pkgconf/man/pkgconf.1

.\" Copyright (c) 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 pkgconf authors (see AUTHORS).
.\"
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.\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above
.\" copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.
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.Dd June 23, 2026
.Dt PKGCONF 1
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm pkgconf
.Nd a system for configuring build dependency information
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm
.Op Ar options
.Ar module ...
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Nm
program retrieves configuration information related to the
.Ar module
arguments from
.Xr pc 5
files installed on the system and prints parts of the retrieved
information depending on the specified
.Ar options .
The most common use is printing the compiler and linker flags needed
to build software that uses the libraries given by the
.Ar module
arguments.
.Pp
When printing compiler and linker flags,
.Nm
escapes shell metacharacters
.Pq such as quotes, whitespace, brackets, braces and glob characters
in each fragment with a backslash.
The output is intended to be re-tokenised by the consumer using POSIX shell
word-splitting rules, as build systems generally do; under those rules the
protective backslashes are removed and the original values are recovered.
Note that pasting the output directly into an unquoted command substitution,
for example
.Ql cc $(pkgconf \-\-libs foo) ,
performs word-splitting and pathname expansion but does
.Em not
remove the backslashes, so a value containing such characters may reach the
toolchain with the escaping still present.
.Pp
The
.Xr pc 5
files are searched for along a path constructed from the
.Fl -with-path
option, the
.Ev PKG_CONFIG_PATH
and
.Ev PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR
environment variables, and some compiled-in default directories.
The
.Ar module
arguments correspond to the file names, but without the
.Pa .pc
filename extension.
.Pp
Several of the
.Ar options
cause immediate exit.
If multiple of these options are given, only the option with the
highest priority takes effect and those with lower priority are
silently ignored.
These options are, ordered by descending priority:
.Bl -enum
.It
No-module options:
.Fl -dump-personality ,
.Fl -about ,
.Fl -version ,
.Fl -help ,
.Fl -atleast-pkgconfig-version ,
.Fl -list-all ,
and
.Fl -list-package-names :
These options cause all arguments to be ignored.
.It
Argument-only options:
.Fl -atleast-version ,
.Fl -exact-version ,
and
.Fl -max-version :
These options only inspect modules explicitly specified on the
command line and do not look at dependencies.
.It
Limited-output options:
.Fl -validate ,
.Fl -license ,
.Fl -license-file ,
.Fl -link-abi ,
.Fl -source ,
.Fl -uninstalled ,
and
.Fl -env :
These options perform dependency resolution, but exit after printing
the information requested by the highest-priority option,
ignoring other output options that may have been specified.
.El
.Pp
Several other options require at least one
.Ar module
argument, produce output, do not cause early exit, can be combined
with each other, but override and disable all
.Fl -cflags
and
.Fl -libs
options:
.Bl -enum
.It
Single-module output options:
.Fl -path ,
.Fl -print-variables ,
.Fl -variable :
If any of these options is specified, only the first
.Ar module
argument is used, all other arguments are silently ignored,
and no dependency resolution is attempted.
.It
Depth-one output options:
.Fl -print-provides ,
.Fl -modversion ,
.Fl -print-requires ,
and
.Fl -print-requires-private :
If any of these options is specified, only modules
explicitly specified on the command line are inspected
and no dependency resolution is attempted.
.It
General output options:
.Fl -simulate ,
.Fl -digraph ,
.Fl -solution ,
.Fl -fragment-tree ,
.Fl -newlines :
These options do not limit dependency resolution.
.El
.Pp
The most important output options
.Fl -cflags
and
.Fl -libs
can be combined with each other, but are overridden and ignored if
any of the options listed above are specified.
.Pp
The complete list of
.Ar options
is as follows:
.Bl -tag -width indent
.It Fl -about
Print the version number, the Copyright notice, and the license of the
.Nm
program to standard output and exit.
Most other options and all command line arguments are ignored.
.It Fl -atleast-pkgconfig-version Ns = Ns Ar version
Exit with error if the requested
.Ar version
number is greater than the version number of the
.Nm
program, or with success otherwise.
Most other options and all command line arguments are ignored.
.It Fl -atleast-version Ns = Ns Ar version
Check the
.Ar module
arguments in the given order.
Exit with error as soon as a
.Ar module
does not exist, and exit with success as soon as the version number of a
.Ar module
is greater than or equal to the requested
.Ar version
number.
Exit with error if the version number of each
.Ar module
is less than the requested
.Ar version
number.
