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
36 The property will be set to the text of the value.
37 Dependency List
39 The property will be set to a list of dependencies parsed from
40 the text. Dependency lists are defined by this ABNF 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 the
49 text. The input text must be in a format that is suitable for
50 passing to a POSIX shell without any shell expansions after vari‐
51 able substitution has been done.
52 PROPERTY KEYWORDS
54 Name The displayed name of the package. (mandatory; literal)
55 Version
57 The version of the package. (mandatory; literal)
58 Description
60 A description of the package. (mandatory; literal)
61 URL A URL to a webpage for the package. This is used to recommend
63 where newer versions of the package can be acquired. (mandatory;
64 literal)
65 Cflags Required compiler flags. These flags are always used, regardless
67 of whether static compilation is requested. (optional; fragment
68 list)
69 Cflags.private
71 Required compiler flags for static compilation. (optional; frag‐
72 ment list; pkgconf extension)
73 Copyright
75 A copyright attestation statement. (optional; literal; pkgconf
76 extension)
77 Libs Required linking flags for this package. Libraries this package
79 depends on for linking against it, which are not described as de‐
80 pendencies should be specified here. (optional; fragment list)
81 Libs.private
83 Required linking flags for this package that are only required
84 when linking statically. Libraries this package depends on for
85 linking against it statically, which are not described as depen‐
86 dencies should be specified here. (optional; fragment list)
87 License
89 The asserted SPDX license tag that should be applied to the given
90 package. (optional; literal; pkgconf extension)
91 Maintainer
93 The preferred contact for the maintainer. This should be in the
94 format of a name followed by an e-mail address or website. (op‐
95 tional; literal; pkgconf extension)
96 Requires
98 Required dependencies that must be met for the package to be us‐
99 able. All dependencies must be satisfied or the pkg-config im‐
100 plementation must not use the package. (optional; dependency
101 list)
102 Requires.private
104 Required dependencies that must be met for the package to be us‐
105 able for static linking. All dependencies must be satisfied or
106 the pkg-config implementation must not use the package for static
107 linking. (optional; dependency list)
108 Conflicts
110 Dependencies that must not be met for the package to be usable.
111 If any package in the proposed dependency solution match any de‐
112 pendency in the Conflicts list, the package being considered is
113 not usable. (optional; dependency list)
114 Provides
116 Dependencies that may be provided by an alternate package. If a
117 package cannot be found, the entire package collection is scanned
118 for providers which can match the requested dependency. (op‐
119 tional; dependency list; pkgconf extension)
120 EXTENSIONS
122 Features that have been marked as a pkgconf extension are only guaranteed
123 to work with the pkgconf implementation of pkg-config. Other implementa‐
124 tions may or may not support the extensions.
125 Accordingly, it is suggested that .pc files which absolutely depend on
127 these extensions declare a requirement on the pkgconf virtual.
128
130 An example .pc file:
131 # This is a comment
133 prefix=/home/kaniini/pkg # this defines a variable
134 exec_prefix=${prefix} # defining another variable with a substitution
135 libdir=${exec_prefix}/lib
136 includedir=${prefix}/include
137 Name: libfoo # human-readable name
139 Description: an example library called libfoo # human-readable description
140 Copyright: Copyright (c) 2022 pkgconf project authors
141 License: Apache-2.0
142 Maintainer: the pkgconf project <http://www.pkgconf.org>
143 Version: 1.0
144 URL: http://www.pkgconf.org
145 Requires: libbar > 2.0.0
146 Conflicts: libbaz <= 3.0.0
147 Libs: -L${libdir} -lfoo
148 Libs.private: -lm
149 Cflags: -I${includedir}/libfoo
150
152 pkgconf(1), pkg.m4(7)
153BSD December 15, 2017 BSD