#include <FreeImage.h> not found

Question

I have compiled FreeImage from source and installed it.

When I run sudo make install in installs the following files on my system

/usr/local/include/FreeImage.h
/usr/local/lib/libfreeimage-3.10.0.dylib
/usr/local/lib/libfreeimage.a

However in my C++ program it says error file not found when I do this:

#include <FreeImage.h>

I have tried adding this to my system path file:

sudo vi /etc/paths

#FreeImage
/usr/local/include
/usr/local/lib

But C++ still cannot find my #include inside Xcode or with gcc.

Answer 1

You don't want those directories in your /etc/paths file. That files lists the directories where the shell searches for executables.

Try:

$ CFLAGS="-I/usr/local/include" LDFLAGS="-L/usr/local/lib" make
$ sudo make install

You might need to add /usr/local/lib to your DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH to make sure your executable runs:

$ export DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/lib:$DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH

(Assuming your DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH variable doesn't have /usr/local/lib, and that it's not empty to begin with. If it is empty, you should do export DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/lib instead.)

Edit: OK, based on your comments, looks like this should work:

export CMAKE_INCLUDE_PATH=/usr/local/include
export CMAKE_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/lib

See What to do if cmake doesn't find the package although it exists on the system? for more.

Since you're using a GUI version of Cmake, you should do this:

Open "property list editor", click "add child". For "New item", enter CMAKE_INCLUDE_PATH, for Type, leave it as "String", for Value, enter /usr/local/include. Then, click "add item" again, and enter CMAKE_LIBRARY_PATH for "New item", leave type as "String", and for "Value", enter /usr/local/lib. Then save (File -> Save as) to a file. I suggest filename a.plist in your Desktop folder. Then open a terminal (Appilcations -> Utilities -> Terminal) and type:

mv ~/Desktop/a.plist ~/.MacOSX/environment.plist

After that, quit Xcode and Cmake gui, and restart. That should work. See this for technical details, and this for more.