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pkg-config(1) General Commands Manual pkg-config(1)
NAME
pkg-config - Return metainformation about installed libraries
SYNOPSIS
pkg-config [--modversion] [--version] [--help] [--print-errors]
[--silence-errors] [--errors-to-stdout] [--debug] [--cflags] [--libs]
[--libs-only-L] [--libs-only-l] [--cflags-only-I] [--variable=VARIABLE-
NAME] [--define-variable=VARIABLENAME=VARIABLEVALUE] [--print-vari-
ables] [--uninstalled] [--exists] [--atleast-version=VERSION] [--exact-
version=VERSION] [--max-version=VERSION] [--list-all] [LIBRARIES...]
[--print-provides] [--print-requires] [--print-requires-private]
[LIBRARIES...]
DESCRIPTION
The pkg-config program is used to retrieve information about installed
libraries in the system. It is typically used to compile and link
against one or more libraries. Here is a typical usage scenario in a
Makefile:
program: program.c
cc program.c $(pkg-config --cflags --libs gnomeui)
pkg-config retrieves information about packages from special metadata
files. These files are named after the package, and has a .pc exten-
sion. On most systems, pkg-config looks in /usr/lib/pkgconfig,
/usr/share/pkgconfig, /usr/local/lib/pkgconfig and
/usr/local/share/pkgconfig for these files. It will additionally look
in the colon-separated (on Windows, semicolon-separated) list of direc-
tories specified by the PKG_CONFIG_PATH environment variable.
The package name specified on the pkg-config command line is defined to
be the name of the metadata file, minus the .pc extension. If a library
can install multiple versions simultaneously, it must give each version
its own name (for example, GTK 1.2 might have the package name "gtk+"
while GTK 2.0 has "gtk+-2.0").
In addition to specifying a package name on the command line, the full
path to a given .pc file may be given instead. This allows a user to
directly query a particular .pc file.
OPTIONS
The following options are supported:
--modversion
Requests that the version information of the libraries specified
on the command line be displayed. If pkg-config can find all
the libraries on the command line, each library's version string
is printed to stdout, one version per line. In this case pkg-
config exits successfully. If one or more libraries is unknown,
pkg-config exits with a nonzero code, and the contents of stdout
are undefined.
--version
Displays the version of pkg-config and terminates.
--help Displays a help message and terminates.
--print-errors
If one or more of the modules on the command line, or their
dependencies, are not found, or if an error occurs in parsing a
.pc file, then this option will cause errors explaining the
problem to be printed. With "predicate" options such as
"--exists" pkg-config runs silently by default, because it's
usually used in scripts that want to control what's output. This
option can be used alone (to just print errors encountered
locating modules on the command line) or with other options. The
PKG_CONFIG_DEBUG_SPEW environment variable overrides this
option.
--silence-errors
If one or more of the modules on the command line, or their
dependencies, are not found, or if an error occurs in parsing a
a .pc file, then this option will keep errors explaining the
problem from being printed. With "predicate" options such as
"--exists" pkg-config runs silently by default, because it's
usually used in scripts that want to control what's output. So
this option is only useful with options such as "--cflags" or
"--modversion" that print errors by default. The PKG_CON-
FIG_DEBUG_SPEW environment variable overrides this option.
--errors-to-stdout
If printing errors, print them to stdout rather than the default
stderr
--debug
Print debugging information. This is slightly different than the
PKG_CONFIG_DEBUG_SPEW environment variable, which also enable
"--print-errors".
The following options are used to compile and link programs:
--cflags
This prints pre-processor and compile flags required to compile
the packages on the command line, including flags for all their
dependencies. Flags are "compressed" so that each identical flag
appears only once. pkg-config exits with a nonzero code if it
can't find metadata for one or more of the packages on the com-
mand line.
--cflags-only-I
This prints the -I part of "--cflags". That is, it defines the
header search path but doesn't specify anything else.
--libs This option is identical to "--cflags", only it prints the link
flags. As with "--cflags", duplicate flags are merged (maintain-
ing proper ordering), and flags for dependencies are included in
the output.
--libs-only-L
This prints the -L/-R part of "--libs". That is, it defines the
library search path but doesn't specify which libraries to link
with.
