# pkg-config

pkg-config is a helper tool used when compiling applications and
libraries. It helps you insert the correct compiler options on the
command line so an application can use `` gcc -o test test.c `pkg-config
--libs --cflags glib-2.0` `` for instance, rather than hard-coding values
on where to find glib (or other libraries). It is language-agnostic, so
it can be used for defining the location of documentation tools, for
instance.

The program is free software and licensed under the
[[GPL|https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html]] version 2 or any later
version (at your option).

pkg-config works on multiple platforms: Linux and other UNIX-like
operating systems, Mac OS X and Windows. It does not require anything
but a reasonably well working C compiler and a C library, but can use an
installed glib if that is present. (A copy of recent glib2 is shipped
together with pkg-config versions since 0.27, and this is sufficient for
pkg-config to compile and work properly.)

The first implementation was written in shell, by James Henstridge.
Later, it was rewritten in C by Havoc Pennington. It also grew an
autoconf macro written by Tim Janik, later rewritten by Scott James
Remnant. The current maintainers are
[[Tollef Fog Heen <tfheen@err.no>|mailto:tfheen@err.no]] and
[[Dan Nicholson <dbn.lists@gmail.com>|mailto:dbn.lists@gmail.com]].

The current release of pkg-config is version
[[0.29.2|https://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/pkg-config/2017-March/001084.html]]
and can be found in
[[/releases|https://pkgconfig.freedesktop.org/releases/]].

pkg-config is available from the [[git|https://git-scm.com/]] repository
at [[https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pkg-config/pkg-config.git]] [[(browse)|https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pkg-config/pkg-config]]

Bugs can be filed in the
[[Freedesktop.org bug tracker|https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pkg-config/pkg-config/issues]]

There is a mailing list for development and user questions at
[[pkg-config@lists.freedesktop.org|mailto:pkg-config@lists.freedesktop.org]]
[[(Archives)|https://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/pkg-config/]]
[[(Subscribe)|https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/pkg-config]]

New and veteran users alike may find
[[Dan Nicholson’s Guide to pkg-config|https://people.freedesktop.org/~dbn/pkg-config-guide.html]]
informative, particularly
[[the FAQ section|https://people.freedesktop.org/~dbn/pkg-config-guide.html#faq]]
which provides examples of where the `Requires.private` field is
appropriate.