Helper functions that interface with the system utilities to learn about the local build environment. Lets you explore 'make' rules to test the local configuration, or query 'pkg-config' to find compiler flags and libs needed for building packages with external dependencies. Also contains tools to analyze which libraries that a installed R package linked to by inspecting output from 'ldd' in combination with information from your distribution package manager, e.g. 'rpm' or 'dpkg'.