1 example for pkg-config
# Helps you get all -l and -I flags for compiler right # compile: gcc -c -o main.o main.c `pkg-config --cflags PKGNAME` # link: gcc -o my_application main.o `pkg-config --libs PKGNAME` # compile + link in a single step: gcc -o my_application main.c `pkg-config --cflags --libs PKGNAME` # check if library is installed pkg-config --exists 'glib-2.0 >= 1.3.4 libxml = 1.8.3' && echo yep || echo nope