1 * WARNING: Future backward-incompatibilities!
3 - Makefile recipes generated by Automake 2.0 will expect to use an
4 'rm' program that doesn't complain when called without any non-option
5 argument if the '-f' option is given (so that commands like "rm -f"
6 and "rm -rf" will act as a no-op, instead of raising usage errors).
7 This behavior of 'rm' is very widespread in the wild, and it will be
8 required in the next POSIX version:
10 <http://austingroupbugs.net/view.php?id=542>
12 Accordingly, AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE now expands some shell code that checks
13 that the default 'rm' program in PATH satisfies this requirement,
14 aborting the configure process if this is not the case. For the
15 moment, it's still possible to force the configuration process to
16 succeed even with a broken 'rm', that that will no longer be the case
19 - Automake 2.0 will require Autoconf 2.70 or later (which is still
20 unreleased at the moment of writing, but is planned to be released
21 before Automake 2.0 is).
23 - Automake 2.0 will drop support for the long-deprecated 'configure.in'
24 name for the Autoconf input file. You are advised to start using the
25 recommended name 'configure.ac' instead, ASAP.
27 - The ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS special make variable will be fully deprecated in
28 Automake 2.0: it will raise warnings in the "obsolete" category (but
29 still no hard error of course, for compatibilities with the many, many
30 packages that still relies on that variable). You are advised to
31 start relying on the new Automake support for AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIRS
32 instead (which was introduced in Automake 1.13).
34 - Automake 2.0 will remove support for automatic dependency tracking
35 with the SGI C/C++ compilers on IRIX. The SGI depmode has been
36 reported broken "in the wild" already, and we don't think investing
37 time in debugging and fixing is worthwhile, especially considering
38 that SGI has last updated those compilers in 2006, and retired
39 support for them in December 2013:
40 <http://www.sgi.com/services/support/irix_mips_support.html>
42 - Automake 2.0 will remove support for MS-DOS and Windows 95/98/ME
43 (support for them was offered by relying on the DJGPP project).
44 Note however that both Cygwin and MSYS/MinGW on modern Windows
45 versions will continue to be fully supported.
47 - Automake-provided scripts and makefile recipes might (finally!)
48 start assuming a POSIX shell in Automake 2.0. There still is no
49 certainty about this though: we'd first like to wait and see
50 whether future Autoconf versions will be enhanced to guarantee
51 that such a shell is always found and provided by the checks in
54 - Starting from Automake 2.0, third-party m4 files located in the
55 system-wide aclocal directory, as well as in any directory listed
56 in the ACLOCAL_PATH environment variable, will take precedence
57 over "built-in" Automake macros. For example (assuming Automake
58 is installed in the /usr/local hierarchy), a definition of the
59 AM_PROG_VALAC macro found in '/usr/local/share/aclocal/my-vala.m4'
60 should take precedence over the same-named automake-provided macro
61 (defined in '/usr/local/share/aclocal-2.0/vala.m4').
63 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
67 * Miscellaneous changes
69 - When subdir-objects is in effect, Automake will now construct
70 shorter object file names when no programs and libraries name
71 clashes are encountered. This should make the discouraged use of
72 'foo_SHORTNAME' unnecessary in many cases.
76 - Automatic dependency tracking has been fixed to work also when the
77 'subdir-object' option is used and some 'foo_SOURCES' definition
78 contains unexpanded references to make variables, as in, e.g.:
80 a_src = sources/libs/aaa
82 foo_SOURCES = $(a_src)/bar.c $(b_src)/baz.c
84 With such a setup, the created makefile fragment containing dependency
85 tracking information will be correctly placed under the directories
86 named 'sources/libs/aaa/.deps' and 'sources/bbb/.deps', rather than
87 mistakenly under directories named (literally!) '$(src_a)/.deps' and
88 '$(src_b)/.deps' (this was the first part of automake bug#13928).
90 Notice that in order to fix this bug we had to slightly change the
91 semantics of how config.status bootstraps the makefile fragments
92 required for the dependency tracking to work: rather than attempting
93 to parse the Makefiles via grep and sed trickeries only, we actually
94 invoke 'make' on a slightly preprocessed version of those Makefiles,
95 using a private target that is only meant to bootstrap the required
98 - The 'subdir-object' option no longer causes object files corresponding
99 to source files specified with an explicit '$(srcdir)' component to be
100 placed in the source tree rather than in the build tree.
