pkg-config descriptor

When installed, PSRCHIVE exports a pkg-config descriptor that can be used to query the flags required to compile and link software that depends on PSRCHIVE.

The pkg-config descriptor (a text file named psrchive.pc) is installed in the lib/pkgconfig sub-directory of the path where PSRCHIVE is installed.

For example, if PSRCHIVE is configured with ./configure --prefix=/home/pulsar, then psrchive.pc will be installed in /home/pulsar/lib/pkgconfig.

For pkg-config to find this descriptor file, the PKG_CONFIG_PATH environment variable should include the absolute path of the folder containing psrchive.pc. Continuing the above example, 

$ export PKG_CONFIG_PATH="${PKG_CONFIG_PATH:+${PKG_CONFIG_PATH}:}/home/pulsar/lib/pkconfig"
(Note that PKG_CONFIG_PATH is a colon-separated list of paths searched by pkg-config.)

You can see what version of PSRCHIVE is found with pkg-config --modversion psrchive. If it reports 

$ pkg-config --modversion psrchive

Package psrchive was not found in the pkg-config search path.
Perhaps you should add the directory containing `psrchive.pc'
to the PKG_CONFIG_PATH environment variable
No package 'psrchive' found
then you'll need to double-check the PKG_CONFIG_PATH environment variable and/or verify that lib/pkgconfig/psrchive.pc is found in the PSRCHIVE installation directory.