From LQWiki

The term library refers to a collection of commonly shared program code. This can be in the form of source code or compiled binaries. Libraries are dynamically loadable or statically linked. When you build a program, you may find that it contains dependencies to libraries. A statically linked library is needed at compile time, a dynamic library is loaded at or directly before the runtime of a program.

Linux has an extensive use of libraries of many kinds, this provides for small and compact programs which benefit the distribution. Also there is less need to reinvent the wheel every time I need to do a certain task.

Many of the available libraries are needed when you compile programs yourself from source code. Some of the more common libraries are:

• glibc
• libgcc
• libgnome
• libstdc++

See also

• Library-related Commands and Files