102 For example, if Makefile.am contains:
104 AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = subdir-objects
105 foo_SOURCES = $(srcdir)/foo.c $(srcdir)/s/bar.c $(top_srcdir)/baz.c
107 then "make all" will create 'foo.o' and 's/bar.o' in $(builddir) rather
108 than in $(srcdir), and will create 'baz.o' in $(top_builddir) rather
109 than in $(top_srcdir).
111 This was the second part of automake bug#13928.
113 - Installed 'aclocal' m4 macros can now accept installation directories
114 containing '@' characters (automake bug#20903)
116 - When combining AC_LIBOBJ or AC_FUNC_ALLOCA with the
117 "--disable-dependency-tracking" configure option in an out of source
118 build, the build sub-directory defined by AC_CONFIG_LIBOBJ_DIR is now
119 properly created. (automake bug#27781)
121 - The time printed by 'mdate-sh' is now using the UTC time zone to support
122 the reproducible build effort. (automake bug#20314)
124 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
130 - The code has been adapted to remove a warning present since Perl
131 5.22 stating that "Unescaped left brace in regex is deprecated".
132 This warning has become an hard error in Perl 5.26 (bug#22372).
134 - The generated Makefiles do not rely on the obsolescent GZIP
135 environment variable which was used for passing arguments to
136 'gzip'. Compatibility with old versions has been
137 preserved. (bug#20132)
139 * Miscellaneous changes:
141 - Support the Windows version of the Intel C Compiler (icl) in the
142 'compile' script in the same way the (compatible) Microsoft C
143 Compiler is supported.
145 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
149 * Improvements and refactorings in the install-sh script:
151 - It has been modernized, and now makes the following assumptions
153 (1) a working 'dirname' program is available;
154 (2) the ${var:-value} shell parameters substitution works;
155 (3) the "set -f" and "set +f" shell commands work, and, respectively,
156 disable and enable shell globbing.
158 - The script implements stricter error checking, and now it complains
159 and bails out if any of the following expectations is not met:
160 (1) the options -d and -t are never used together;
161 (2) the argument passed to option -t is a directory;
162 (3) if there are two or more SOURCEFILE arguments, the
163 DESTINATION argument must be a directory.
165 * Automake-generated testsuites:
167 - The default test-driver used by the Automake-generated testsuites
168 now appends the result and exit status of each "plain" test to the
169 associated log file (automake bug#11814).
171 - The perl implementation of the TAP testsuite driver is no longer
172 installed in the Automake's scripts directory, and is instead just
173 distributed as a "contrib" addition. There should be no reason to
174 use this implementation anyway in real packages, since the awk+shell
175 implementation of the TAP driver (which is documented in the manual)
176 is more portable and has feature parity with the perl implementation.
178 - The rule generating 'test-suite.log' no longer risk incurring in an
179 extra useless "make all" recursive invocation in some corner cases
180 (automake bug#16302).
184 - Automake bug#18286: "make distcheck" could sometimes fail to detect
185 files missing from the distribution tarball, especially in those cases
186 where both the generated files and their dependencies are explicitly
187 in $(srcdir). An important example of this are *generated* makefile
188 fragments included at Automake time in Makefile.am; e.g.:
191 $(srcdir)/fragment.am: $(srcdir)/data.txt $(srcdir)/preproc.sh
192 cd $(srcdir) && $(SHELL) preproc.sh <data.txt >fragment.am
193 include $(srcdir)/fragment.am
196 If the use forgot to add data.txt and/or preproc.sh in the distribution
197 tarball, "make distcheck" would have erroneously succeeded! This issue
200 - As a consequence of the previous change, "make distcheck" will run
201 using '$(distdir)/_build/sub' as the build directory, rather than
202 simply '$(distdir)/_build' (as it was the case for Automake 1.14 and
203 earlier). Consequently, the './configure' and 'make' invocations
204 issued by the distcheck recipe now have $(srcdir) equal to '../..',
205 rather than to just '..'. Dependent and similar variables (e.g.,
206 '$(top_srcdir)') are also changed accordingly.
