I am creating an application for the Linux desktop, but my app depends on the wkhtmltox library. The version of this library that is included in the repositories of most distributions is out of date, and has problems which make it unusable.

Currently, users have to manually install the library from the wkhtmltox website for my app to work properly. I am thinking that the only way to get around this problem would be to include the binary for the library with my app, and manually install it to the correct location. Would this be the "correct" thing to do, or is there a more generally accepted way of solving this problem?

Include the library statically in your program at compile-time, that way you control which version gets used.

Hello and welcome to LQ.


Not really a great solution in any case. A typical install program would look for correct dependencies then usually ask to install. It's a bit uncommon to package the full set of dependencies but there are a few out there.
Since your now full package won't ever look outside for any updated helper files then it could present an issue at a later time. May be possible to compile the entire program without that being needed. ?

I think tuxguitar is one that offers two choices of packages. You simply may wish to offer both choices and let the user decide.