Using pkgconfig(xxx)

This document describes the openRuyi policy for specifying development library dependencies in the BuildRequires field.

When a package depends on a library foo that the build system discovers through pkg-config during the build process, you should express the build dependency as pkgconfig(foo).

Why We Recommend This Approach

Although you can technically write dependencies in the form: BuildRequires: foo-devel, this approach is less portable and more fragile.

Package names may change over time, or a different package may later provide the corresponding pkg-config module. When you hard-code dependencies using package names, such changes can break the dependency declaration.

Using pkgconfig(foo) instead ensures that the package manager resolves the dependency via the pkg-config module rather than a specific package name, making it more robust and future-proof.

However, if you must declare a dependency for reasons unrelated to the pkg-config module itself (for example, when the build requires specific files or tools from that package), it is still acceptable to depend directly on the package name.

Example

If a package needs to link against the OpenSSL library during the build process, you should declare the dependency as:

BuildRequires:  pkgconfig(openssl)

We do not recommend the following form:

BuildRequires:  openssl-devel

With the pkgconfig(openssl) form, the dependency will continue to resolve correctly even if a differently named package provides the .pc module in the future.