.It Fl -cflags , Fl -cflags-only-I , Fl -cflags-only-other
Print all compiler flags required to compile against the
.Ar module ,
or only the include path
.Pq Fl I
flags, or only the compiler flags that are not include path flags,
respectively.
These options imply
.Fl -print-errors .
.It Fl -debug
Print some non-fatal warning messages to standard error output
that would otherwise silently be ignored.
This option also implies
.Fl -print-errors .
If
.Nm
was compiled without defining the preprocessor macro
.Dv PKGCONF_LITE ,
this option also prints many debugging messages to standard error output.
.It Fl -define-prefix
Attempts to determine the prefix variable to use for CFLAGS and LIBS entry relocations.
This is mainly useful for platforms where framework SDKs are relocatable, such as Windows.
.It Fl -define-variable Ns = Ns Ar varname Ns = Ns Ar value
Define
.Ar varname
as
.Ar value .
Variables are used in query output, and some modules' results may change based
on the presence of a variable definition.
.It Fl -digraph
Dump the dependency resolver's solution as a graphviz
.Sq dot
file.
This can be used with graphviz to visualize module interdependencies.
This option is only available if the preprocessor macro
.Dv PKGCONF_LITE
was not defined during compilation.
.It Fl -dont-define-prefix
Disables the
.Sq define-prefix
feature.
.It Fl -dont-relocate-paths
Disables the path relocation feature.
.It Fl -dump-personality
Print some default settings to standard output, in particular
the default module search path that is used when
.Ev PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR
is not defined, the default list of include paths that are filtered out when
.Ev PKG_CONFIG_SYSTEM_INCLUDE_PATH
is not defined,
and the default list of library paths that are filtered out when
.Ev PKG_CONFIG_SYSTEM_LIBRARY_PATH
is not defined, and exit.
Most other options and all command line arguments are ignored.
This option is only available if the preprocessor macro
.Dv PKGCONF_LITE
was not defined during compilation.
.It Fl -env Ns = Ns Ar varname
Print the requested values as variable declarations in a similar format as the
.Xr env 1
command.
.It Fl -env-only
Initialize the module search path from
.Fl -with-path
and
.Ev PKG_CONFIG_PATH
only, ignoring
.Ev PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR
and the compiled-in default directories.
.It Fl -errors-to-stdout
Print all error, warning, and debugging messages to standard output
instead of to standard error output.
.It Fl -exact-version Ns = Ns Ar version
Check the
.Ar module
arguments in the given order.
Exit with error as soon as a
.Ar module
does not exist, and exit with success as soon as the version number of a
.Ar module
is exactly the requested
.Ar version
number.
Exit with error if the version number of each
.Ar module
differs from the requested
.Ar version
number.
.It Fl -exists
Exit with a non-zero exit status
if the dependency resolver is unable to find all of the requested
.Ar module Ns s .
This option is active by default and cannot be disabled.
However, various other options cause
.Nm
to exit and report success or failure before all arguments have been inspected.
.It Fl -fragment-filter Ns = Ns Ar types
Filter the fragment lists for the specified
.Ar types .
.It Fl -help
Print a usage summary on standard output and exit.
Most other options and all command line arguments are ignored.
.It Fl -ignore-conflicts
Ignore
.Sq Conflicts
rules in modules.
.It Fl -keep-system-cflags , Fl -keep-system-libs
Keep CFLAGS or linker flag fragments that would be filtered due to being
included by default in the compiler.
.It Fl -libs , Fl -libs-only-L , Fl -libs-only-l , Fl -libs-only-other
Print all linker flags required to link against the
.Ar module ,
or only the library path
.Pq Fl L
flags, or only the library
.Pq Fl l
flags, or only the linker flags that are neither library path
nor library flags, respectively.
These options imply
.Fl -print-errors .
.It Fl -link-abi
Print the set of link ABI tags
.Pq for example Sy c No or Sy c++
that the
.Ar module
must be linked against, derived from the
.Sy Link.ABI
properties found across its dependency closure.
The tags from a package's own
.Sy Link.ABI
property and those of its public
.Sy Requires
always apply, while
.Sy Requires.private
tags apply only when linking statically
.Pq Fl -static .
A module with no link ABI requirements prints
.Sy c .
See
.Xr pc 5
for details of the
.Sy Link.ABI
property.
.It Fl -list-all
Walk the module search path in the order of descending priority.
For each
.Xr pc 5
file found, print one line to standard output,
containing the basename of the file without the extension, the
.Ic Name
property, a dash
.Pq Sq \- ,
and the
.Ic Description
property.
This option implies
.Fl -print-errors .
