Build library for invoking pkg-config for Rust
193
stars
301
commits
Rust
primary language
Aug 14, 2026
updated
A simple library meant to be used as a build dependency with Cargo packages in
order to use the system pkg-config tool (if available) to determine where a
library is located.
You can use this crate directly to probe for specific libraries, or use
system-deps to declare all your
pkg-config dependencies in Cargo.toml.
This library requires Rust 1.63+.
Find the system library named foo, with minimum version 1.2.3:
fn main() {
pkg_config::Config::new().atleast_version("1.2.3").probe("foo").unwrap();
}
Find the system library named foo, with no version requirement (not
recommended):
fn main() {
pkg_config::probe_library("foo").unwrap();
}
In cross-compilation context, it is useful to manage separately
PKG_CONFIG_PATH and a few other variables for the host and the target
platform.
The supported variables are: PKG_CONFIG_PATH, PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR, and
PKG_CONFIG_SYSROOT_DIR.
Each of these variables can also be supplied with certain prefixes and suffixes, in the following prioritized order:
<var>_<target> - for example, PKG_CONFIG_PATH_x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu<var>_<target_with_underscores> - for example,
PKG_CONFIG_PATH_x86_64_unknown_linux_gnu<build-kind>_<var> - for example, HOST_PKG_CONFIG_PATH or
TARGET_PKG_CONFIG_PATH<var> - a plain PKG_CONFIG_PATHThis crate will allow pkg-config to be used in cross-compilation if
PKG_CONFIG_SYSROOT_DIR or PKG_CONFIG is set. You can set
PKG_CONFIG_ALLOW_CROSS=1 to bypass the compatibility check, but please note
that enabling use of pkg-config in cross-compilation without appropriate
sysroot and search paths set is likely to break builds.
Some Rust sys crates support building vendored libraries from source, which may
be a work around for lack of cross-compilation support in pkg-config.
This project is licensed under either of
at your option.
Unless you explicitly state otherwise, any contribution intentionally submitted for inclusion in pkg-config-rs by you, as defined in the Apache-2.0 license, shall be dual licensed as above, without any additional terms or conditions.
(top 30 of 57)
Rust
100.0%
Build library for invoking pkg-config for Rust
193
stars
301
commits
Rust
primary language
Aug 14, 2026
updated
A simple library meant to be used as a build dependency with Cargo packages in
order to use the system pkg-config tool (if available) to determine where a
library is located.
You can use this crate directly to probe for specific libraries, or use
system-deps to declare all your
pkg-config dependencies in Cargo.toml.
This library requires Rust 1.63+.
Find the system library named foo, with minimum version 1.2.3:
fn main() {
pkg_config::Config::new().atleast_version("1.2.3").probe("foo").unwrap();
}
Find the system library named foo, with no version requirement (not
recommended):
fn main() {
pkg_config::probe_library("foo").unwrap();
}
In cross-compilation context, it is useful to manage separately
PKG_CONFIG_PATH and a few other variables for the host and the target
platform.
The supported variables are: PKG_CONFIG_PATH, PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR, and
PKG_CONFIG_SYSROOT_DIR.
Each of these variables can also be supplied with certain prefixes and suffixes, in the following prioritized order:
<var>_<target> - for example, PKG_CONFIG_PATH_x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu<var>_<target_with_underscores> - for example,
PKG_CONFIG_PATH_x86_64_unknown_linux_gnu<build-kind>_<var> - for example, HOST_PKG_CONFIG_PATH or
TARGET_PKG_CONFIG_PATH<var> - a plain PKG_CONFIG_PATHThis crate will allow pkg-config to be used in cross-compilation if
PKG_CONFIG_SYSROOT_DIR or PKG_CONFIG is set. You can set
PKG_CONFIG_ALLOW_CROSS=1 to bypass the compatibility check, but please note
that enabling use of pkg-config in cross-compilation without appropriate
sysroot and search paths set is likely to break builds.
Some Rust sys crates support building vendored libraries from source, which may
be a work around for lack of cross-compilation support in pkg-config.
This project is licensed under either of
at your option.
Unless you explicitly state otherwise, any contribution intentionally submitted for inclusion in pkg-config-rs by you, as defined in the Apache-2.0 license, shall be dual licensed as above, without any additional terms or conditions.
(top 30 of 57)
Rust
100.0%