Re: [cairo] COPYING files....

Sean Middleditch writes:
 > 
 > It's completely possible to use autotools without depending on
 > pkgconfig.  One option is to allow the old-fashioned --with-whatever=/
 > the/install/path and only using pkg-config if that isn't specified.
 > Users without the tool can just put up with the extra work of specifying
 > the command line options (like they've always had to), while users who
 > are smart and install pkg-config can let it take care of menial details
 > for them.
 > 

This definitely sounds like a good plan. 

 > I do agree that pkg-config autoconf macros should provide a much clearer
 > and nicer error message when pkg-config isn't found.

Right. It should not only print a reasonalbe error message but should
also suggest which options can be used to do a build without pkg-config
installed.

Egbert.