[Fedora-packaging] Re: -devel rpms with pkgconfig files should 'Requires: pkgconfig'

[Michael Schwendt]

On Wed, 21 Jun 2006 12:55:30 -0400, Jesse Keating wrote:

> On Wed, 2006-06-21 at 11:02 -0500, Rex Dieter wrote:
> > 
> > Bear in mind, however, that the difference between a full install (many
> > GB's) and pkgconfig (< 100K) is monumental.
> 
> True, I'm addressing mentality.
> 
> We've got two differing opinions on this, would anybody else like to
> chime in?

I'm all for increasing the number of -devel packages which "Requires:
pkgconfig".

If the .pc file suggests that the -devel package cannot be used
conveniently without querying pkg-config, "Requires: pkgconfig" ought to
be added. This is very likely the case when headers are installed in
non-standard locations (e.g. paths or libs including version information!)
or if the .pc file adds flags and dependencies. Without running
pkg-config, some configure scripts fail to find installed headers and
libraries and fall back to using an included copy of a library or
switching off a feature.

Apart from that, any package which stores a .pc file in $PKG_CONFIG_PATH
should not create unowned directories and hence should "Requires:
pkgconfig" anyway.