File: libtool.info,  Node: Install mode,  Next: Finish mode,  Prev: Execute mode,  Up: Invoking libtool

4.4 Install mode
================

In “install” mode, libtool interprets most of the elements of MODE-ARGS
as an installation command beginning with ‘cp’, or a BSD-compatible
‘install’ program.

   The following components of MODE-ARGS are treated specially:

‘-inst-prefix-dir INST-PREFIX-DIR’
     When installing into a temporary staging area, rather than the
     final ‘prefix’, this argument is used to reflect the temporary
     path, in much the same way ‘automake’ uses ‘DESTDIR’.  For
     instance, if ‘prefix’ is ‘/usr/local’, but INST-PREFIX-DIR is
     ‘/tmp’, then the object will be installed under ‘/tmp/usr/local/’.
     If the installed object is a libtool library, then the internal
     fields of that library will reflect only ‘prefix’, not
     INST-PREFIX-DIR:

          # Directory that this library needs to be installed in:
          libdir='/usr/local/lib'

     not

          # Directory that this library needs to be installed in:
          libdir='/tmp/usr/local/lib'

     ‘inst-prefix’ is also used to ensure that if the installed object
     must be relinked upon installation, that it is relinked against the
     libraries in INST-PREFIX-DIR/‘prefix’, not ‘prefix’.

     In truth, this option is not really intended for use when calling
     libtool directly; it is automatically used when ‘libtool
     --mode=install’ calls ‘libtool --mode=relink’.  Libtool does this
     by analyzing the destination path given in the original ‘libtool
     --mode=install’ command and comparing it to the expected
     installation path established during ‘libtool --mode=link’.

     Thus, end-users need change nothing, and ‘automake’-style ‘make
     install DESTDIR=/tmp’ will Just Work(tm) most of the time.  For
     systems where fast installation cannot be turned on, relinking may
     be needed.  In this case, a ‘DESTDIR’ install will fail.

     Currently it is not generally possible to install into a temporary
     staging area that contains needed third-party libraries that are
     not yet visible at their final location.

   The rest of the MODE-ARGS are interpreted as arguments to the ‘cp’ or
‘install’ command.

   The command is run, and any necessary unprivileged post-installation
commands are also completed.