14.1 Interfacing to etags

automake will generate rules to generate TAGS files for use with GNU Emacs under some circumstances.

If any C source code or headers are present, then a tags target will be generated for the directory.

At the topmost directory of a multi-directory package, a tags target file will be generated which, when run, will generate a TAGS file that includes by reference all TAGS files from subdirectories.

Also, if the variable ETAGS_ARGS is defined, a tags target will be generated. This variable is intended for use in directories which contain taggable source that etags does not understand.

Here is how Automake generates tags for its source, and for nodes in its Texinfo file:

ETAGS_ARGS = automake.in --lang=none \
 --regex='/^@node[ \t]+\([^,]+\)/\1/' automake.texi

Automake will also generate an ID target which will run mkid on the source. This is only supported on a directory-by-directory basis.