All command line arguments are ignored.
.It Fl -list-package-names
Perform the same search as
.Fl -list-all ,
but only print the basename of each
.Xr pc 5
file without the extension, not the module name and the description.
This option implies
.Fl -print-errors .
All command line arguments are ignored.
.It Fl -log-file Ns = Ns Ar file
Set the name of the output
.Ar file
where information about selected modules is logged,
both about those selected by arguments and as dependencies.
For each selected module, one line is printed,
containing the basename of the
.Xr pc 5
file without the extension, optionally an operator and version number
describing the desired range of versions, and either the actual version
number in square brackets or the string
.Qq NOT-FOUND .
If this option is not provided, the name of the output file
is instead taken from the
.Ev PKG_CONFIG_LOG
environment variable, and if that is not provided either,
this kind of logging is disabled.
.It Fl -max-version Ns = Ns Ar version
Check the
.Ar module
arguments in the given order.
Exit with error as soon as a
.Ar module
does not exist, and exit with success as soon as the version number of a
.Ar module
is less than or equal to the requested
.Ar version
number.
Exit with error if the version number of each
.Ar module
is greater than the requested
.Ar version
number.
.It Fl -maximum-traverse-depth Ns = Ns Ar depth
Impose a limit on the allowed depth in the dependency graph.
For example, a
.Ar depth
of 2 restricts the resolver from acting on child
dependencies of modules added to the resolver's solution.
This option is overridden by the
.Ev PKG_CONFIG_MAXIMUM_TRAVERSE_DEPTH
environment variable and by the options
.Fl -modversion ,
.Fl -path ,
.Fl -print-provides ,
.Fl -print-requires ,
.Fl -print-requires-private ,
.Fl -print-variables ,
and
.Fl -variable .
.It Fl -modversion
For each specified
.Ar module ,
print the version number to standard output.
If the
.Fl -verbose
option is also specified, the name of the respective
.Ar module
and a colon is printed before each version number.
This option implies
.Fl -print-errors
and
.Fl -maximum-traverse-depth Ns =1
and overrides and disables all
.Fl -cflags
and
.Fl -libs
flags.
.It Fl -msvc-syntax
Use MSVC syntax for
.Fl -cflags ,
.Fl -env ,
and
.Fl -libs
output.
This option is only available if the preprocessor macro
.Dv PKGCONF_LITE
was not defined during compilation.
.It Fl -newlines
Use newlines to separate individual CFLAGS or linker flag fragments
instead of spaces.
.It Fl -no-cache
Skip caching packages when they are loaded into the internal resolver.
This may result in an alternate dependency graph being computed.
.It Fl -no-provides
Ignore
.Sq Provides
rules in modules when resolving dependencies.
.It Fl -no-uninstalled
Forbids the dependency resolver from considering 'uninstalled' modules as part
of a solution.
.It Fl -path
For the first
.Ar module
given on the command line, let the dependency resolver find the
.Xr pc 5
file describing that module, print the absolute pathname of that file
to standard output, and exit immediately,
ignoring most other options and all other arguments.
.It Fl -prefix-variable Ns = Ns Ar variable
Sets the
.Sq prefix
variable used by the
.Sq define-prefix
feature.
.It Fl -print-errors
Print some messages about fatal errors to standard error output
that would otherwise be omitted.
This option is implied by many other options, but not by all.
It can be overridden with
.Fl -silence-errors .
.It Fl -print-provides
For each specified
.Ar module ,
print one line to standard output containing the
.Ic Name
property, an equal sign
.Pq Sq = ,
and the
.Ic Version
property.
If the
.Ar module
contains one or more
.Ic Provides
properties, print additional lines in dependency list format, one name
per line, each name optionally followed by an operator and a version.
This option implies
.Fl -maximum-traverse-depth Ns =1
and overrides and disables all
.Fl -cflags
and
.Fl -libs
flags.
.It Fl -print-requires , Fl -print-requires-private
For each specified
.Ar module ,
print the
.Ic Requires
or
.Ic Requires.private
properties, respectively, in dependency list format to standard output.
Both of these options imply
.Fl -maximum-traverse-depth Ns =1
and override and disable all
.Fl -cflags
and
.Fl -libs
flags.
.It Fl -print-variables
For the first
.Ar module
given on the command line, print the names of all seen variables
to standard output, one per line.
Any subsequent arguments are silently ignored.
This option implies
.Fl -print-errors
and
.Fl -maximum-traverse-depth Ns =1
and overrides and disables all
.Fl -cflags
and
.Fl -libs
flags.
