problems with pkgconf / pkg-config

English Applications
1

While trying to sort out why some package did not install properly I found this weird behavior of pkgconf:

When I ask pkgconf to see if a package proj exists (which I know it does!), it says nothing:

# pkgconf --exists proj

but if I ask for the path to its pc file it gives the correct answer:

pkgconf --path proj
/usr/local/lib64/pkgconfig/proj.pc

What is going on here?

Also when starting to study this problem, I saw that the variable PKG_CONFIG_PATH was empty. I added the paths later.

Is this the expected behavior of pkgconf ?

Is anyone familiar with this in openSUSE?

I am using v. 1.8.0-1.6 from the main repo.

# zypper if pkgconf
Loading repository data...
Reading installed packages...


Information for package pkgconf:
--------------------------------
Repository     : Main Repository (OSS)
Name           : pkgconf
Version        : 1.8.0-1.6
Arch           : x86_64
Vendor         : openSUSE
Installed Size : 78.3 KiB
Installed      : Yes (automatically)
Status         : up-to-date
Source package : pkgconf-1.8.0-1.6.src
Upstream URL   : http://pkgconf.org/
Summary        : Package compiler and linker metadata toolkit
Description    : 
    pkgconf is a program which helps to configure compiler and linker flags
    for development frameworks. It is similar to pkg-config from freedesktop.org
    and handles .pc files in a similar manner as pkg-config.
2

I answer myself. pkgconf seems to be working fine.

pkgconf --exists foo

exits silently if the foo exists. To check that a foo exists and get a response in case it is positive, one should ask differently:

# if (pkgconf --exists foo); then echo 'exists'; fi;
exists
3

I have no idea what pkconf is supposed to do, but your bash command can be done shorter (which is not the same as “better” ;)).

pkgconf --exists foo && echo 'exists'
4

BTW, are you sure this is a problem in the area of the installation/booting/login of openSUSE?

5

Yes, that looks better. Thanks.

No, I am not sure. But not loosing sleep because of it either :wink: What should it be? “applications”?

6

Well, that probably means that other people (e.g. those that know what pkconfig is doing) will look at it.

I will move to Applications.