--libs-only-l
This prints the -l part of "--libs" for the libraries specified
on the command line. Note that the union of "--libs-only-l" and
"--libs-only-L" may be smaller than "--libs", due to flags such
as -rdynamic.
--variable=VARIABLENAME
This returns the value of a variable defined in a package's .pc
file. Most packages define the variable "prefix", for example,
so you can say:
$ pkg-config --variable=prefix glib-2.0
/usr/
--define-variable=VARIABLENAME=VARIABLEVALUE
This sets a global value for a variable, overriding the value in
any .pc files. Most packages define the variable "prefix", for
example, so you can say:
$ pkg-config --print-errors --define-variable=prefix=/foo \
--variable=prefix glib-2.0
/foo
--print-variables
Returns a list of all variables defined in the package.
--uninstalled
Normally if you request the package "foo" and the package "foo-
uninstalled" exists, pkg-config will prefer the "-uninstalled"
variant. This allows compilation/linking against uninstalled
packages. If you specify the "--uninstalled" option, pkg-config
will return successfully if any "-uninstalled" packages are
being used, and return failure (false) otherwise. (The PKG_CON-
FIG_DISABLE_UNINSTALLED environment variable keeps pkg-config
from implicitly choosing "-uninstalled" packages, so if that
variable is set, they will only have been used if you pass a
name like "foo-uninstalled" on the command line explicitly.)
--exists
--atleast-version=VERSION
--exact-version=VERSION
--max-version=VERSION
These options test whether the package or list of packages on
the command line are known to pkg-config, and optionally whether
the version number of a package meets certain constraints. If
all packages exist and meet the specified version constraints,
pkg-config exits successfully. Otherwise it exits unsuccess-
fully. Only the first VERSION comparing option will be honored.
Subsequent options of this type will be ignored.
Rather than using the version-test options, you can simply give
a version constraint after each package name, for example:
$ pkg-config --exists 'glib-2.0 >= 1.3.4 libxml = 1.8.3'
Remember to use --print-errors if you want error messages. When
no output options are supplied to pkg-config, --exists is
implied.
--msvc-syntax
This option is available only on Windows. It causes pkg-config
to output -l and -L flags in the form recognized by the Micro-
soft Visual C++ command-line compiler, cl. Specifically, instead
of -Lx:/some/path it prints /libpath:x/some/path, and instead of
-lfoo it prints foo.lib. Note that the --libs output consists of
flags for the linker, and should be placed on the cl command
line after a /link switch.
--dont-define-prefix
This option is available only on Windows. It prevents pkg-config
from automatically trying to override the value of the variable
"prefix" in each .pc file.
--prefix-variable=PREFIX
Also this option is available only on Windows. It sets the name
of the variable that pkg-config automatically sets as described
above.
--static
Output libraries suitable for static linking. That means
including any private libraries in the output. This relies on
proper tagging in the .pc files, else a too large number of
libraries will ordinarily be output.
--list-all
List all modules found in the pkg-config path.
--print-provides
List all modules the given packages provides.
--print-requires
List all modules the given packages requires.
--print-requires-private
List all modules the given packages requires for static linking
(see --static).
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
PKG_CONFIG_PATH
A colon-separated (on Windows, semicolon-separated) list of
directories to search for .pc files. The default directory will
always be searched after searching the path; the default is
libdir/pkgconfig:datadir/pkgconfig where libdir is the libdir
for pkg-config and datadir is the datadir for pkg-config when it
was installed.
PKG_CONFIG_DEBUG_SPEW
If set, causes pkg-config to print all kinds of debugging infor-
mation and report all errors.
PKG_CONFIG_TOP_BUILD_DIR
A value to set for the magic variable pc_top_builddir which may
appear in .pc files. If the environment variable is not set, the
default value '$(top_builddir)' will be used. This variable
should refer to the top builddir of the Makefile where the com-
pile/link flags reported by pkg-config will be used. This only
matters when compiling/linking against a package that hasn't yet
been installed.
PKG_CONFIG_DISABLE_UNINSTALLED
Normally if you request the package "foo" and the package "foo-
uninstalled" exists, pkg-config will prefer the "-uninstalled"
variant. This allows compilation/linking against uninstalled
packages. If this environment variable is set, it disables said
behavior.
