I reported the following bug http://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=9728
against libtool a few years ago, but it was said that the bug was in autoconf or automake (then, I suspect automake). I don't know whether something has been done on the automake side; I don't have access to HP-UX machines any longer. The problem is the following. To be able to build the MPFR library, the user may need to add some search path when invoking configure, in order to find the GMP library (on which MPFR depends). This is done via LDFLAGS, either explicitly or by the configure script if the user has provided a --with-gmp=DIR option. The setting of LDFLAGS for such a purpose is standard and documented in the Automake manual (AM_LDFLAGS could be used too, with the same effect). Then, for "make check", the path to the MPFR library that has just been built or the library filename itself must be added to the link command by the autotools (automake?). Under GNU/Linux, the filename ../src/.libs/libmpfr.so is used, and there are no problems. But under HP-UX, it is the path that is added (here, the -L../src/.libs flag), and this is done in LIBS, which appears at the end of the command, and in particular *after* $(LDFLAGS): LINK = $(LIBTOOL) --tag=CC $(AM_LIBTOOLFLAGS) $(LIBTOOLFLAGS) \ --mode=link $(CCLD) $(AM_CFLAGS) $(CFLAGS) $(AM_LDFLAGS) \ $(LDFLAGS) -o $@ tversion$(EXEEXT): $(tversion_OBJECTS) $(tversion_DEPENDENCIES) @rm -f tversion$(EXEEXT) $(LINK) $(tversion_OBJECTS) $(tversion_LDADD) $(LIBS) which gives for instance: libtool: link: gcc -O2 -s -o tversion tversion.o -L/opt/gnu/lib ./.libs/libfrtests.a -lm -L../src/.libs -lmpfr -lgmp -Wl,+b -Wl,/xxx/gnu/mpfr-3.1.0/objdir/src/.libs:/opt/gnu/lib (see the -L/opt/gnu/lib before -L../src/.libs). This means that search paths added via AM_LDFLAGS and/or LDFLAGS have the precedence over the local search path, and if an old version of the library is installed in some LDFLAGS search path (which happens), it will be used for "make check" instead of the library that has just been built. -- Vincent Lefèvre <vinc...@vinc17.net> - Web: <https://www.vinc17.net/> 100% accessible validated (X)HTML - Blog: <https://www.vinc17.net/blog/> Work: CR INRIA - computer arithmetic / AriC project (LIP, ENS-Lyon)