208 Thus, Makefiles that made assumptions about the exact values of the
209 build and source directories used by "make distcheck" will have to
210 be adjusted. Notice that making such assumptions was a bad and
211 unsupported practice anyway, since the exact locations of those
212 directories should be considered implementation details, and we
213 reserve the right to change them at any time.
215 * Miscellaneous bugs fixed:
217 - The expansion of AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE ends once again with a trailing
218 newline (bug#16841). Regression introduced in Automake 1.14.
220 - We no longer risk to use '$ac_aux_dir' before it's defined (see
221 automake bug#15981). Bug introduced in Automake 1.14.
223 - The code used to detect whether the currently used make is GNU make
224 or not (relying on the private macro 'am__is_gnu_make') no longer
225 risks causing "Arg list too long" for projects using automatic
226 dependency tracking and having a ton of source files (bug#18744).
228 - Automake tries to offer a more deterministic output for generated
229 Makefiles, in the face of the newly-introduced randomization for
230 hash keys order in Perl 5.18.
232 - In older Automake versions, if a user defined one single Makefile
233 fragment (say 'foo.am') to be included via Automake includes in
234 his main Makefile.am, and defined a custom make rule to generate that
235 file from other data, Automake used to spuriously complain with some
236 message like "... overrides Automake target '$(srcdir)/foo.am".
237 This bug is now fixed.
239 - The user can now extend the special .PRECIOUS target, the same way
240 he could already do with the .MAKE .and .PHONY targets.
242 - Some confusing typos have been fixed in the manual and in few warning
243 messages (automake bug#16827 and bug#16997).
245 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
251 - The user is no longer allowed to override the --srcdir nor the --prefix
252 configure options used by "make distcheck" (bug#14991).
254 - Fixed a gross inefficiency in the recipes for installing byte-compiled
255 python files, that was causing an O(N^2) performance on the number N of
256 files, instead of the expected O(N) performance. Note that this bug
257 was only relevant when the number of python files was high (which is
258 unusual in practice).
260 - Automake try to offer a more deterministic output for warning messages,
261 in the face of the newly-introduced randomization for hash keys order
264 - The 'test-driver' script now actually error out with a clear error
265 message on the most common invalid usages.
267 - Several spurious failures/hangs in the testsuite (bugs #14706, #14707,
268 #14760, #14911, #15181, #15237).
270 * Documentation fixes:
272 - Fixed typos in the 'fix-timestamp.sh' example script that made it
275 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
279 * C compilation, and the AC_PROG_CC and AM_PROG_CC_C_O macros:
281 - The 'compile' script is now unconditionally required for all packages
282 that perform C compilation (if you are using the '--add-missing'
283 option, automake will fetch that script for you, so you shouldn't
284 need any explicit adjustment). This new behaviour is needed to avoid
285 obscure errors when the 'subdir-objects' option is used, and the
286 compiler is an inferior one that doesn't grasp the combined use of
287 both the "-c -o" options; see discussion about automake bug#13378 for
289 <https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=13378#35>
290 <https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=13378#44>
292 - The next major Automake version (2.0) will unconditionally activate
293 the 'subdir-objects' option. In order to smooth out the transition,
294 we now give a warning (in the category 'unsupported') whenever a
295 source file is present in a subdirectory but the 'subdir-object' is
296 not enabled. For example, the following usage will trigger such a
299 bin_PROGRAMS = sub/foo
300 sub_foo_SOURCES = sub/main.c sub/bar.c
302 - Automake will automatically enhance the autoconf-provided macro
303 AC_PROG_CC to force it to check, at configure time, that the
304 C compiler supports the combined use of both the '-c' and '-o'
305 options. The result of this check is saved in the cache variable
306 'am_cv_prog_cc_c_o', and said result can be overridden by
307 pre-defining that variable.
309 - The AM_PROG_CC_C_O macro can still be called, albeit that should no
310 longer be necessary. This macro is now just a thin wrapper around the
311 Automake-enhanced AC_PROG_CC. This means, among the other things,
312 that its behaviour is changed in three ways:
314 1. It no longer invokes the Autoconf-provided AC_PROG_CC_C_O
315 macro behind the scenes.
