I suggest to reuse a higher level build system than [your current small make file](https://github.com/cisco/thor/blob/f32aef3aeb4648e481e34c0891b5cb64cffcaf46/Makefile#L1) so that powerful checks for software features will become easier. - [CMake](http://cmake.org/) - [Autotools](http://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf/#TOCintroduction)