.libs/libolaopendmx.so ../plugins/osc/.libs/libolaosc.so ../plugins/pathport/.libs/libolapathport.so ../plugins/renard/.libs/libolarenard.so ../plugins/sandnet/.libs/libolasandnet.so ../plugins/shownet/.libs/libolashownet.so ../plugins/spi/.libs/libolaspi.so ../plugins/stageprofi/.libs/libolastageprofi.so ../plugins/usbpro/.libs/libolausbpro.so ../plugins/usbdmx/.libs/libolausbdmx.so ../common/.libs/libolacommon.so ../olad/.libs/libolaserver.so ./.libs/libola.so -pthread -Wl,-rpath -Wl,/usr/local/lib/olad I've found by removing the trailing -Wl,-rpath -Wl,/usr/local/lib/olad the linker will succeed. However I can't figure out where -rpath /usr/local/lib/olad is coming from. Simon