317 2. It caches the check result in the 'am_cv_prog_cc_c_o' variable,
318 and not in a 'ac_cv_prog_cc_*_c_o' variable whose exact name is
319 dynamically computed only at configure runtime (really!) from
320 the content of the '$CC' variable.
322 3. It no longer automatically AC_DEFINE the C preprocessor
323 symbol 'NO_MINUS_C_MINUS_O'.
327 - Automake can now be instructed to place '.info' files generated from
328 Texinfo input in the builddir rather than in the srcdir; this is done
329 specifying the new automake option 'info-in-builddir'. This feature
330 was requested by the developers of GCC, GDB, GNU binutils and the GNU
331 bfd library. See the extensive discussion about automake bug#11034
334 - For quite a long time, Automake has been implementing an undocumented
335 hack which ensured that '.info' files which appeared to be cleaned
336 (by being listed in the CLEANFILES or DISTCLEANFILES variables) were
337 built in the builddir rather than in the srcdir; this hack was
338 introduced to ensure better backward-compatibility with package
339 such as Texinfo, which do things like:
341 info_TEXINFOS = texinfo.txi info-stnd.texi info.texi
342 DISTCLEANFILES = texinfo texinfo-* info*.info*
343 # Do not create info files for distribution.
347 in order not to distribute generated '.info' files.
349 Now that we have the 'info-in-builddir' option that explicitly causes
350 generated '.info' files to be placed in the builddir, this hack should
351 be longer necessary, so we deprecate it with runtime warnings.
352 It will be removed altogether in Automake 2.0.
354 * Relative directory in Makefile fragments:
356 - The special Automake-time substitutions '%reldir%' and '%canon_reldir%'
357 (and their short versions, '%D%' and '%C%' respectively) can now be used
358 in an included Makefile fragment. The former is substituted with the
359 relative directory of the included fragment (compared to the top-level
360 including Makefile), and the latter with the canonicalized version of
361 the same relative directory.
364 bin_PROGRAMS = # will be updated by included Makefile fragments
365 include src/Makefile.inc
367 # in 'src/Makefile.inc':
368 bin_PROGRAMS += %reldir%/foo
369 %canon_reldir%_foo_SOURCES = %reldir%/bar.c
371 This should be especially useful for packages using a non-recursive
374 * Deprecated distribution formats:
376 - The 'shar' and 'compress' distribution formats are deprecated, and
377 scheduled for removal in Automake 2.0. Accordingly, the use of the
378 'dist-shar' and 'dist-tarZ' will cause warnings at automake runtime
379 (in the 'obsolete' category), and the recipes of the Automake-generated
380 targets 'dist-shar' and 'dist-tarZ' will unconditionally display
381 (non-fatal) warnings at make runtime.
383 * New configure runtime warnings about "rm -f" support:
385 - To simplify transition to Automake 2.0, the shell code expanded by
386 AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE now checks (at configure runtime) that the default
387 'rm' program in PATH doesn't complain when called without any
388 non-option argument if the '-f' option is given (so that commands like
389 "rm -f" and "rm -rf" act as a no-op, instead of raising usage errors).
390 If this is not the case, the configure script is aborted, to call the
391 attention of the user on the issue, and invite him to fix his PATH.
392 The checked 'rm' behavior is very widespread in the wild, and will be
393 required by future POSIX versions:
395 <http://austingroupbugs.net/view.php?id=542>
397 The user can still force the configure process to complete even in the
398 presence of a broken 'rm' by defining the ACCEPT_INFERIOR_RM_PROGRAM
399 environment variable to "yes". And the generated Makefiles should
400 still work correctly even when such broken 'rm' is used. But note
401 that this will no longer be the case with Automake 2.0 though, so, if
402 you encounter the warning, please report it to us ASAP (and try to fix
403 your environment as well).
405 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
411 - Fix a minor regression introduced in Automake 1.13.3: when two or more
412 user-defined suffix rules were present in a single Makefile.am,
413 automake would needlessly include definition of some make variables
414 related to C compilation in the generated Makefile.in (bug#14560).
