# Linking to a prebuilt library
**URL:** https://discourse.cmake.org/t/linking-to-a-prebuilt-library/1733
**Category:** Usage
**Tags:** os:qnx
**Created:** [August 21, 2020, 3:21pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/linking-to-a-prebuilt-library/1733 "2020-08-21T15:21:49Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@developer](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/developer)
#### Post date: [August 21, 2020, 3:21pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/linking-to-a-prebuilt-library/1733/1 "2020-08-21T15:21:49Z")
I am trying to link to a specific QNX library for the architecture I’m cross compiling for. Let’s call that library foo. I have a QNX toolchain file very similar to the example in the toolchains.cmake documentation.
I want to link an existing target to this library here are the options I see. I would like to link to this library statically. I’ve tried a couple options that seem to at the very least build.
```auto
target_link_libraries(MyTarget PRIVATE foo.a)
target_link_libraries(MyTarget PRIVATE /full/path/to/lib/foo.a)
target_link_libraries(MyTarget PRIVATE "-lfoo")
target_link_libraries(MyTarget PRIVATE foo) # simplest, but does this guarantee static?
find_library(FooLib NAMES foo.a)
# FooLib actually appears to be the full path to foo.so, which isn't desired
target_link_libraries(MyTarget PRIVATE ${FooLib})
```
Are any of these options the _recommended_ approach?
I do want to guarantee that I’m linking to the static library. Does just specifying `foo` accomplish this? Or will this default to the shared (.so) library.
---
### Author:  [@kyle.edwards](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/kyle.edwards)
#### Post date: [August 21, 2020, 3:26pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/linking-to-a-prebuilt-library/1733/2 "2020-08-21T15:26:40Z")
The simple answer to your question is that specifying the full path is the recommended approach, as that will guarantee use of the static library. However, you can use `find_library()` to find the full location of the library without having to hard-code its full path.
Ultimately the “best” way is to create a `FindFoo.cmake` or `FooConfig.cmake` (for use by `find_package()`) which creates an `IMPORTED` library target. This target has the full path as its imported location.
---
### Author:  [@developer](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/developer)
#### Post date: [August 21, 2020, 5:36pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/linking-to-a-prebuilt-library/1733/3 "2020-08-21T17:36:32Z")
Thanks for the quick response!
So that said, the full path to that library contains the architecture which is specific in the QNX toolchain file. I would prefer to not hardcode this path in case the architecture were to change.
Is it an acceptable/common practice to use `target_link_libraries(MyTarget PRIVATE foo.a)`?
The issue with find\_library is that even if I give it the `NAMES foo.a`, the found target is still the `.so` library. Do you know why this would be?
---
### Author:  [@ben.boeckel](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/ben.boeckel)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2021, 3:20pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/linking-to-a-prebuilt-library/1733/4 "2021-01-04T15:20:18Z")
The docs state that to find static libraries, you need the prefix too. Does searching for `libfoo.a` work instead?
> [@](#):
>
> Each library name given to the `NAMES` option is first considered
> as a library file name and then considered with platform-specific
> prefixes (e.g. `lib`) and suffixes (e.g. `.so`). Therefore one
> may specify library file names such as `libfoo.a` directly.
> This can be used to locate static libraries on UNIX-like systems.