# pkgconfig > Interface Python with pkg-config - **URL**: https://www.freshcrate.ai/projects/pkgconfig - **Author**: Matthias Vogelgesang - **Category**: Frameworks - **Latest version**: `1.6.0` (2026-04-21) - **License**: MIT - **Source**: https://github.com/matze/pkgconfig - **Homepage**: https://pypi.org/project/pkgconfig/ - **Language**: Python - **GitHub**: 64 stars, 23 forks - **Registry**: pypi (`pkgconfig`) - **Tags**: `pypi` ## Description pkgconfig ========= .. image:: https://github.com/matze/pkgconfig/workflows/CI/badge.svg :target: https://github.com/matze/pkgconfig/actions/workflows/ci.yml ``pkgconfig`` is a Python module to interface with the ``pkg-config`` command-line tool for Python 3.9+. The ``pkg-config`` command-line tool typically comes from a package either called ``pkg-config`` (the original implementation) or ``pkgconf`` (a more recent, improved reimplementation intended as a drop-in replacement). The ``pkgconfig`` module can be used to - find all pkg-config packages :: >>> packages = pkgconfig.list_all() - check if a package exists :: >>> pkgconfig.exists('glib-2.0') True - check if a package meets certain version requirements :: >>> pkgconfig.installed('glib-2.0', '< 2.26') False - return the version :: >>> pkgconfig.modversion('glib-2.0') '2.56.3' - query CFLAGS and LDFLAGS :: >>> pkgconfig.cflags('glib-2.0') '-I/usr/include/glib-2.0 -I/usr/lib/glib-2.0/include' >>> pkgconfig.libs('glib-2.0') '-lglib-2.0' - get all variables defined for a package:: >>> pkgconfig.variables('glib-2.0') {u'exec_prefix': u'/usr'} - parse the output to build extensions with setup.py :: >>> d = pkgconfig.parse('glib-2.0 gtk+-2.0') >>> d['libraries'] [u'gtk+-2.0', u'glib-2.0'] or :: >>> ext = Extension('foo', ['foo.c']) >>> # sets extension attributes as needed >>> pkgconfig.configure_extension(ext, 'glib-2.0 gtk+-2.0') The ``pkgconfig.parse`` function returns a dictionary of lists. The lists returned are accurate representations of the equivalent ``pkg-config`` call's results, both in content and order. If ``pkg-config`` is not on the PATH, an ``EnvironmentError`` is raised. The ``pkgconfig`` module is licensed under the MIT license. Changelog --------- Version 1.6.0 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - Drop support for Python < 3.9, support 3.9 .. 3.14. - README: clarify pkg-config and pkgconf, #75 - Switch CI from Travis to GitHub Actions; test on all supported Python versions. - Use src/ layout for project, fixes #36. Also move tests and test data to tests/. - Replace deprecated distutils with setuptools to make tests work on Python 3.12; fixes #64. - Fix configure_extension for empty cflags or libs. Version 1.5.5 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - Make tests more robust by sorting. Version 1.5.4 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - Adjust pyproject.toml and drop Python 2 support Version 1.5.3 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - Add ``configure_extension`` API Version 1.5.2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - Update poetry dependency - Improve CI Version 1.5.0 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - Use poetry instead of setuptools directly - Fix #42: raise exception if package is missing - Fix version parsing for openssl-like version numbers, fixes #32 - Fix #31: expose --modversion - Fix #30: strip whitespace from variable names Version 1.4.0 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - Add boolean ``static`` keyword to output private libraries as well - Raise original ``OSError`` as well Version 1.3.1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - Fix compatibility problems with Python 2.6 Version 1.3.0 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - Add variables() API to query defined variables - Disable Python 3.2 and enable Python 3.5 and 3.6 tests - Fix #16: handle spaces of values in .pc files correctly Version 1.2.1 and 1.2.2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bugfix releases on December 1 and 2, 2016. - Include the ``data`` folder in the distribution in order to run tests - Improve the tests Version 1.2.0 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Released on November 30th, 2016. - Potential break: switch from result set to list - Expose the --list-all query - Added support for the PKG_CONFIG environment variable Version 1.1.0 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Released on November 6th, 2013. - Multiple packages can now be parsed with a single call to ``.parse``. Version 1.0.0 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ First release on September 8th, 2013. ## Recent releases | Version | Date | Urgency | Changes | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | `1.6.0` | 2026-04-21 | Low | Imported from PyPI (1.6.0) | | `v1.6.0` | 2026-03-06 | Low | Changes see there: https://github.com/matze/pkgconfig?tab=readme-ov-file#changelog | | `v1.6.0` | 2026-03-06 | Low | Changes see there: https://github.com/matze/pkgconfig?tab=readme-ov-file#changelog | | `v1.6.0` | 2026-03-06 | Low | Changes see there: https://github.com/matze/pkgconfig?tab=readme-ov-file#changelog | | `v1.6.0` | 2026-03-06 | Low | Changes see there: https://github.com/matze/pkgconfig?tab=readme-ov-file#changelog | | `v1.6.0` | 2026-03-06 | Low | Changes see there: https://github.com/matze/pkgconfig?tab=readme-ov-file#changelog | | `v1.6.0` | 2026-03-06 | Low | Changes see there: https://github.com/matze/pkgconfig?tab=readme-ov-file#changelog | | `v1.6.0` | 2026-03-06 | Low | Changes see there: https://github.com/matze/pkgconfig?tab=readme-ov-file#changelog | | `v1.6.0` | 2026-03-06 | Low | Changes see there: https://github.com/matze/pkgconfig?tab=readme-ov-file#changelog | | `v1.6.0` | 2026-03-06 | Low | Changes see there: https://github.com/matze/pkgconfig?tab=readme-ov-file#changelog | ## Citation - HTML: https://www.freshcrate.ai/projects/pkgconfig - Markdown: https://www.freshcrate.ai/projects/pkgconfig.md - Dependencies JSON: https://www.freshcrate.ai/api/projects/pkgconfig/deps _Generated by freshcrate.ai. Indexes pypi releases for AI-agent ecosystem packages._