Switching to the dev branch didn't work, but I'm not really sure if it actually downloaded it either. (my linux knowledge is still fairly limited) However I found some of the comments on github https://github.com/etotheipi/BitcoinArmory/issues/6, switched the .a to .so, and now it works. Thanks!
make sure you use the git command:
Code:
git fetch --all
before switching branches.