Cannot find pkg-config error

LinuxMacos

Linux Problem Overview


I am trying to install some software on my mac; however I keep receiving the same error:

configure: error: The pkg-config script could not be found or is too old.  Make sure it
is in your PATH or set the PKG_CONFIG environment variable to the full
path to pkg-config.

Alternatively, you may set the environment variables XMEDCON_GLIB_CFLAGS
and XMEDCON_GLIB_LIBS to avoid the need to call pkg-config.
See the pkg-config man page for more details.

To get pkg-config, see <http://pkg-config.freedesktop.org/>.
See `config.log' for more details

I am not quite sure how to go about adding the pkg-config to the PATH. I have seen online (see link) that I should add the following:

Link showing how to direct PATH variable

export PATH=$PATH:/opt/local/bin     # Fixed typo as mentioned in comment

which is where I have placed pkg-config. I still keep getting the error though every time I try to configure the files using ./configure. Any help would be super appreciated!

Linux Solutions


Solution 1 - Linux

For Ubuntu/Debian OS,

apt-get install -y pkg-config

For Redhat/Yum OS,

yum install -y pkgconfig

For Archlinux OS,

pacman -S pkgconf

Solution 2 - Linux

for me, (OSX) the problem was solved doing this:

brew install pkg-config

Solution 3 - Linux

Answer to my question (after several Google searches) revealed the following:

$ curl https://pkgconfig.freedesktop.org/releases/pkg-config-0.29.tar.gz -o pkgconfig.tgz
$ tar -zxf pkgconfig.tgz && cd pkg-config-0.29
$ ./configure && make install

from the following link: Link showing above

Thanks to everyone for their comments, and sorry for my linux/OSX ignorance!

Doing this fixed my issues as mentioned above.

Solution 4 - Linux

if you have this error :

configure: error: Either a previously installed pkg-config or "glib-2.0 >= 2.16" could not be found. Please set GLIB_CFLAGS and GLIB_LIBS to the correct values or pass --with-internal-glib to configure to use the bundled copy.

Instead of do this command :

$ ./configure && make install

Do that :

./configure --with-internal-glib && make install

Solution 5 - Linux

Try

  • which pkg-config
  • if it is empty then fire
  1. brew install pkg-config
  2. OR : ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)" < /dev/null 2> /dev/null

Solution 6 - Linux

MacOS users

Unfortunately, pkg-config does not come with OS X by default. Here are some notes on how to compile from source. It assumes that you have Xcode installed.

  1. Download and extract

> curl -O http://pkgconfig.freedesktop.org/releases/pkg-config-0.28.tar.gz > tar xfz pkg-config-0.28.tar.gz

  1. Configure and Install

> cd pkg-config-0.28 > setenv CC /usr/bin/cc (for tcsh) > export CC=/usr/bin/cc (for bash)

2a) If you have super-user powers

> ./configure --prefix=/usr/local CC=$CC --with-internal-glib > make > sudo make install

2b) if not

> ./configure --prefix=$HOME/someplace/in/my/path CC=$CC --with-internal-glib > make > make install

Source: https://opensource.ncsa.illinois.edu/confluence/display/DESDM/Installing+pkg-config+from+source+for+OSX

Attributions

All content for this solution is sourced from the original question on Stackoverflow.

The content on this page is licensed under the Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) license.

Content TypeOriginal AuthorOriginal Content on Stackoverflow
QuestionShinobiiView Question on Stackoverflow
Solution 1 - LinuxStephen HsuView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 2 - LinuxMiguel VazqView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 3 - LinuxShinobiiView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 4 - LinuxMrJthibView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 5 - Linuxmoon87View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 6 - LinuxbrunocrtView Answer on Stackoverflow