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4 Scanning configure.in

Automake requires certain variables to be defined and certain macros to be used in the package configure.in.

One such requirement is that configure.in must define the variables PACKAGE and VERSION with AC_SUBST. PACKAGE should be the name of the package as it appears when bundled for distribution. For instance, Automake definees PACKAGE to be ‘automake’. VERSION should be the version number of the release that is being developed. We recommend that you make configure.in the only place in your package where the version number is defined; this makes releases simpler.

Automake requires the use of the macro AC_ARG_PROGRAM if a program or script is installed.

If your package is not a flat distribution, Automake requires the use of AC_PROG_MAKE_SET.

Automake will also recognize the use of certain macros and tailor the generated Makefile.in appropriately. Currently recognized macros and their effects are:

AC_CONFIG_HEADER

Automake will generate rules to automatically regenerate the config header. If you do use this macro, you must create the file stamp-h.in. It can be empty. Also, the AC_OUTPUT command in configure.in must create stamp-h, eg:

AC_OUTPUT(Makefile, [test -z "$CONFIG_HEADERS" || echo timestamp > stamp-h])

AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR

Automake will look for various helper scripts, such as mkinstalldirs, in the directory named in this macro invocation. If not seen, the scripts are looked for in their “standard” locations (either the top source directory, or in the source directory corresponding to the current Makefile.am, whichever is appropriate).

AC_OUTPUT

Automake uses this to determine which files to create.

AC_PATH_XTRA

Automake will insert definitions for the variables defined by AC_PATH_XTRA into each Makefile.in that builds a C program or library.

AC_CANONICAL_HOST

AC_CANONICAL_SYSTEM

AC_CHECK_TOOL

Automake will ensure that config.guess and config.sub exist.

AC_FUNC_ALLOCA

AC_FUNC_GETLOADAVG

AC_FUNC_MEMCMP

AC_STRUCT_ST_BLOCKS

fp_FUNC_FNMATCH

AC_FUNC_FNMATCH

AC_REPLACE_FUNCS

AC_REPLACE_GNU_GETOPT

Automake will ensure that the appropriate source files are part of the distribution, and will ensure that the appropriate dependencies are generated for these objects. See Building a library for more information.

Automake will also detect statements which put ‘.o’ files into LIBOBJS, and will treat these additional files in a similar way.

AC_PROG_RANLIB

This is required if any libraries are built in the package.

AC_PROG_INSTALL

fp_PROG_INSTALL

fp_PROG_INSTALL is required if any scripts (see Executable Scripts) are installed by the package. Otherwise, AC_PROG_INSTALL is required.

gm_PROG_LIBTOOL

AC_PROG_LIBTOOL

Automake will turn on processing for libtool (see The Libtool Manual in The Libtool Manual). This work is still preliminary.

ALL_LINGUAS

If Automake sees that this variable is set in configure.in, it will check the po directory to ensure that all the named ‘.po’ files exist, and that all the ‘.po’ files that exist are named.

fp_C_PROTOTYPES

This is required when using automatic de-ANSI-fication, see Automatic de-ANSI-fication.

ud_GNU_GETTEXT

This macro is required for packages which use GNU gettext (FIXME xref). It is distributed with gettext. Automake uses this macro to ensure that the package meets some of gettext’s requirements.

jm_MAINTAINER_MODE

This macro adds a ‘--enable-maintainer-mode’ option to configure. If this is used, automake will cause “maintainer-only” rules to be turned off by default in the generated Makefile.ins.

The ‘fp_’ macros are from {No value for ‘Francois’} Pinard and the ‘jm_’ macro is from Jim Meyering. Both sets are included with Automake. automake will tell where the macros can be found if they are missing.