Where are my C API Header Files on Desktop Linux?

Issue Details

I'm working with the C API for a driver on Linux, and I've installed the packages, but I'm not able to locate the header files that I need to work on my program.  For example, I've installed ni-daqmx for the driver and libnidaqmx for the C runtime support, but I can't locate NIDAQmx.h in /usr/include

Solution

The package that installs the header files is libnidaqmx-devel.  There are also a couple other packages that may be useful:  libnidaqmx-doc includes the C API documentation, and libnidaqmx-examples contains the C example programs.

This convention holds true for other NI drivers as well.  For example, libniflexrio contains the FlexRIO C API, but the header files are installed by libniflexrio-devel.  If in doubt, try using the search function of your package manager (e.g. apt search <(package name>, or a partial package name)

Additional Information

In general, Linux packages with *-devel in the name include development resources like header files, static libraries, or documentation.