Bug 22375

Summary: pkg-config needs a way to print out its idea of $PKG_CONFIG_PATH
Product: pkg-config Reporter: Kyle H <aerowolf+freedesktop>
Component: srcAssignee: Tollef Fog Heen <tfheen>
Status: RESOLVED INVALID QA Contact:
Severity: normal    
Priority: medium Keywords: janitor
Version: unspecified   
Hardware: x86 (IA32)   
OS: Mac OS X (All)   
Whiteboard:
i915 platform: i915 features:

Description Kyle H 2009-06-19 13:37:50 UTC 
pkg-config needs a way to print out its idea of what directories it will to search, much like the 'manpath' program.  The idea is that you could do:

PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/Library/Frameworks/Mono.framework/Versions/Current/lib/pkgconfig:`pkg-config --configpath`
export PKG_CONFIG_PATH

and simply update the current list without having to try to guess what's been compiled into it.

(I'm on OSX.  I have two independent copies of pkg-config, one of which was installed by MacPorts, the other of which was installed by Mono.  The default one is the one from MacPorts.  I need it to recognize where the Mono framework and configs are, but it doesn't by default.  This is currently causing distress with the OpenSimulator.org crowd.)
Comment 1 Daniel Macks 2009-08-15 12:17:53 UTC 
As I understand search pathc, that seems overkill (or mis-kill), since pkg-config prepends PKG_CONFIG_PATH to its hardcoded default list. That's unlike man, for which if MANPATH is set, it totally replaces the built-in default. You shell command would put the defaults into PKG_CONFIG_PATH, which would mean duplicates in the ultimate search list (once pkg-config does its prepend-to-default at runtime). Probably harmless, but also definitely useless.

Maybe a different shell incantation would Do What You Need:

PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/Library/Frameworks/Mono.framework/Versions/Current/lib/pkgconfig${PKG_CONFIG_PATH:+:$PKG_CONFIG_PATH}
export PKG_CONFIG_PATH
Comment 2 Tollef Fog Heen 2009-08-15 13:13:48 UTC 
You already have the pc_path variable:

pkg-config --variable pc_path pkg-config
/usr/local/lib/pkgconfig:/usr/local/share/pkgconfig:/usr/lib/pkgconfig:/usr/share/pkgconfig

In addition, as Daniel Macks points out, the _PATH setting will prepend to the default path, not overwrite it.  If you want to overwrite it, use PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR.

I'm closing this bug as invalid since this is already well enough served by the features we have.

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