external project test fails with pkgconf-3*

[thesamesam]

meson's testsuite fails with pkgconf-3* since pkgconf's pkgconf/pkgconf@8df114a ("libpkgconf: fragment: implement sysroot injection again").

$  ./run_single_test.py "./test cases/common/230 external project"
[...]

Build targets in project: 3

test external project undefined

  User defined options
    backend: ninja
    libdir : lib
    prefix : /usr

Found ninja-1.13.2 at /usr/bin/ninja
ninja: Jobserver mode detected: -j32 -l32 --jobserver-auth=fifo:/dev/steve
ninja explain: deps for 'libsomelib.so.p/func.c.o' are missing
[1/6] Compiling C object libsomelib.so.p/func.c.o
ninja explain: libsomelib.so.p/func.c.o is dirty
[2/6] Linking target libsomelib.so
ninja explain: deps for 'libfoo/libfoo.stamp' are missing
ninja explain: libsomelib.so is dirty
[2/6] Generating external project libfoo/libfoo
make: warning: -j32 forced in submake: resetting jobserver mode.
ninja explain: libsomelib.so is dirty
/usr/bin/ccache cc "/home/sam/git/meson/test cases/common/230 external project/libfoo/libfoo.c" -shared -fPIC -I/home/sam/git/meson/b\\\ 5dad6b1f72 -I/home/sam/git/meson/test\\\ cases/common/230\\\ external\\\ project -L/home/sam/git/meson/b\\\ 5dad6b1f72 -lsomelib -o libfoo.so
/usr/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu/binutils-bin/9999/ld: cannot find -lsomelib: No such file or directory
collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status
make: *** [Makefile:4: libfoo.so] Error 1
Running command ['/usr/bin/make', '-j32'] in directory /home/sam/git/meson/b 5dad6b1f72/libfoo/build

build step returned error code 2.
[3/6] Generating symbol file libsomelib.so.p/libsomelib.so.symbols
FAILED: [code=2] libfoo/libfoo.stamp
/usr/lib/python-exec/python3.14/python3 /home/sam/git/meson/meson.py --internal externalproject --name libfoo --srcdir '/home/sam/git/meson/test cases/common/230 external project/libfoo' --builddir '/home/sam/git/meson/b 5dad6b1f72/libfoo/build' --installdir '/home/sam/git/meson/b 5dad6b1f72/libfoo/dist' --logdir '/home/sam/git/meson/b 5dad6b1f72/meson-logs' --make /usr/bin/make --verbose libfoo/libfoo.stamp libfoo/libfoo.d
ninja: build stopped: subcommand failed.

[thesamesam]

good:

$ PKG_CONFIG_PATH="/home/sam/git/meson/test cases/common/230 external project/build/meson-uninstalled" ~/git/pkgconf/build/pkgconf --libs somelib
-L/home/sam/git/meson/test\ cases/common/230\ external\ project/build -lsomelib

bad:

$ PKG_CONFIG_PATH="/home/sam/git/meson/test cases/common/230 external project/build/meson-uninstalled" pkgconf --libs somelib
-L/home/sam/git/meson/test\\\ cases/common/230\\\ external\\\ project/build -lsomelib

$ diff -u <(PKG_CONFIG_PATH="/home/sam/git/meson/test cases/common/230 external project/build/meson-uninstalled" ~/git/pkgconf/build/pkgconf --libs somelib) <(PKG_CONFIG_PATH="/home/sam/git/meson/test cases/common/230 external project/build/meson-uninstalled" pkgconf --libs somelib)
--- /dev/fd/63  2026-07-19 21:59:47.050675219 +0100
+++ /dev/fd/62  2026-07-19 21:59:47.054675265 +0100
@@ -1 +1 @@
--L/home/sam/git/meson/test\ cases/common/230\ external\ project/build -lsomelib
+-L/home/sam/git/meson/test\\\ cases/common/230\\\ external\\\ project/build -lsomelib

$ git diff --no-index --word-diff <(PKG_CONFIG_PATH="/home/sam/git/meson/test cases/common/230 external project/build/meson-uninstalled" ~/git/pkgconf/build/pkgconf --libs somelib) <(PKG_CONFIG_PATH="/home/sam/git/meson/test cases/common/230 external project/build/meson-uninstalled" pkgconf --libs somelib)
diff --git a/dev/fd/63 b/dev/fd/62
--- a/dev/fd/63
+++ b/dev/fd/62
@@ -1 +1 @@
[--L/home/sam/git/meson/test\ cases/common/230\ external\-]{+-L/home/sam/git/meson/test\\\ cases/common/230\\\ external\\\+} project/build -lsomelib

[thesamesam]

This reproduces it for me:

