Build .so file from .c file using gcc command line

To generate a shared library you need first to compile your C code with the -fPIC (position independent code) flag.

gcc -c -fPIC hello.c -o hello.o

This will generate an object file (.o), now you take it and create the .so file:

gcc hello.o -shared -o libhello.so

EDIT: Suggestions from the comments:

You can use

gcc -shared -o libhello.so -fPIC hello.c

to do it in one step. – Jonathan Leffler

I also suggest to add -Wall to get all warnings, and -g to get debugging information, to your gcc commands. – Basile Starynkevitch