Package cairo was not found in the pkg-config search path

by

Error: package cairo was not found in the pkg-config search path.

Explanation:

The error message indicates that the package “cairo” could not be found in the pkg-config search path. pkg-config is a system tool that retrieves information about installed libraries and is commonly used to compile and link software packages.

When a package is not found in the pkg-config search path, it usually means that the package is not installed on the system or that it is not properly configured.

Possible Solutions:

  1. Make sure the cairo package is installed on your system. You can do this by running the following command in your terminal: 
    sudo apt-get install libcairo2-dev

    This command installs the development libraries and headers for cairo.

  2. If the package is already installed, ensure that the pkg-config utility is able to locate it. You can check the pkg-config search path by running the following command: 
    pkg-config --variable pc_path pkg-config

    This command will display the current search path for pkg-config. Ensure that the directory containing the cairo package’s .pc file is included in the search path.

  3. If the cairo package is located in a non-standard location, you can manually specify the location to pkg-config using the PKG_CONFIG_PATH environment variable. For example: 
    export PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/path/to/cairo/pkgconfig:$PKG_CONFIG_PATH

    Replace /path/to/cairo/pkgconfig with the actual path to the directory containing the cairo package’s .pc file.

Example:

Let’s assume that you are compiling a program that depends on cairo and you encounter the mentioned error. You can follow the steps below to resolve the issue:

  1. Check if the cairo package is installed by running the command dpkg -s libcairo2-dev.
  2. If the package is not installed, install it by running sudo apt-get install libcairo2-dev.
  3. After installing the package, try compiling your program again. The error should be resolved.
  4. If the error persists, check the pkg-config search path by running pkg-config --variable pc_path pkg-config.
  5. Make sure the directory containing cairo’s .pc file is included in the search path.
  6. If the directory is not in the search path, add it using the PKG_CONFIG_PATH environment variable.
  7. Compile your program again. It should now be able to locate the cairo package.

Leave a comment