Finish mode has two functions. One is to help system administrators install libtool libraries so that they can be located and linked into user programs. To invoke this functionality, pass the name of a library directory as mode-arg. Running this command may require superuser privileges, and the --dry-run option may be useful.
The second is to facilitate transferring libtool libraries to a native compilation environment after they were built in a cross-compilation environment. Cross-compilation environments may rely on recent libtool features, and running libtool in finish mode will make it easier to work with older versions of libtool. This task is performed whenever the mode-arg is a .la file.