hi, i've managed to get the individual components of mysql to compile, but i still get this error make[1]: Entering directory `/root/ser-0.9.0/modules/mysql' gcc -shared -Wl,-O2 -Wl,-E -pg db_con.o db_mod.o dbase.o my_con.o my_id.o my_pool.o res.o row.o utils.o val.o -L/usr/lib/mysql -L/usr/local/lib -L/usr/local/lib/mysql -L/usr/local/mysql/lib/mysql/ -L/usr/pkg/lib/mysql -L/usr/local/mysql/lib -L/usr/lib64/mysql -lmysqlclient -lz -o mysql.so /usr/lib64/gcc-lib/x86_64-suse-linux/3.3.4/../../../../x86_64-suse-linux/bin/ld: /usr/lib64/mysql/libmysqlclient.a(libmysql.o): relocation R_X86_64_32 against `a local symbol' can not be used when making a shared object; recompile with -fPIC /usr/lib64/mysql/libmysqlclient.a: could not read symbols: Bad value collect2: ld returned 1 exit status make[1]: *** [mysql.so] Error 1 make[1]: Leaving directory `/root/ser-0.9.0/modules/mysql' I havent used makefiles that much before, and could really use some help. Many thanks Damian.