Two errors each affecting several ports

[Jeffrey Bouquet]

First error:
configure: error: the pkg-config script could not be found or is too old. Make sure it is in your PATH or set the PKG_CONFIG environment variable to the full path to pkg-config
(affects ports such as shared-mime-info, esound...)
....
Second error:
/usr/local/bin/ld: main.o: undefined reference to symbol 'curses version'
/usr/local/lib/libtinfow.so.6.0: could not read symbols: Invalid operation
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
*** [mutt] Error code 1
...
Which affects several other ports (... mc, vitunes...)
...
I tried rebuilding binutils to fix it/them, no difference.  (BTW binutils needs several
of its binaries (/usr/local/bin/ to configure/build/install, I fixed that temporarily by
copying some of them elsewhere and back as "extra binaries" until reinstalled and
overwritten...)
...
Each of these three errors may be specific to some arcane setup here.  Posting in
the chance that others have fixed it/them and so it is more common problem(s).

Thanks

J. Bouquet