416 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
420 * Documentation fixes:
422 - The documentation no longer mistakenly reports that the obsolete
423 'AM_MKDIR_PROG_P' macro and '$(mkdir_p)' make variable are going
424 to be removed in Automake 2.0.
428 - Byte-compilation of Emacs lisp files could fail spuriously on
429 Solaris, when /bin/ksh or /usr/xpg4/bin/sh were used as shell.
431 - If the same user-defined suffixes were transformed into different
432 Automake-known suffixes in different Makefile.am files in the same
433 project, automake could get confused and generate inconsistent
434 Makefiles (automake bug#14441).
435 For example, if 'Makefile.am' contained a ".ext.cc:" suffix rule,
436 and 'sub/Makefile.am' contained a ".ext.c:" suffix rule, automake
437 would have mistakenly placed into 'Makefile.in' rules to compile
438 "*.c" files into object files, and into 'sub/Makefile.in' rules to
439 compile "*.cc" files into object files --- rather than the other
440 way around. This is now fixed.
444 - The test cases no longer have the executable bit set. This should
445 make it clear that they are not meant to be run directly; as
446 explained in t/README, they can only be run through the custom
447 'runtest' script, or by a "make check" invocation.
449 - The testsuite has seen the introduction of a new helper function
450 'run_make', and several related changes. These serve a two-fold
453 1. Remove brittleness due to the use of "make -e" in test cases.
455 2. Seamlessly allow the use of parallel make ("make -j...") in the
456 test cases, even where redirection of make output is involved
457 (see automake bug#11413 for a description of the subtle issues
460 - Several spurious failures have been fixed (they hit especially
461 MinGW/MSYS builds). See automake bugs #14493, #14494, #14495,
462 #14498, #14499, #14500, #14501, #14517 and #14528.
464 - Some other minor miscellaneous changes and fixlets.
466 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
470 * Documentation fixes:
472 - The long-deprecated but still supported two-arguments invocation form
473 of AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE is documented once again. This seems the sanest
474 thing to do, given that support for such usage might need to remain
475 in place for an unspecified amount of time in order to cater to people
476 who want to define the version number for their package dynamically at
477 configure runtime (unfortunately, Autoconf does not yet support this
478 scenario, so we cannot delegate the work to it).
480 - The serial testsuite harness is no longer reported as "deprecated",
481 but as "discouraged". We have no plan to remove it, nor to make its
482 use cause runtime warnings.
484 - The parallel testsuite is no longer reported as "experimental"; it
485 is well tested, and should be stable now.
487 - The 'shar' and 'tarZ' distribution formats and the 'dist-shar' and
488 'dist-tarZ' options are obsolescent, and their use is deprecated
489 in the documentation.
491 - Other minor miscellaneous fixes and improvements; in particular,
492 some improvements in cross-references.
494 * Obsolescent features:
496 - Use of suffix-less info files (that can be specified through the
497 '@setfilename' macro in Texinfo input files) is discouraged, and
498 its use will raise warnings in the 'obsolete' category. Simply
499 use the '.info' extension for all your info files, transforming
502 @setfilename myprogram
506 @setfilename myprogram.info
508 - Use of Texinfo input files with '.txi' or '.texinfo' extensions
509 is discouraged, and its use will raise warnings in the 'obsolete'
510 category. You are advised to simply use the '.texi' extension
515 - When the 'ustar' option is used, the generated configure script no
516 longer risks hanging during the tests for the availability of the
517 'pax' utility, even if the user running configure has a UID or GID
518 that requires more than 21 bits to be represented.
519 See automake bug#8343 and bug#13588.
521 - The obsolete macros AM_CONFIG_HEADER or AM_PROG_CC_STDC work once
522 again, as they did in Automake 1.12.x (albeit printing runtime
523 warnings in the 'obsolete' category). Removing them has turned
524 out to be a very bad idea, because it complicated distro packing
525 enormously. Making them issue fatal warnings, as we did in
526 Automake 1.13, has turned out to be a similarly very bad idea,
527 for exactly the same reason.
529 - aclocal will no longer error out if the first local m4 directory
530 (as specified by the '-I' option or the 'AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIRS' or
531 'AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR' macros) doesn't exist; it will merely report
532 a warning in the 'unsupported' category. This is done to support
533 some pre-existing real-world usages. See automake bug#13514.
