diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 66308b6..24c16f4 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -530,7 +530,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "lbug"
-version = "0.17.0"
+version = "0.18.0"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
  "arrow",
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 11037ea..7b0ec24 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name = "lbug"
-version = "0.17.0"
+version = "0.18.0"
 description = "An in-process property graph database management system built for query speed and scalability"
 keywords = ["database", "graph", "ffi"]
 readme = "lbug-src/README.md"
diff --git a/build.rs b/build.rs
index 3e092f1..ca24202 100644
--- a/build.rs
+++ b/build.rs
@@ -40,6 +40,21 @@ fn link_libraries(link_bundled_deps: bool) {
             println!("cargo:rustc-link-lib=dylib=stdc++");
         }
 
+        // liblbug.a requires OpenSSL — try pkg-config for the lib path, then emit link directives
+        if let Ok(output) = std::process::Command::new("pkg-config")
+            .args(["--variable=libdir", "openssl"])
+            .output()
+        {
+            if output.status.success() {
+                let lib_dir = String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stdout).trim().to_string();
+                if !lib_dir.is_empty() {
+                    println!("cargo:rustc-link-search=native={lib_dir}");
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        println!("cargo:rustc-link-lib=dylib=ssl");
+        println!("cargo:rustc-link-lib=dylib=crypto");
+
         if !link_bundled_deps {
             return;
         }