PKG_CONFIG_ALLOW_SYSTEM_CFLAGS
Don't strip -I/usr/include out of cflags.
PKG_CONFIG_ALLOW_SYSTEM_LIBS
Don't strip -L/usr/lib or -L/lib out of libs.
PKG_CONFIG_SYSROOT_DIR
Modify -I and -L to use the directories located in target sys-
root. this option is useful when cross-compiling packages that
use pkg-config to determine CFLAGS and LDFLAGS. -I and -L are
modified to point to the new system root. this means that a
-I/usr/include/libfoo will become -I/var/target/usr/include/lib-
foo with a PKG_CONFIG_SYSROOT_DIR equal to /var/target (same
rule apply to -L)
PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR
Replaces the default pkg-config search directory, usually
/usr/lib/pkgconfig
QUERYING PKG-CONFIG'S DEFAULTS
pkg-config can be used to query itself for the default search path,
version number and other information, for instance using:
$ pkg-config --variable pc_path pkg-config
or
$ pkg-config --modversion pkg-config
WINDOWS SPECIALITIES
If a .pc file is found in a directory that matches the usual conven-
tions (i.e., ends with \lib\pkgconfig or \share\pkgconfig), the prefix
for that package is assumed to be the grandparent of the directory
where the file was found, and the prefix variable is overridden for
that file accordingly.
If the value of a variable in a .pc file begins with the original, non-
overridden, value of the prefix variable, then the overridden value of
prefix is used instead.
AUTOCONF MACROS
PKG_CHECK_MODULES(VARIABLE-PREFIX, MODULES [,ACTION-IF-FOUND [,ACTION-
IF-NOT-FOUND]])
The macro PKG_CHECK_MODULES can be used in configure.ac to check
whether modules exist. A typical usage would be:
PKG_CHECK_MODULES([MYSTUFF], [gtk+-2.0 >= 1.3.5 libxml = 1.8.4])
This would result in MYSTUFF_LIBS and MYSTUFF_CFLAGS substitu-
tion variables, set to the libs and cflags for the given module
list. If a module is missing or has the wrong version, by
default configure will abort with a message. To replace the
default action, specify an ACTION-IF-NOT-FOUND.
PKG_CHECK_MODULES will not print any error messages if you spec-
ify your own ACTION-IF-NOT-FOUND. However, it will set the
variable MYSTUFF_PKG_ERRORS, which you can use to display what
went wrong.
Note that if there is a possibility the first call to
PKG_CHECK_MODULES might not happen, you should be sure to
include an explicit call to PKG_PROG_PKG_CONFIG in your config-
ure.ac.
Also note that repeated usage of VARIABLE-PREFIX is not recom-
mended. After the first successful usage, subsequent calls with
the same VARIABLE-PREFIX will simply use the _LIBS and _CFLAGS
variables set from the previous usage without calling pkg-config
again.
PKG_PROG_PKG_CONFIG([MIN-VERSION])
Defines the PKG_CONFIG variable to the best pkg-config avail-
able, useful if you need pkg-config but don't want to use
PKG_CHECK_MODULES.
PKG_CHECK_EXISTS(MODULES, [ACTION-IF-FOUND], [ACTION-IF-NOT-FOUND])
Check to see whether a particular set of modules exists. Simi-
lar to PKG_CHECK_MODULES(), but does not set variables or print
errors.
Similar to PKG_CHECK_MODULES, make sure that the first instance
of this or PKG_CHECK_MODULES is called, or make sure to call
PKG_CHECK_EXISTS manually.
PKG_INSTALLDIR(DIRECTORY)
Substitutes the variable pkgconfigdir as the location where a
module should install pkg-config .pc files. By default the
directory is $libdir/pkgconfig, but the default can be changed
by passing DIRECTORY. The user can override through the --with-
pkgconfigdir parameter.
PKG_NOARCH_INSTALLDIR(DIRECTORY)
Substitutes the variable noarch_pkgconfigdir as the location
where a module should install arch-independent pkg-config .pc
files. By default the directory is $datadir/pkgconfig, but the
default can be changed by passing DIRECTORY. The user can over-
ride through the --with-noarch-pkgconfigdir parameter.
