How To Install pkg-config on Ubuntu 20.04

In this tutorial we learn how to install pkg-config on Ubuntu 20.04. pkg-config is manage compile and link flags for libraries

Introduction

In this tutorial we learn how to install pkg-config on Ubuntu 20.04.

What is pkg-config

pkg-config is:

pkg-config is a system for managing library compile and link flags that works with automake and autoconf.

Increasingly libraries ship with “.pc” files that allow querying of the compiler and linker flags needed to use them through the pkg-config(1) program. Task: ubuntu-desktop-minimal, ubuntu-desktop, xubuntu-core, xubuntu-desktop, ubuntustudio-desktop-core, ubuntustudio-desktop, ubuntukylin-desktop, ubuntu-mate-core, ubuntu-mate-desktop, ubuntu-budgie-desktop

There are three methods to install pkg-config on Ubuntu 20.04. We can use apt-get, apt and aptitude. In the following sections we will describe each method. You can choose one of them.

Install pkg-config Using apt-get

Update apt database with apt-get using the following command.

sudo apt-get update

After updating apt database, We can install pkg-config using apt-get by running the following command:

sudo apt-get -y install pkg-config

Install pkg-config Using apt

Update apt database with apt using the following command.

sudo apt update

After updating apt database, We can install pkg-config using apt by running the following command:

sudo apt -y install pkg-config

Install pkg-config Using aptitude

If you want to follow this method, you might need to install aptitude first since aptitude is usually not installed by default on Ubuntu. Update apt database with aptitude using the following command.

sudo aptitude update

After updating apt database, We can install pkg-config using aptitude by running the following command:

sudo aptitude -y install pkg-config

How To Uninstall pkg-config on Ubuntu 20.04

To uninstall only the pkg-config package we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get remove pkg-config

Uninstall pkg-config And Its Dependencies

To uninstall pkg-config and its dependencies that are no longer needed by Ubuntu 20.04, we can use the command below:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove pkg-config

Remove pkg-config Configurations and Data

To remove pkg-config configuration and data from Ubuntu 20.04 we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y purge pkg-config

Remove pkg-config configuration, data, and all of its dependencies

We can use the following command to remove pkg-config configurations, data and all of its dependencies, we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove --purge pkg-config

References

Summary

In this tutorial we learn how to install pkg-config package on Ubuntu 20.04 using different package management tools: apt, apt-get and aptitude.