Pkg-config

pkg-config is a computer program that defines and supports a unified interface for querying installed libraries for the purpose of compiling software that depends on them. It allows programmers and installation scripts to work without explicit knowledge of detailed library path information. pkg-config was originally designed for Linux, but it is now also available for BSD, Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Solaris.

It outputs various information about installed libraries. This information may include:

• Parameters (flags) for C or C++ compiler
• Parameters (flags) for linker
• Version of the package in question

The first implementation was written in shell.^[1] Later, it was rewritten in C using the GLib library.^[2]