View source for Development package

A [[development package]] is a [[package]] that is not needed to actually use [[software]], but to [[build]] [[program]]s [[depending]] on it. For example if you build KDE, you need the xorg [[development package]] that controls graphical routines. If you try to build KDE without the xorg development package, you will get an error during the [[configure]] step like this:
 $ ./configure
 [...]
 checking for vsnprintf... yes
 checking for snprintf... yes
 checking for X... configure: error: Can't find X includes. Please check your installation and add the correct paths!

= Distro differences =
In Red Hat and [[Debian]] based systems, the "devel" packages are usually named the exact same name as the actual dependency, but they will have a "dev" at the end. For example, the devel package for libgtk1.2 should be libgtk1.2-dev. With SUSE, the ending is "-devel". With Slackware, most packages already include development files.