#!/bin/bash
set -x

# 8df114ab0e7068e56c517d0ec3df632e0ff26d72
BAD_PKGCONF=/home/sam/git/pkgconf/build-bad/pkgconf
# 8df114ab0e7068e56c517d0ec3df632e0ff26d72~1
GOOD_PKGCONF=/home/sam/git/pkgconf/build-good/pkgconf

baddir="${PWD}/a dir/another dir with spaces"
#rm -rf "${baddir}"
mkdir -p "${baddir}" || exit

cat <<-EOF > "${baddir}"/a-uninstalled.pc
prefix=$(printf "%q" "${baddir}")

Name: a
Description: test external project: a
Version: undefined

Libs: -L\${prefix} -la
Cflags: -I\${prefix}
EOF

# -L/tmp/p/a\ dir/another\ dir\ with\ spaces -la
PKG_CONFIG_PATH=$(printf '%b' "${baddir}") ${GOOD_PKGCONF} --libs a
# -L/tmp/p/a\\\ dir/another\\\ dir\\\ with\\\ spaces -la
PKG_CONFIG_PATH=$(printf '%b' "${baddir}") ${BAD_PKGCONF} --libs a

 $ ./test.sh
+ BAD_PKGCONF=/home/sam/git/pkgconf/build-bad/pkgconf
+ GOOD_PKGCONF=/home/sam/git/pkgconf/build-good/pkgconf
+ baddir='/tmp/p/a dir/another dir with spaces'
+ mkdir -p '/tmp/p/a dir/another dir with spaces'
+ cat
++ printf %q '/tmp/p/a dir/another dir with spaces'
++ printf %b '/tmp/p/a dir/another dir with spaces'
+ PKG_CONFIG_PATH='/tmp/p/a dir/another dir with spaces'
+ /home/sam/git/pkgconf/build-good/pkgconf --libs a
-L/tmp/p/a\ dir/another\ dir\ with\ spaces -la
++ printf %b '/tmp/p/a dir/another dir with spaces'
+ PKG_CONFIG_PATH='/tmp/p/a dir/another dir with spaces'
+ /home/sam/git/pkgconf/build-bad/pkgconf --libs a
-L/tmp/p/a\\\ dir/another\\\ dir\\\ with\\\ spaces -la

[thesamesam]

Filed pkgconf/pkgconf#575.

[thesamesam]

Fixed with pkgconf-3.0.3. Let's keep this open until it propagates into CI.

[bonzini]

https://github.com/mesonbuild/meson/actions/runs/29930906932/job/88960050490 has 3.0.3 but still fails?

The ninja logs still show the problematic quoting:

cc -Itest1.p -I. '-I../../../../../../../Users/runner/work/meson/meson/test cases/common/44 pkgconfig-gen/dependencies' -I/private/var/folders/8j/sfr9qqcj73j4p6nhwcfpr0th0000gn/T/tmpk8zke4yx '-I/Users/runner/work/meson/meson/test\ cases/common/44\ pkgconfig-gen' -fdiagnostics-color=always -Wall -Winvalid-pch -O0 -g -DLIBFOO -MD -MQ test1.p/main.c.o -MF test1.p/main.c.o.d -o test1.p/main.c.o -c '../../../../../../../Users/runner/work/meson/meson/test cases/common/44 pkgconfig-gen/dependencies/main.c'

[thesamesam]

Sorry, 3.0.4.

[bonzini]

Still a failure in LinuxlikeTests::test_pkgconfig_gen:

=========================== short test summary info ============================
FAILED unittests/linuxliketests.py::LinuxlikeTests::test_pkgconfig_gen - AssertionError: 'hello world' != 'hello\\ world'
- hello world
+ hello\ world
?      +
===== 1 failed, 536 passed, 145 skipped, 509 warnings in 419.85s (0:06:59) =====

The assertion:

self.assertEqual(libhello_nolib.get_variable(pkgconfig='unescaped_var'), 'hello world')

The meson.build file:

pkgg.generate(
  unescaped_variables: {
    'unescaped_var': 'hello world',
  }
)

The generated pkg-config file:

$ cat ./meson-private/libhello_nolib.pc
 
foo=bar
prefix=/usr/local
escaped_var=hello\ world
unescaped_var=hello world

Name: libhello_nolib
Description: A minimalistic pkgconfig file.
Version: 1.0

The result with 2.5.1:

$ pkgconf --version
2.5.1
$ pkgconf --variable=unescaped_var --with-path=meson-private libhello_nolib
hello world

[thesamesam]

I can't seem to reproduce that with your testcase standalone, but maybe it needs more (but I can with the Meson testsuite). Can you report it upstream please?

[tristan957]

I added a comment in pkgconf/pkgconf#575 (comment).