pkgconfig inconveniences

[Eric Buddington <eric sparrow nad adelphia net>]

I realize that your decision to use pkgconfig was made a while ago,
and perhaps I have missed my chance to influence it, but just to
throw out a data point:

My setup at home contains each package in a separate directory tree.
A symlink-bush unites them and provides the conventional means for
finding files (./bin, ./lib, ./include, all that).

In the past, gtk and its friends have been exemplary in their ease of
installation, but this pkgconfig is a headache in my setup. All the
'lib/pkgconfig' directories are namespace conflicts in my system,
requiring a lot of manual effort to compile the packages - which I
used to be able to do in one command with a './configure;make;make
install' type script.

I urge you to reconsider the added complexity of what amounts to a
package manager, albeit a relatively unintrusive one. C_INCLUDE_PATH
and LIBRARY_PATH are well-established tradition for finding headers
and libraries, and the pkgconfig file is one more thing that breaks if
I ever move the precompiled package.

Respectfully yours,

Eric Buddington
ebuddington wesleyan edu