PKG_CHECK_VAR(VARIABLE, MODULE, CONFIG-VARIABLE, [ACTION-IF-FOUND],
[ACTION-IF-NOT-FOUND])
Retrieves the value of the pkg-config variable CONFIG-VARIABLE
from MODULE and stores it in VARIABLE. Note that repeated usage
of VARIABLE is not recommended as the check will be skipped if
the variable is already set.
METADATA FILE SYNTAX
To add a library to the set of packages pkg-config knows about, simply
install a .pc file. You should install this file to libdir/pkgconfig.
Here is an example file:
# This is a comment
prefix=/home/hp/unst # this defines a variable
exec_prefix=${prefix} # defining another variable in terms of the first
libdir=${exec_prefix}/lib
includedir=${prefix}/include
Name: GObject # human-readable name
Description: Object/type system for GLib # human-readable description
Version: 1.3.1
URL: http://www.gtk.org
Requires: glib-2.0 = 1.3.1
Conflicts: foobar <= 4.5
Libs: -L${libdir} -lgobject-1.3
Libs.private: -lm
Cflags: -I${includedir}/glib-2.0 -I${libdir}/glib/include
You would normally generate the file using configure, so that the pre-
fix, etc. are set to the proper values. The GNU Autoconf manual recom-
mends generating files like .pc files at build time rather than config-
ure time, so when you build the .pc file is a matter of taste and pref-
erence.
Files have two kinds of line: keyword lines start with a keyword plus a
colon, and variable definitions start with an alphanumeric string plus
an equals sign. Keywords are defined in advance and have special mean-
ing to pkg-config; variables do not, you can have any variables that
you wish (however, users may expect to retrieve the usual directory
name variables).
Note that variable references are written "${foo}"; you can escape lit-
eral "${" as "$${".
Name: This field should be a human-readable name for the package. Note
that it is not the name passed as an argument to pkg-config.
Description:
This should be a brief description of the package
URL: An URL where people can get more information about and download
the package
Version:
This should be the most-specific-possible package version
string.
Requires:
This is a comma-separated list of packages that are required by
your package. Flags from dependent packages will be merged in to
the flags reported for your package. Optionally, you can specify
the version of the required package (using the operators =, <,
>, >=, <=); specifying a version allows pkg-config to perform
extra sanity checks. You may only mention the same package one
time on the Requires: line. If the version of a package is
unspecified, any version will be used with no checking.
Requires.private:
A list of packages required by this package. The difference from
Requires is that the packages listed under Requires.private are
not taken into account when a flag list is computed for dynami-
cally linked executable (i.e., when --static was not specified).
In the situation where each .pc file corresponds to a library,
Requires.private shall be used exclusively to specify the depen-
dencies between the libraries.
Conflicts:
This optional line allows pkg-config to perform additional san-
ity checks, primarily to detect broken user installations. The
syntax is the same as Requires: except that you can list the
same package more than once here, for example "foobar = 1.2.3,
foobar = 1.2.5, foobar >= 1.3", if you have reason to do so. If
a version isn't specified, then your package conflicts with all
versions of the mentioned package. If a user tries to use your
package and a conflicting package at the same time, then pkg-
config will complain.
Libs: This line should give the link flags specific to your package.
Don't add any flags for required packages; pkg-config will add
those automatically.
Libs.private:
This line should list any private libraries in use. Private
libraries are libraries which are not exposed through your
library, but are needed in the case of static linking. This dif-
fers from Requires.private in that it references libraries that
do not have package files installed.
Cflags:
This line should list the compile flags specific to your pack-
age. Don't add any flags for required packages; pkg-config will
add those automatically.
AUTHOR
pkg-config was written by James Henstridge, rewritten by Martijn van
Beers, and rewritten again by Havoc Pennington. Tim Janik, Owen Taylor,
and Raja Harinath submitted suggestions and some code. gnome-config
was written by Miguel de Icaza, Raja Harinath and various hackers in
the GNOME team. It was inspired by Owen Taylor's gtk-config program.
BUGS
pkg-config does not handle mixing of parameters with and without =
well. Stick with one.
Bugs can be reported at http://bugs.freedesktop.org/ under the pkg-con-
fig component.
pkg-config(1)
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