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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] [--atleast-pkgconfig-version=VERSION]
[--print-errors] [--short-errors] [--silence-errors] [--errors-to-stdout] [--debug]
[--cflags] [--libs] [--libs-only-L] [--libs-only-l] [--cflags-only-I] [--libs-only-other]
[--cflags-only-other] [--variable=VARIABLENAME] [--define-variable=VARIABLENAME=VARIABLE-
VALUE] [--print-variables] [--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 extension. 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-sepa-
rated (on Windows, semicolon-separated) list of directories specified by the PKG_CON-
FIG_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 simul-
taneously, 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.
--atleast-pkgconfig-version=VERSION
Requires at least the given version of pkg-config.
--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.
--short-errors
Print short error messages.
--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_CONFIG_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_CON-
FIG_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 command 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.
--cflags-only-other
This prints parts of "--cflags" not covered by "--cflags-only-I".
--libs This option is identical to "--cflags", only it prints the link flags. As with
"--cflags", duplicate flags are merged (maintaining 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.
--libs-only-other
This prints the parts of "--libs" not covered by "--libs-only-L" and "--libs-only-
l", such as "--pthread".
--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_CONFIG_DISABLE_UNINSTALLED environment vari-
able 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-unin-
stalled" 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 con-
straints, pkg-config exits successfully. Otherwise it exits unsuccessfully.
Rather than using the version-test options, you can simply give a version con-
straint 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.
--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 Microsoft 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 information 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 compile/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 out of libs
PKG_CONFIG_SYSROOT_DIR
Modify -I and -L to use the directories located in target sysroot. 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/libfoo with a PKG_CON-
FIG_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 conventions (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 overrid-
den 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 substitution 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 specify 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 configure.ac.
Also note that repeated usage of VARIABLE-PREFIX is not recommended. 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 available, 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. Similar to PKG_CHECK_MOD-
ULES(), 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.
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 prefix, etc. are set to
the proper values. The GNU Autoconf manual recommends generating files like .pc files at
build time rather than configure time, so when you build the .pc file is a matter of taste
and preference.
Files have two kinds of line: keyword lines start with a keyword plus a colon, and vari-
able definitions start with an alphanumeric string plus an equals sign. Keywords are
defined in advance and have special meaning 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 "${foo}"; you can escape literal "${" 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 opera-
tors =, <, >, >=, <=); specifying a version allows pkg-config to perform extra san-
ity 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 check-
ing.
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 dynamically 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 dependencies between the
libraries.
Conflicts:
This optional line allows pkg-config to perform additional sanity 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 differs 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 package. 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-config component.
pkg-config(1)
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On Apache
Under GNU General Public License
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