Re: pkg-config wisdom

[Russell Shaw]

William Pursell wrote:
> Alfred M. Szmidt wrote:
> > pkg-config is broken because it checks for the existance of libraries,
> > and not for the features that are required for the program to run.
>
> It does not even check for the existence of libraries.
> It checks for the existence of a .pc file and assumes
> that the user (or administrator) has supplied the correct
> information.

It would be useful to have a note in the autoconf manual about
pkg-config, why it exists, and what problems it has. I've wondered
for years about it, and have used it a bit. I haven't found any
authoritive discussion about it other than random posts if one
gets lucky. I might know a bit more now, but a lot of others
don't. I still don't know why pkg-config exists, except that
it seems to avoid autoconfery, which many don't grok.