GNU Libtool is a software development tool, part of the GNU build system, consisting of a shell script[3] created to address the software portability problem when compiling shared libraries from source code.

Libtool helps manage the creation of static and dynamic libraries on various Unix-like operating systems.

GNU Libtool is designed to simplify the process of compiling a computer program on a new system, by "encapsulating both the platform-specific dependencies, and the user interface, in a single script".

[5] When porting a program to a new system, Libtool is designed so the porter need not read low-level documentation for the shared libraries to be built, rather just run a configure script (or equivalent).

[5] Libtool is used by Autoconf and Automake, two other portability tools in the GNU build system.