Building from source without homebrew or any other package manager.
Download the latest version of the [https://pkg-config.freedesktop.org/releases/?C=M;O=A](pkg-config source).
LDFLAGS="-framework CoreFoundation -framework Carbon" ./configure --with-internal-glib
make
sudo make install
OSX & iOS uses a mechanism for managing development resources such as a libraries called Frameworks. These are generally frameworks in the Software Engineering sense however might also just be libraries. The flag informs the tool chain to build against these libraries.
See Apple's documentation about it for more details.
Thank you very much. To compile another binary pkg-config was a requirement although I'll never use it. You're the first one to explain how to compile the damn thing on macOS in plain human language. Additionally, the official GitLab link given on freedesktop.org to download "the source code" landed me with a package without the configure exec but with vastly inarticulate instructions.
I went to compile OS Sonoma on my Mac and got this error:
gatomic.c:392:10: error: incompatible integer to pointer conversion passing 'gssize' (aka 'long') to parameter of type 'gpointer' (aka 'void *') [-Wint-conversion]
return g_atomic_pointer_add ((volatile gpointer *) atomic, val);
^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
./gatomic.h:170:46: note: expanded from macro 'g_atomic_pointer_add'
(gssize) __sync_fetch_and_add ((atomic), (val)); \
^~~~~
gatomic.c:416:10: error: incompatible integer to pointer conversion passing 'gsize' (aka 'unsigned long') to parameter of type 'gpointer' (aka 'void *') [-Wint-conversion]
return g_atomic_pointer_and ((volatile gpointer *) atomic, val);
^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
./gatomic.h:177:45: note: expanded from macro 'g_atomic_pointer_and'
(gsize) __sync_fetch_and_and ((atomic), (val)); \
^~~~~
gatomic.c:440:10: error: incompatible integer to pointer conversion passing 'gsize' (aka 'unsigned long') to parameter of type 'gpointer' (aka 'void *') [-Wint-conversion]
return g_atomic_pointer_or ((volatile gpointer *) atomic, val);
^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
./gatomic.h:184:44: note: expanded from macro 'g_atomic_pointer_or'
(gsize) __sync_fetch_and_or ((atomic), (val)); \
^~~~~
gatomic.c:464:10: error: incompatible integer to pointer conversion passing 'gsize' (aka 'unsigned long') to parameter of type 'gpointer' (aka 'void *') [-Wint-conversion]
return g_atomic_pointer_xor ((volatile gpointer *) atomic, val);
^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
./gatomic.h:191:45: note: expanded from macro 'g_atomic_pointer_xor'
(gsize) __sync_fetch_and_xor ((atomic), (val)); \
^~~~~
4 errors generated.
make[6]: *** [libglib_2_0_la-gatomic.lo] Error 1
make[5]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[4]: *** [all] Error 2
make[3]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[2]: *** [all] Error 2
make[1]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make: *** [all] Error 2
Same issue as [rangelfn]. So far, I've been unable to work around it.
Running into the same issue as well. Sonoma 14.5 on Apple Silicon.
This seems to address the issue: https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pkg-config/pkg-config/-/issues/81
Thanks for the info. I'm also running Sonoma 14.5 on Apple Silicon (M1 Air).
But no joy. I tried to make pkgconfig 0.28.
From what I gleaned from the link you provided, I tried:
CFLAGS="-Wno-int-conversion"
CXXFLAGS="-Wno-int-conversion"
./configure --with-internal-glib
Same errors as before when I tried to make.
Did I misinterpret the link? Should I try a newer pkgconfig?
Should I try to build glib separately and then try to build pkgconfig without using its internal glib?
Again, thanks!
@m-bob try running the three things on the same line: CFLAGS="-Wno-int-conversion" CXXFLAGS="-Wno-int-conversion" ./configure --with-internal-glib
@mkdeak Your solution is very useful！
If you are not familiar with Make (and I am not), it is not clear whether the advice given above about setting CFLAGS on a single line means that one should run these two different lines one after the other:
LDFLAGS="-framework CoreFoundation -framework Carbon" ./configure --with-internal-glib
CFLAGS="-Wno-int-conversion" CXXFLAGS="-Wno-int-conversion" ./configure --with-internal-glib
or run a single line like this:
LDFLAGS="-framework CoreFoundation -framework Carbon" CFLAGS="-Wno-int-conversion" CXXFLAGS="-Wno-int-conversion" ./configure --with-internal-glib
When I tried running the two lines one after another, the Makefile had a line
LDFLAGS =
which suggests that the second command overwrote the version where the LDFLAGS were set.
When I ran the single line command, the same line in Makefile was
LDFLAGS = -framework CoreFoundation -framework Carbon
All other lines were the same. So it looks like the right approach is to set LDFLAGS, CFLAGS and CXXFLAGS on a single line.
BTW, after I created the Makefile that did not set LDFLAGS, the make and sudo make install commands ran without generating errors. The version of pkg-config created this way may work for some purposes, but if you want a version that has the LDFLAGS set to -framework CoreFoundation -framework Carbon, you probably need to run a single line that sets all the flags and then run the other two commands.
Thank you very much to everyone for the contributions, you helped me to finally get pkg-config to compile
What I learn from this is that we can't go through life blindly, we have to learn to use the tools, for me this worked to fix the errors compiling in Apple Silicon M2 (2025):
I install my self compiled stuff in /opt/pokemon
This commands make the tric:
tar xvf pkg-config-0.29.2.tar.gz
mkdir pkg-config-build
cd pkg-config-build
export CFLAGS="-Wno-int-conversion"
export CXXFLAGS="-Wno-int-conversion"
../pkg-config-0.29.2/configure --prefix=/opt/pokemon --exec-prefix=/opt/pokemon --with-internal-glib
make
make install
First, thanks for your share.
And i am confusing about the first line of the code
LDFLAGS="-framework CoreFoundation -framework Carbon" ./configure --with-internal-glib,what's that means
LDFLAGS="-framework CoreFoundation -framework Carbon"?