535 - aclocal will no longer consider directories for extra m4 files more
536 than once, even if they are specified multiple times. This ensures
537 packages that specify both
539 AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR([m4]) in configure.ac
540 ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS = -I m4 in Makefile.am
542 will work correctly, even when the 'm4' directory contains no
543 package-specific files, but is used only to install third-party
544 m4 files (as can happen with e.g., "libtoolize --install").
545 See automake bug#13514.
547 - Analysis of make flags in Automake-generated rules has been made more
548 robust, and more future-proof. For example, in presence of make that
549 (like '-I') take an argument, the characters in said argument will no
550 longer be spuriously considered as a set of additional make options.
551 In particular, automake-generated rules will no longer spuriously
552 believe to be running in dry mode ("make -n") if run with an invocation
553 like "make -I noob"; nor will they believe to be running in keep-going
554 mode ("make -k") if run with an invocation like "make -I kool"
555 (automake bug#12554).
557 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
563 - Use of the obsolete macros AM_CONFIG_HEADER or AM_PROG_CC_STDC now
564 causes a clear and helpful error message, instead of obscure ones
565 (issue introduced in Automake 1.13).
567 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
573 - ylwrap renames properly header guards in generated header files
574 (*.h), instead of leaving Y_TAB_H.
576 - ylwrap now also converts header guards in implementation files
577 (*.c). Because ylwrap failed to rename properly #include in the
578 implementation files, current versions of Bison (e.g., 2.7)
579 duplicate the generated header file in the implementation file.
580 The header guard then protects the implementation file from
581 duplicate definitions from the header file.
583 * Version requirements:
585 - Autoconf 2.65 or greater is now required.
587 - The rules to build PDF and DVI output from Texinfo input now
588 require Texinfo 4.9 or later.
592 - Support for the "Cygnus-style" trees (once enabled by the 'cygnus'
593 option) has been removed. See discussion about automake bug#11034
594 for more background: <https://debbugs.gnu.org/11034>.
596 - The deprecated aclocal option '--acdir' has been removed. You
597 should use the options '--automake-acdir' and '--system-acdir'
598 instead (which have been introduced in Automake 1.11.2).
600 - The following long-obsolete m4 macros have been removed:
602 AM_PROG_CC_STDC: superseded by AC_PROG_CC since October 2002
603 fp_PROG_CC_STDC: broken alias for AM_PROG_CC_STDC
604 fp_WITH_DMALLOC: old alias for AM_WITH_DMALLOC
605 AM_CONFIG_HEADER: superseded by AC_CONFIG_HEADERS since July 2002
606 ud_PATH_LISPDIR: old alias for AM_PATH_LISPDIR
607 jm_MAINTAINER_MODE: old alias for AM_MAINTAINER_MODE
608 ud_GNU_GETTEXT: old alias for AM_GNU_GETTEXT
609 gm_PROG_LIBTOOL: old alias for AC_PROG_LIBTOOL
610 fp_C_PROTOTYPES: old alias for AM_C_PROTOTYPES (which was part
611 of the now-removed automatic de-ANSI-fication
614 - All the "old alias" macros in 'm4/obsolete.m4' have been removed.
616 - Use of the long-deprecated two- and three-arguments invocation forms
617 of the AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE is no longer documented. It's still supported
618 though (albeit with a warning in the 'obsolete' category), to cater
619 for people who want to define the version number for their package
620 dynamically (e.g., from the current VCS revision). We'll have to
621 continue this support until Autoconf itself is fixed to allow better
622 support for such dynamic version numbers.
624 * Elisp byte-compilation:
626 - The byte compilation of '.el' files into '.elc' files is now done
627 with a suffix rule. This has simplified the compilation process, and
628 more importantly made it less brittle. The downside is that emacs is
629 now invoked once for each '.el' files, which cause some noticeable
630 slowdowns. These should however be mitigated on multicore machines
631 (which are becoming the norm today) if concurrent make ("make -j")
634 - Elisp files placed in a subdirectory are now byte-compiled to '.elc'
635 files in the same subdirectory; for example, byte-compiling of file
636 'sub/foo.el' file will result in 'sub/foo.elc' rather than in
637 'foo.elc'. This behaviour is backward-incompatible with older
638 Automake versions, but it is more natural and more sane. See also
641 - The Emacs invocation performing byte-compilation of '.el' files honors
642 the $(AM_ELCFLAGS) and $(ELCFLAGS) variables; as typical, the former
643 one is developer-reserved and the latter one user-reserved.
