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How to fix cargo error: The system library `alsa` required by crate `alsa-sys` was not found.

Problem

During cargo build or cargo run, you see an error message such as

example.txt
   Compiling euclid v0.22.11
error: failed to run custom build command for `alsa-sys v0.3.1`

Caused by:
  process didn't exit successfully: `/home/uli/dev/MyProject/target/debug/build/alsa-sys-d857244a3626a86f/build-script-build` (exit status: 101)
  --- stdout
  cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=ALSA_NO_PKG_CONFIG
  cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=PKG_CONFIG_x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
  cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=PKG_CONFIG_x86_64_unknown_linux_gnu
  cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=HOST_PKG_CONFIG
  cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=PKG_CONFIG
  cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=ALSA_STATIC
  cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=ALSA_DYNAMIC
  cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=PKG_CONFIG_ALL_STATIC
  cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=PKG_CONFIG_ALL_DYNAMIC
  cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=PKG_CONFIG_PATH_x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
  cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=PKG_CONFIG_PATH_x86_64_unknown_linux_gnu
  cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=HOST_PKG_CONFIG_PATH
  cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=PKG_CONFIG_PATH
  cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR_x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
  cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR_x86_64_unknown_linux_gnu
  cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=HOST_PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR
  cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR
  cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=PKG_CONFIG_SYSROOT_DIR_x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
  cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=PKG_CONFIG_SYSROOT_DIR_x86_64_unknown_linux_gnu
  cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=HOST_PKG_CONFIG_SYSROOT_DIR
  cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=PKG_CONFIG_SYSROOT_DIR

  --- stderr

  thread 'main' (911284) panicked at /home/uli/.cargo/registry/src/index.crates.io-1949cf8c6b5b557f/alsa-sys-0.3.1/build.rs:13:18:

  pkg-config exited with status code 1
  > PKG_CONFIG_ALLOW_SYSTEM_LIBS=1 PKG_CONFIG_ALLOW_SYSTEM_CFLAGS=1 pkg-config --libs --cflags alsa

  The system library `alsa` required by crate `alsa-sys` was not found.
  The file `alsa.pc` needs to be installed and the PKG_CONFIG_PATH environment variable must contain its parent directory.
  The PKG_CONFIG_PATH environment variable is not set.

  HINT: if you have installed the library, try setting PKG_CONFIG_PATH to the directory containing `alsa.pc`.

  note: run with `RUST_BACKTRACE=1` environment variable to display a backtrace
warning: build failed, waiting for other jobs to finish...

Solution

Your Rust project depends on the alsa crate, which, in turn, depends on the system ALSA library.

On Ubuntu, install it using

example.sh
sudo apt -y install libasound2-dev

After that, you can retry your cargo command.

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