Linux: Ensure libraries in /usr/lib{64} are found before those defined in /etc/ld.so.conf

Question

I am running Fedora 15 x86_64 and have the Oracle 11 client installed, and have an /etc/ld.so.conf.d/oracle.conf file configured so I can automatically pick-up the client shared object file. However Oracle also comes with other shared objects that I don't want to override the system libraries (libexpat in this case).

As there is no definition for /usr/lib64 in the ld.so.conf files, how do I make it the first directory that ld.so searches for shared objects?

Answer 1

You can add that definition in to /etc/ld.so.conf or to a file of your own name (I THINK it will pick them up alphabetically, you'll need to experiment) so /etc/ld.so.conf.d/a.conf should be picked up first. Make sure you run /sbin/ldconfig after altering or adding the previous files.

As a last resort, you can use the LD_LIBRARY_PATH variable. There is some decent information here and here about why NOT to use that variable if you can help it.