Re: [poky] [PATCH] fix: use pkgconf instead of pkg-config

On 29 Aug 2025, at 12:47, Frederik Brændstrup via lists.yoctoproject.org <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
> As a preface, I know this is probably a bit of an aggressive move. But
> pkg-config doesn't build on newer GCC and Clang compilers due to a lot
> of hardening. The old K&R style C code is deprecated and cannot compile
> in the gcc default mode.
> 
> pkgconf is a modern and compatible (although not necessarily bug
> compatible) alternative that is maintained, and has more features
> that are not available in the old pkg-config. I've been using this patch
> for a while now, and it has worked flawlessly.

Did a core-image-sato, and as I suspected:

| make[1]: Entering directory '/work/ross/build/tmp/work/cortexa57-poky-linux/libxcb/1.17.0/build/src'
| make[1]: Leaving directory '/work/ross/build/tmp/work/cortexa57-poky-linux/libxcb/1.17.0/build/src'
| make[1]: *** No rule to make target '//usr/share/xcb/', needed by 'xproto.c'.  Stop.
ERROR: Task (/home/rosbur01/Yocto/poky/meta/recipes-graphics/xorg-lib/libxcb_1.17.0.bb:do_compile) failed with exit code ‘1'

Most people don’t build with sysroots, and there’s a difference in behaviour between pkg-config and pkgconf.

I still believe we should move to pkgconf as it’s actually got a maintainer, but it’s not just a one-line change.

However, I’ve not seen pkg-config fail with modern compilers, because we build it with latest gcc/clang. What failures are you seeing?

Ross