GNU Libtool is a set of shell scripts which automatically configure UNIX and UNIX-like systems to generically build shared libraries. Libtool provides a consistent, portable interface which simplifies the process of using shared libraries. If you are developing programs which will use shared libraries, but do not use the rest of the GNU Autotools , you should install the libtool package. The libtool package also includes all files needed to integrate the GNU Portable Library Tool and the GNU Libtool Dynamic Module Loader into a package built using the GNU Autotools .