How does a C compiler find that -lm is pointing to the file libm.a?

How does a C compiler find that -lm is pointing to the file libm.a?

How does the compiler find the libraries? It has a built-in collection of library paths that are searched. As an example, GCC will tell you its search paths if asked:

install: /usr/lib/gcc/i686-redhat-linux/4.4.4/
programs: =/usr/libexec/gcc/i686-redhat-linux/4.4.4/:/usr/libexec/gcc/i686-redhat-linux/4.4.4/:/usr/libexec/gcc/i686-redhat-linux/:/usr/lib/gcc/i686-redhat-linux/4.4.4/:/usr/lib/gcc/i686-redhat-linux/:/usr/libexec/gcc/i686-redhat-linux/4.4.4/:/usr/libexec/gcc/i686-redhat-linux/:/usr/lib/gcc/i686-redhat-linux/4.4.4/:/usr/lib/gcc/i686-redhat-linux/:/usr/lib/gcc/i686-redhat-linux/4.4.4/../../../../i686-redhat-linux/bin/i686-redhat-linux/4.4.4/:/usr/lib/gcc/i686-redhat-linux/4.4.4/../../../../i686-redhat-linux/bin/
libraries: =/usr/lib/gcc/i686-redhat-linux/4.4.4/:/usr/lib/gcc/i686-redhat-linux/4.4.4/:/usr/lib/gcc/i686-redhat-linux/4.4.4/../../../../i686-redhat-linux/lib/i686-redhat-linux/4.4.4/:/usr/lib/gcc/i686-redhat-linux/4.4.4/../../../../i686-redhat-linux/lib/:/usr/lib/gcc/i686-redhat-linux/4.4.4/../../../i686-redhat-linux/4.4.4/:/usr/lib/gcc/i686-redhat-linux/4.4.4/../../../:/lib/i686-redhat-linux/4.4.4/:/lib/:/usr/lib/i686-redhat-linux/4.4.4/:/usr/lib/

You can add more library search paths by using the "-L /path" option.

In those paths, it first searches for "dynamic libraries" which are named with a ".so" extension. It then searches for static libraries with a ".a" extension. It always adds "lib" to the front of the name.

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3907498/how-does-a-c-compiler-find-that-lm-is-pointing-to-the-file-libm-a