Wikipedia
Pkg-config
pkg-config is a computer program that provides a unified interface for querying installed libraries for the purpose of compiling software from its source code. 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 the various BSDs, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and Solaris.
It outputs various information about installed libraries. This information may include:
- Parameters for C or C++ compiler
- Parameters for linker
- Version of the package in question
The first implementation was written in shell. Later, it was rewritten in C using the GLib library.