Bug 34492

Hello,

Would it be possible to make pkg-config  check PKG_CONFIG_PATH  library paths
for library definitions first before checking the default library paths?

A problem arises when attempting to compile software using unique versions of libraries.
The system libraries get tested first. This means that even though PKG_CONFIG_PATH
points to library versions that are suitable for the current software build, pkg-config will
return the version of the system libraries first, which could cause the build process to stop
without checking the additional paths provided in PKG_CONFIG_PATH.

An example of this would be building an application to be installed  in  /usr/local/froboz.
If I build all my library dependencies for testing purposes to be installed below that path
and set PKG_CONFIG_PATH to include any 'pkgconfig' directories that are under that path,
I should be able to rely on pkg-config to find those directories first in order to make sure those
libraries are used with my 'froboz' build.

Changing this behavior allows the complete build process of any application using unique versions of
libraries from those currently installed on the system. It would also allow testing of software usaing
versions of libraries different from those on the system without interfering with those in the /usr/lib
directory path.

PKG_CONFIG_PATH is meant to be an override of the normal paths to pkgconfig directories
but is not behaving that way.

Please let me know if I am misinterpreting this. It seems that  the override should do such.

Thanks for any enlightenment

Peter