645 - The 'elisp-comp' script, once provided by Automake, has been rendered
646 obsoleted by the just-described changes, and thus removed.
648 * Changes to Automake-generated testsuite harnesses:
650 - The parallel testsuite harness (previously only enabled by the
651 'parallel-tests' option) is the default one; the older serial
652 testsuite harness will still be available through the use of the
653 'serial-tests' option (introduced in Automake 1.12).
655 - The 'color-tests' option is now unconditionally activated by default.
656 In particular, this means that testsuite output is now colorized by
657 default if the attached terminal seems to support ANSI escapes, and
658 that the user can force output colorization by setting the variable
659 AM_COLOR_TESTS to "always". The 'color-tests' is still recognized
660 for backward-compatibility, although it's a handled as a no-op now.
662 * Silent rules support:
664 - Support for silent rules is now always active in Automake-generated
665 Makefiles. So, although the verbose output is still the default,
666 the user can now always use "./configure --enable-silent-rules" or
667 "make V=0" to enable quieter output in the package he's building.
669 - The 'silent-rules' option has now become a no-op, preserved for
670 backward-compatibility only. In particular, its use no longer
671 disables the warnings in the 'portability-recursive' category.
675 - The rules to build PDF and DVI files from Texinfo input now require
676 Texinfo 4.9 or later.
678 - The rules to build PDF and DVI files from Texinfo input now use the
679 '--build-dir' option, to keep the auxiliary files used by texi2dvi
680 and texi2pdf around without cluttering the build directory, and to
681 make it possible to run the "dvi" and "pdf" recipes in parallel.
683 * Automatic remake rules and 'missing' script:
685 - The 'missing' script no longer tries to update the timestamp of
686 out-of-date files that require a maintainer-specific tool to be
687 remade, in case the user lacks such a tool (or has a too-old version
688 of it). It just gives a useful warning, and in some cases also a
689 tip about how to obtain such a tool.
691 - The missing script has thus become useless as a (poor) way to work
692 around the sketched-timestamps issues that can happen for projects
693 that keep generated files committed in their VCS repository. Such
694 projects are now encouraged to write a custom "fix-timestamps.sh"
695 script to avoid such issues; a simple example is provided in the
696 "CVS and generated files" chapter of the automake manual.
700 - The user can now define his own recursive targets that recurse
701 in the directories specified in $(SUBDIRS). This can be done by
702 specifying the name of such targets in invocations of the new
703 'AM_EXTRA_RECURSIVE_TARGETS' m4 macro.
707 - Any failure in the recipe of the "tags", "ctags", "cscope" or
708 "cscopelist" targets in a subdirectory is now propagated to the
709 top-level make invocation.
711 - Tags are correctly computed also for files in _SOURCES variables that
712 only list files with non-standard suffixes (see automake bug#12372).
714 * Improvements to aclocal and related rebuilds rules:
716 - Autoconf-provided macros AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR and AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIRS
717 are now traced by aclocal, and can be used to declare the local m4
718 include directories. Formerly, one had to specify it with an explicit
719 '-I' option to the 'aclocal' invocation.
721 - The special make variable ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS is deprecated; future
722 Automake versions will warn about its use, and later version will
723 remove support for it altogether.
725 * The depcomp script:
727 - Dropped support for libtool 1.4.
729 - Various internal refactorings. They should cause no visible change,
730 but the chance for regression is there anyway, so please report any
731 unexpected or suspicious behaviour.
733 - Support for pre-8.0 versions of the Intel C Compiler has been dropped.
734 This should cause no problem, since icc 8.0 has been released in
735 December 2003 -- almost nine years ago.
737 - Support for tcc (the Tiny C Compiler) has been improved, and is now
738 handled through a dedicated 'tcc' mode.