.It Fl -pure
Treats the computed dependency graph as if it were pure.
This is mainly intended for use with the
.Fl -static
flag and has no effect if
.Fl -shared
is also specified.
.It Fl -shared
Compute a simple dependency graph that is only suitable for shared linking.
This option overrides
.Fl -static .
.It Fl -short-errors
When printing error messages about modules that are not found
or conflict with each other, avoid printing additional, verbose
instructions explaining potential methods for solving the problem.
.It Fl -silence-errors
Do not print any error, warning, or debugging messages at all.
Overrides all of
.Fl -debug ,
.Fl -errors-to-stdout ,
and
.Fl -print-errors .
This option is overridden and disabled if the
.Ev PKG_CONFIG_DEBUG_SPEW
environment variable is set.
.It Fl -simulate
Simulates resolving a dependency graph based on the requested modules on the
command line.
Dumps a series of trees denoting pkgconf's resolver state.
This option is only available if the preprocessor macro
.Dv PKGCONF_LITE
was not defined during compilation.
.It Fl -solution
Print the names of the modules requested with
.Ar module
arguments and their dependencies to standard output.
This option is only available if the preprocessor macro
.Dv PKGCONF_LITE
was not defined during compilation.
.It Fl -static
Compute a deeper dependency graph and use compiler/linker flags intended for
static linking.
This option is overridden by
.Fl -shared .
.It Fl -uninstalled
Exit with a non-zero result if the dependency resolver uses an
.Sq uninstalled
module as part of its solution.
.It Fl -validate Ar package ...
Validate specific
.Sq .pc
files for correctness.
This option implies
.Fl -print-errors
and
.Fl -errors-to-stdout .
.It Fl -variable Ns = Ns Ar varname
For the first
.Ar module
given on the command line, print the value of the variable with the name
.Ar varname
to standard output.
Any subsequent arguments are silently ignored.
This option implies
.Fl -maximum-traverse-depth Ns =1
and overrides and disables all
.Fl -cflags
and
.Fl -libs
flags.
.It Fl -verbose
This option only has an effect if
.Fl -modversion
is also specified.
It prints the name of the respective
.Ar module
and a colon before each version number.
.It Fl -version
Print the version number of the
.Nm
program to standard output and exit.
Most other options and all command line arguments are ignored.
.It Fl -with-path Ns = Ns Ar path
Prepend the directory
.Ar path
to the module search path,
giving it priority over all other directories including those from
.Ev PKG_CONFIG_PATH
and
.Ev PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR .
.El
.Sh ENVIRONMENT
.Bl -tag -width indent
.It Ev CPATH
First supplementary colon-separated list of include paths filtered out
in the same way as
.Ev PKG_CONFIG_SYSTEM_INCLUDE_PATH .
.It Ev CPLUS_INCLUDE_PATH
Third supplementary colon-separated list of include paths filtered out
in the same way as
.Ev PKG_CONFIG_SYSTEM_INCLUDE_PATH .
.It Ev C_INCLUDE_PATH
Second supplementary colon-separated list of include paths filtered out
in the same way as
.Ev PKG_CONFIG_SYSTEM_INCLUDE_PATH .
.It Ev DESTDIR
If set to the same value as
.Ev PKG_CONFIG_SYSROOT_DIR ,
behave in the same way as if
.Ev PKG_CONFIG_FDO_SYSROOT_RULES
is set.
If
.Ev PKG_CONFIG_SYSROOT_DIR
is not set or set to a different value,
.Ev DESTDIR
is ignored.
.It Ev LIBRARY_PATH
Supplementary colon-separated list of library paths filtered out
in the same way as
.Ev PKG_CONFIG_SYSTEM_LIBRARY_PATH .
.It Ev OBJC_INCLUDE_PATH
Fourth supplementary colon-separated list of include paths filtered out
in the same way as
.Ev PKG_CONFIG_SYSTEM_INCLUDE_PATH .
.It Ev PKG_CONFIG_ALLOW_SYSTEM_CFLAGS
If set, this variable has the same effect as the
.Fl -keep-system-cflags
option.
.It Ev PKG_CONFIG_ALLOW_SYSTEM_LIBS
If set, this variable has the same effect as the
.Fl -keep-system-libs
option.
.It Ev PKG_CONFIG_DEBUG_SPEW
If set, override and disable the
.Fl -silence-errors
option.
.It Ev PKG_CONFIG_DISABLE_UNINSTALLED
If set, enables the same behaviour as the
.Fl -no-uninstalled
flag.
