The primary use of pkg-config is to provide the necessary details for compiling and linking a program to a library. This metadata is stored in pkg-config files.

What is pkg-config used for?

pkg-config is a useful tool for making sure compiler options are correct when compiling and linking software. Very often with compilers, you will need to determine the proper paths to library header files and code in order to link them to your software project.

What is pkg-config file?

Pkg-config is a way for shared libraries to declare the compiler flags needed to use them. There are two different ways of generating Pkg-config files in Meson. The first way is to build them manually with the configure_file command.