.pc file installation location

[Dan Nicholson]

On Thu, Feb 18, 2010 at 08:59:33AM -0800, Jim Graf wrote:
> On Thu, Feb 18, 2010 at 8:06 AM, Thomas Moulard <thomas.moulard at gmail.com>wrote:
> 
> > On Thu, Feb 18, 2010 at 4:29 PM, Peter Johansson <trojkan at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> > > Jeff Squyres wrote:
> > >> Greetings.  I'm creating .pc files for our project (www.open-mpi.org).
> > >>
> > >> Where does one typically install these files?  I see that pkg-config(1)
> > v0.23 says:
> > >>
> > >>     ...By default, pkg-config looks in the directory
> > prefix/lib/pkgconfig for these files;...
> > >>
> > >> Does that really mean $prefix/lib/pkgconfig?  Or does it actually mean
> > $libdir/pkgconfig?
> > >>
> > >>
> > > I use the latter: $(libdir)/pkgconfig
> >
> > Two usual cases which justify a custom libdir is:
> > - release/debug libraries
> > - different instruction sets (32/64 bits for instance)
> >
> > ...and in both case you really want to maintain two different sets of .pc
> > files.
> > So yes, IMHO $(libdir)/pkgconfig is the good solution.
> > --
> >
> 
> I've been following this discussion and I have some confusion in my head.
> The OP stated they wanted to put the .pc file in the 'usual' location. I am
> presuming usual means default pkg-config search path, which depends on where
> pkg-config itself is installed.

Here's how the built in path is determined:

# This is slightly wrong, but hopefully causes less confusion than
# people being unable to find their .pc files in the standard location.
if test "${prefix}" = "NONE"; then
        pc_path='${libdir}/pkgconfig:${datadir}/pkgconfig:/usr/lib/pkgconfig:/usr/share/pkgconfig'
else
        pc_path='${libdir}/pkgconfig:${datadir}/pkgconfig'
fi

> I wish I could participate more fully, but all my apps/libs are used
> internally, and we find it expeditious to avoid root installs, so I tend
> towards mucking with PKG_CONFIG_PATH and then I don't have to depend on my
> own installation of the pkg-config app. It's a good solution to our very
> particular problem. I can't use the default location. :(
> 
> I also wish there was an option for pkg-config to print out it's default
> search path. Then in configure.ac, one could make some decisions.
> 
> strings `which pkg-config`|grep "/pkgconfig"
> 
> lacks a certain something...

Something like the patch below?

Dan