How to statically-link a complex program

Question

In Linux, downloaded a program source and want it to be statically linked. Have a huge Makefile there, I

./configure make 

to compile. prehpes it's a bit too general to ask, but how can I make the binary statically linked?

EDIT: the reason for this is wanting to make sure the binary will have no dependencies (or at least as few as possible), making it possible to run on any Linux based computer, even one without Internet connection, and non-updated Linux.

Answer 1

Most autoconf generated configure script will allow you to make a static build:

 ./configure --enable-static  make 

If that doesn't work, you may be able to pass linker flags in via LDFLAGS, like this:

 ./configure LDFLAGS=-static 

Answer 2

Yeah, you need to edit the make file and add the -static parameter to gcc during the link.