1PC(5) BSD File Formats Manual PC(5)
2
4 file.pc — pkg-config file format
5
7 pkg-config files provide a useful mechanism for storing various informa‐
8 tion about libraries and packages on a given system. Information stored
9 by .pc files include compiler and linker flags necessary to use a given
10 library, as well as any other relevant metadata.
11 These .pc files are processed by a utility called pkg-config, of which
13 pkgconf is an implementation.
14 FILE SYNTAX
16 The .pc file follows a format inspired by RFC822. Comments are prefixed
17 by a pound sign, hash sign or octothorpe (#), and variable assignment is
18 similar to POSIX shell. Properties are defined using RFC822-style stan‐
19 zas.
20 VARIABLES
22 Variable definitions start with an alphanumeric string, followed by an
23 equal sign, and then the value the variable should contain.
24 Variable references are always written as "${variable}". It is possible
26 to escape literal "${" as "$${".
27 PROPERTIES
29 Properties are set using RFC822-style stanzas which consist of a keyword,
30 followed by a colon (:) and then the value the property should be set to.
31 Variable substitution is always performed regardless of property type.
32 There are three types of property:
34 Literal The property will be set to the text of the value.
36 Dependency List
38 The property will be set to a list of dependencies parsed
39 from the text. Dependency lists are defined by this ABNF
40 syntax:
41 package-list = *WSP *( package-spec *( package-sep ) )
43 package-sep = WSP / ","
44 package-spec = package-key [ ver-op package-version ]
45 ver-op = "<" / "<=" / "=" / "!=" / ">=" / ">"
46 Fragment List
48 The property will be set to a list of fragments parsed from
49 the text. The input text must be in a format that is suit‐
50 able for passing to a POSIX shell without any shell expan‐
51 sions after variable substitution has been done.
52 PROPERTY KEYWORDS
54 Name The displayed name of the package. (mandatory; literal)
55 Version The version of the package. (mandatory; literal)
57 Description A description of the package. (mandatory; literal)
59 URL A URL to a webpage for the package. This is used to recom‐
61 mend where newer versions of the package can be acquired.
62 (mandatory; literal)
63 Cflags Required compiler flags. These flags are always used,
65 regardless of whether static compilation is requested.
66 (optional; fragment list)
67 Cflags.private
69 Required compiler flags for static compilation. (optional;
70 fragment list; pkgconf extension)
71 Libs Required linking flags for this package. Libraries this
73 package depends on for linking against it, which are not
74 described as dependencies should be specified here.
75 (optional; fragment list)
76 Libs.private Required linking flags for this package that are only
78 required when linking statically. Libraries this package
79 depends on for linking against it statically, which are not
80 described as dependencies should be specified here.
81 (optional; fragment list)
82 Requires Required dependencies that must be met for the package to
84 be usable. All dependencies must be satisfied or the pkg-
85 config implementation must not use the package. (optional;
86 dependency list)
87 Requires.private
89 Required dependencies that must be met for the package to
90 be usable for static linking. All dependencies must be
91 satisfied or the pkg-config implementation must not use the
92 package for static linking. (optional; dependency list)
93 Conflicts Dependencies that must not be met for the package to be
95 usable. If any package in the proposed dependency solution
96 match any dependency in the Conflicts list, the package
97 being considered is not usable. (optional; dependency
98 list)
99 Provides Dependencies that may be provided by an alternate package.
101 If a package cannot be found, the entire package collection
102 is scanned for providers which can match the requested
103 dependency. (optional; dependency list; pkgconf extension)
104 EXTENSIONS
106 Features that have been marked as a pkgconf extension are only guaranteed
107 to work with the pkgconf implementation of pkg-config. Other implementa‐
108 tions may or may not support the extensions.
109 Accordingly, it is suggested that .pc files which absolutely depend on
111 these extensions declare a requirement on the pkgconf virtual.
112
114 An example .pc file:
115 # This is a comment
117 prefix=/home/kaniini/pkg # this defines a variable
118 exec_prefix=${prefix} # defining another variable with a substitution
119 libdir=${exec_prefix}/lib
120 includedir=${prefix}/include
121 Name: libfoo # human-readable name
123 Description: an example library called libfoo # human-readable description
124 Version: 1.0
125 URL: http://www.pkgconf.org
126 Requires: libbar > 2.0.0
127 Conflicts: libbaz <= 3.0.0
128 Libs: -L${libdir} -lfoo
129 Libs.private: -lm
130 Cflags: -I${includedir}/libfoo
131
133 pkgconf(1), pkg.m4(7)
134BSD December 15, 2017 BSD