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pkg-config(1)							 pkg-config(1)

NAME
       pkg-config - Return metainformation about installed libraries

SYNOPSIS
       pkg-config  [--modversion] [--help] [--print-errors] [--silence-errors]
       [--cflags] [--libs] [--libs-only-L]  [--libs-only-l]  [--cflags-only-I]
       [--variable=VARIABLENAME]     [--define-variable=VARIABLENAME=VARIABLE‐
       VALUE] [--print-variables] [--uninstalled]  [--exists]  [--atleast-ver‐
       sion=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 and
	for these files.  It will additionally look in the colon-separated (on
       Windows,	 semicolon-separated)  list  of	 directories  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").

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.

       --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

       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 files. Most packages define the variable "prefix", for exam‐
	      ple, 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 contraints.  If
	      all packages exist and meet the specified	 version  constraints,
	      pkg-config  exits	 successfully.	Otherwise  it exits unsuccess‐
	      fully.

	      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.

       --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 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.

       -I "--print-provdes"
	      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 out of libs

       PKG_CONFIG_SYSROOT_DIR
	      Modify  -I  and -L to use the directories located in target sys‐
	      root.  this option is usefull when crosscompiling	 package  that
	      use  pkg-config  to  determine CFLAGS anf 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

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.

       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.

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,  of  course,  so
       that the prefix, etc. are set to the proper values.

       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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