ExtUtils::PkgConfig(3pm)

ExtUtils::PkgConfig3pm

Simplistic interface to pkg-config

Usage

 use ExtUtils::PkgConfig;
 $package = 'gtk+-2.0';
 %pkg_info = ExtUtils::PkgConfig->find ($package);
 print "modversion:  $pkg_info{modversion}\n";
 print "cflags:      $pkg_info{cflags}\n";
 print "libs:        $pkg_info{libs}\n";
 $exists = ExtUtils::PkgConfig->exists($package);
 $modversion = ExtUtils::PkgConfig->modversion($package);
 $libs = ExtUtils::PkgConfig->libs($package);
 $cflags = ExtUtils::PkgConfig->cflags($package);
 $cflags_only_I = ExtUtils::PkgConfig->cflags_only_I($package);
 $cflags_only_other = ExtUtils::PkgConfig->cflags_only_other($package);
 $libs_only_L = ExtUtils::PkgConfig->libs_only_L($package);
 $libs_only_l = ExtUtils::PkgConfig->libs_only_l($package);
 $libs_only_other = ExtUtils::PkgConfig->libs_only_other($package);
 $static_libs = ExtUtils::PkgConfig->static_libs($package);
 $var_value = ExtUtils::PkgConfig->variable($package, $var);
 if (ExtUtils::PkgConfig->atleast_version($package,$version)) {
    ...
 }
 if (ExtUtils::PkgConfig->exact_version($package,$version)) {
    ...
 }
 if (ExtUtils::PkgConfig->max_version($package,$version)) {
    ...
 }

Overview

The pkg-config program retrieves information about installed libraries, usually for the purposes of compiling against and linking to them.

ExtUtils::PkgConfig is a very simplistic interface to this utility, intended for use in the Makefile.PL of perl extensions which bind libraries that pkg-config knows. It is really just boilerplate code that you would've written yourself.

Usage

HASH = ExtUtils::PkgConfig->find (STRING, [STRING, ...])

Call pkg-config on the library specified by STRING (you'll have to know what to use here). The returned HASH contains the modversion, cflags, and libs values under keys with those names. If multiple STRINGS are passed they are attempted in the order they are given till a working package is found.

If pkg-config fails to find a working STRING, this function croaks with a message intended to be helpful to whomever is attempting to compile your package.

For example:

  *** can not find package bad1
  *** check that it is properly installed and available
  *** in PKG_CONFIG_PATH

or

  *** can't find cflags for gtk+-2.0
  *** is it properly installed and available in PKG_CONFIG_PATH?
STRING = ExtUtils::PkgConfig->create_version_macros (PACKAGE, STEM)

Create a set of version macros with the prefix STEM for the library specified by PACKAGE. The result is returned.

Example input would be "gtk+-2.0" for PACKAGE and "GTK" for STEM.

ExtUtils::PkgConfig->write_version_macros (FILE, PACKAGE, STEM, [PACKAGE, STEM, ...])

Create one or more sets of version macros for the libraries and prefixes specified by the PACKAGE and STEM pairs and write them to the file FILE. If it doesn't exist, FILE will be created. If it does exist, it will be overwritten.

Releases

12 releases since Debian 3.1 (Sarge); the text changed 8 times.

  1. 3.1–4.0
  2. 5.0
  3. 6.0
  4. 7
  5. 8–9
  6. 10
  7. 11
  8. 12–13
  9. Arch

Authors

muppet <scott at asofyet dot org>.

From perl-extutils-pkgconfig 1.16-15 in Arch Linux 2026-11-01. Parsed by carta from the page's man source.