[bug-libunistring] [bug #53717] Workflows that rely on pkgconfig are unhappy with libunistring's lack of .pc file

[Bruno Haible]

Update of bug #53717 (project libunistring):

                Category:                   Build => Interface              
                  Status:                    None => Need Info              
             Assigned to:                    None => haible                 

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Follow-up Comment #1:

> the world no longer revolves around autoconf

Indeed, when I do a trends.google.com comparison between autoconf, cmake,
scons, gradle, pkgconfig,
https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?cat=5&date=all&q=autoconf,cmake,scons,gradle,pkgconfig
I can see the following trends:
- Gradle has "taken off" in 2013.
- CMake has "taken off" in 2006 and seen increasing use since 2016.
- Interest in autoconf has strongly declined.
- Interest in SCons was as its maximum in 2006 and has since declined, like
autoconf.
- Interest in pkg-config has dropped as well.

Gradle is mostly used for JavaScript and Java, I understand. So let's ignore
it here.

Then, what we need is good support for locating libunistring in CMake.

But CMake has built-in support for finding libraries. See
https://cmake.org/Wiki/CMake/Tutorials/Exporting_and_Importing_Targets
https://cmake.org/cmake/help/v3.3/command/find_library.html
https://cmake.org/cmake/help/v3.3/command/target_link_libraries.html
https://cmake.org/cmake/help/v3.3/variable/CMAKE_LIBRARY_PATH.html
https://cmake.org/cmake/help/v3.3/prop_gbl/FIND_LIBRARY_USE_LIB64_PATHS.html

pkg-config has known severe problems:
1) It makes it hard to use libraries built by a developer with a custom
--prefix. (Need to set and customize PKG_CONFIG_PATH. Lack of support for
-Wl,-rpath option of the compiler.)
2) It does not work when the compiler that uses the library is different from
the compiler that built the library, e.g. on Solaris.
In summary, use of pkg-config takes away freedoms from the developer.
Therefore, I'm looking for a solution that involves CMake but does not involve
pkg-config.

If you try to search for an installed libunistring using the CMake command
'find_library', what does the CMake script look like, and what issues do you
encounter?

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