Re: pkg-config wisdom

[Tim Post]

On Thu, 2009-10-22 at 11:44 -0700, Murray S. Kucherawy wrote:
> What's the current general wisdom on using the pkg-config extensions?  
> I presume there's a reason they've not been incorporated into basic
> autoconf, so I'm keen to learn what common practices there are toward
> adopting it into people's builds (or avoiding it).

I have experienced many issues using pkg-config. Most of the issues
stemmed from users compiling and installing their own libraries, where
one (or more) of the following happens:

* Their custom built library is not used, the system's is.

* pkg-config did not locate an installed library, due to the library not
installing the files that pkg-config needs to work

* Conflicts with the users preference regarding CFLAGS

Additionally, you will encounter additional problems on systems ~3 years
old, of which many are still in production.

I really recommend avoiding it. In my experience, it creates more
frustration than it solves.

Regards,
--Tim

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