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I'm looking for a single word to describe the act of making something into a software library.

Software libraries are collections of code with a well-defined interface, such that it is easy to integrate the library with other software. Making libraries is a common activity in software development. The actions involved are not well defined though; sometimes it is to extract a portion of a bigger software package into a form easily used by other software, sometimes it is to agglomerate a set of disparate pieces of software to use a common interface. Since the activity is defined by its end result, I was thinking of the made-up words librify and librarify (since the -ify suffix seems to fit), but I see these words are very uncommon.

Is there an existing word that fits this definition? Perhaps one not in a dictionary but commonly used or well understood by the target audience?

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    Are you looking for something formal or something cute? I like librarify; I could see myself saying it at work. If you were trying to be clear in a document, stick with the longer description.
    – Henry74
    Commented Jul 18, 2014 at 8:53

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Packaging sounds most correct to me. The most important defining property of a software library is that it's a self-contained, well, package.

Software libraries and the constructs used to organise and distribute them are often termed "packages": Here's Java's, Python's and Perl's. Even languages that don't have them as an explicit language feature speak of "implementing packages" as in Lua.

All of a guide on "How to Package Your Python Code", a "Lua Packaging Guide" and various questions on StackOverflow tagged "packaging" use the word to mean putting code into a form useable by others.

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"Archiving", "linking", or perhaps "cataloguing"? The UNIX 'ar' tool (short for archiver) is used to build static libraries; and a linker is used to build dynamic (shared) libraries. These cover the technical side of creating a library.

If you're looking for a broader description of the whole process, "packaging" is probably the most appropriate.

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Anthologize.

Our library anthologizes the source code from X and Y, in the form of a port and a wrapper, respectively.

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It seems to me the word "archiving" is appropriate

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  • Why do you think that? "Archive" is not a word I would normally associate with a software library.
    – curiousdannii
    Commented Jul 18, 2014 at 7:28
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Building or packaging come to mind. If you're taking from existing code converting or extracting sound fine too.

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    some explanations/examples would be helpful
    – Mou某
    Commented Jul 18, 2014 at 7:10

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