.It Ev PKG_CONFIG_DONT_DEFINE_PREFIX
If set, this variable has the same effect as the
.Fl -dont-define-prefix
option.
.It Ev PKG_CONFIG_DONT_RELOCATE_PATHS
If set, disables the path relocation feature.
.It Ev PKG_CONFIG_FDO_SYSROOT_RULES
If set, follow the sysroot prefixing rules that freedesktop.org pkg-config uses.
.It Ev PKG_CONFIG_IGNORE_CONFLICTS
If set, ignore
.Ic Conflicts
rules in modules.
Has the same effect as the
.Fl -ignore-conflicts
option.
.It Ev PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR
A colon-separated list of low-priority directories where
.Xr pc 5
files are looked up.
The module search path is constructed by appending this list to
.Ev PKG_CONFIG_PATH ,
which enjoys higher priority.
If
.Ev PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR
is not defined, the default list compiled into the
.Nm
program from the
.Dv PKG_DEFAULT_PATH
preprocessor macro is appended instead.
If
.Ev PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR
is defined but empty, nothing is appended.
.It Ev PKG_CONFIG_LOG
If set, log information about selected modules
to the file with the name stored in this variable.
For more details, see the
.Fl -log-file
command line option, which overrides this variable.
.It Ev PKG_CONFIG_MAXIMUM_TRAVERSE_DEPTH
Impose a limit on the allowed depth in the dependency graph.
This variable overrides the
.Fl -maximum-traverse-depth
option, but is overridden by the other options mentioned there.
.It Ev PKG_CONFIG_MSVC_SYNTAX
If set, use MSVC syntax for
.Fl -cflags ,
.Fl -env ,
and
.Fl -libs
output.
This variable has the same effect as the
.Fl -msvc-syntax
option.
If the preprocessor macro
.Dv PKGCONF_LITE
was defined during compilation, this variable is ignored.
.It Ev PKG_CONFIG_PATH
A colon-separated list of high-priority directories where
.Xr pc 5
files are looked up.
The module search path is constructed
by prepending the directory specified with
.Fl -with-path ,
if any, and unless
.Fl -env-only
is specified, by appending either
.Ev PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR
or the compiled-in default directories with lower priority.
.It Ev PKG_CONFIG_PRELOADED_FILES
Colon-separated list of
.Xr pc 5
files which are loaded before any other pkg-config files.
These packages are given highest priority over any other
.Xr pc 5
files that would otherwise provide a given package.
.It Ev PKG_CONFIG_PURE_DEPGRAPH
If set, enables the same behaviour as the
.Fl -pure
flag.
.It Ev PKG_CONFIG_RELOCATE_PATHS
If set, this variable has the same effect as the
.Fl -define-prefix
option.
.It Ev PKG_CONFIG_SYSROOT_DIR
If set, this variable defines a
.Sq sysroot
directory, which will be prepended to every path variable
beginning with the prefix variable in a given
.Xr pc 5
file.
Useful for cross compilation.
The value of this environment variable is also copied into the global variable
.Va pc_sysrootdir .
.It Ev PKG_CONFIG_SYSTEM_INCLUDE_PATH
Colon-separated list of include paths that are filtered out
and not printed by the
.Fl -cflags
and
.Fl -cflags-only-I
options because they are considered system include paths.
If not defined, the default list compiled into the
.Nm
program from the
.Dv SYSTEM_INCLUDEDIR
preprocessor macro is used instead.
Any directories listed in the environment variables
.Ev CPATH ,
.Ev C_INCLUDE_PATH ,
.Ev CPLUS_INCLUDE_PATH ,
and
.Ev OBJC_INCLUDE_PATH
are also filtered out.
.It Ev PKG_CONFIG_SYSTEM_LIBRARY_PATH
Colon-separated list of library paths that are filtered out
and not printed by the
.Fl -libs
and
.Fl -libs-only-L
options because they are considered system library paths.
If not defined, the default list compiled into the
.Nm
program from the
.Dv SYSTEM_LIBDIR
preprocessor macro is used instead.
.It Ev PKG_CONFIG_TOP_BUILD_DIR
The value of the
.Va pc_top_builddir
global variable.
If this environment variable is not defined, the string
.Qq $(top_builddir)
is used as the value of
.Va pc_top_builddir .
.El
.Sh EXIT STATUS
.Ex -std
.Sh EXAMPLES
Displaying the CFLAGS of a package:
.Dl $ pkgconf --cflags foo
.Dl -fPIC -I/usr/include/foo
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr pc 5 ,
.Xr pkg.m4 7