Normally when linking against a static library, I have to specify a library directory and the name of a libX.so (or its symbolic link) as -lX flag for linking [and its directory with -L flag]. Can I automate this based on my header files (in c/c++) only? Or maybe it is not a good idea? Is there a software for locating the -L and -l parameters automatically? Is some table stored somewhere on the system about this on popular linux systems or even cygwin?