Editing Library (computing) (section)

===Unix-like===
On most modern [[Unix-like]] systems, library files are stored in directories such as <code>/lib</code>, <code>/usr/lib</code> and <code>/usr/local/lib</code>. A filename typically starts with <code>lib</code>, and ends with <code>.a</code> for a static library ([[Ar (file format)|archive]]) or <code>.so</code> for a shared object (dynamically linked library). For example, <code>libfoo.a</code> and <code>libfoo.so</code>.

Often, [[symbolic link]] files are used to manage versioning of a library by providing a link file named without a version that links to a file named with a version. For example, <code>libfoo.so.2</code> might be version 2 of library ''foo'' and a link file named <code>libfoo.so</code> provides a version independent name to that file that programs link to. The link file could be changed to a refer to a version 3 (<code>libfoo.so.3</code>) such that consuming programs will then use version 3 without having to change the program.

Files with extension <code>.la</code> are [[libtool]] archives; not usable by the system.