Using the pkg-config macro PKG_CHECK_MODULES failing

Question

I\'m sure this is a fairly simple problem. I have a very simple configure.ac file which I am using to just learn how autoconf & pkg-config work together. The confg

Answer 1

When you are bootstrapping (ie, running autoreconf), aclocal is unable to find pkg.m4. This is because pkg-config was either not installed or has been installed somewhere that aclocal does not know about. (ie, it was installed with a different prefix than automake.) There is actually a large school of thought that says that the best way to use pkg-config with the autotools is to not use it. If you look through the autoconf mailing list archive, you will see this debated ad-nauseum. I'm not saying that you should avoid using pkg-config (although I do believe it is best to do so), but please be aware that many people to recommend avoiding it completely.