742 - ylwrap generates header guards with a single '_' for series of non
743 alphabetic characters, instead of several. This is what Bison >=
746 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
748 Bugs fixed in 1.12.6:
750 * Python-related bugs:
752 - The default installation location for python modules has been improved
753 for Python 3 on Debian and Ubuntu systems, changing from:
755 ${prefix}/lib/python3/dist-packages
759 ${prefix}/lib/python3.x/site-packages
761 This change should ensure modules installed using the default ${prefix}
762 "/usr/local" are found by default by system python 3.x installations.
763 See automake bug#10227.
765 - Python byte-compilation supports the new layout mandated by PEP-3147,
766 with its __pycache__ directory (automake bug#8847).
768 * Build system issues:
770 - The maintainer rebuild rules for Makefiles and aclocal.m4 in
771 Automake's own build system works correctly again (bug introduced
776 - The Vala-related tests has been changed to adjust to the removal of
777 the 'posix' profile in the valac compiler. See automake bug#12934
780 - Some spurious testsuite failures related to older tools and systems
783 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
789 - The AM_PROG_VALAC macro has been enhanced to takes two further
790 optional arguments; it's signature now being
792 AM_PROG_VALAC([MINIMUM-VERSION], [ACTION-IF-FOUND],
793 [ACTION-IF-NOT-FOUND])
795 - By default, AM_PROG_VALAC no longer aborts the configure invocation
796 if the Vala compiler found is too old, but simply prints a warning
797 messages (as it did when the Vala compiler was not found). This
798 should avoid unnecessary difficulties for end users that just want
799 to compile the unmodified, distributed Vala-generated C sources,
800 but happens to have an old Vala compiler in their PATH. This fixes
803 - If no proper Vala compiler is found at configure runtime, AM_PROG_VALAC
804 will set the AC_SUBST'd variable 'VALAC' to 'valac' rather than to ':'.
805 This is a better default, because with it a triggered makefile rule
806 invoking a Vala compilation will clearly fail with an informative error
807 message like "valac: command not found", rather than silently, with
808 the error possibly going unnoticed or triggering harder-to-diagnose
809 fallout failures in later steps.
811 * Miscellaneous changes:
813 - automake and aclocal no longer honours the 'perllibdir' environment
814 variable. That had always been intended only as an hack required in
815 the testsuite, not meant for any use beyond that.
817 Bugs fixed in 1.12.5:
819 * Long-standing bugs:
821 - Automake no longer generates spurious remake rules invoking autoheader
822 to regenerate the template corresponding to header files specified after
823 the first one in AC_CONFIG_HEADERS (automake bug#12495).
825 - When wrapping Microsoft tools, the 'compile' script falls back to
826 finding classic 'libname.a' style libraries when 'name.lib' and
827 'name.dll.lib' aren't available.
829 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
833 * Warnings and deprecations:
835 - Warnings in the 'obsolete' category are enabled by default both in
836 automake and aclocal.
838 * Miscellaneous changes:
840 - Some testsuite weaknesses and spurious failures have been fixed.
842 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
846 * Miscellaneous changes:
848 - The '.m4' files provided by Automake no longer define serial numbers.
849 This should cause no difference in the behaviour of aclocal though.
851 - Some testsuite weaknesses and spurious failures have been fixed.
853 - There is initial support for automatic dependency tracking with the
854 Portland Group C/C++ compilers, thanks to the new new depmode 'pgcc'.
856 Bugs fixed in 1.12.3:
858 * Long-standing bugs:
860 - Instead of renaming only self-references of files (typically for
861 #lines), ylwrap now also renames references to the other generated
862 files. This fixes support for GLR and C++ parsers from Bison (PR
863 automake/491 and automake bug#7648): 'parser.c' now properly
864 #includes 'parser.h' instead of 'y.tab.h'.
866 - Generated files unknown to ylwrap are now preserved. This fixes
867 C++ support for Bison (automake bug#7648): location.hh and the
868 like are no longer discarded.
870 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
874 * Warnings and deprecations:
876 - Automake now issues a warning (in the 'portability' category) if
877 'configure.in' is used instead of 'configure.ac' as the Autoconf
878 input file. Such a warning will also be present in the next
879 Autoconf version (2.70).
883 - Recursive cleaning rules descends into the $(SUBDIRS) in the natural
884 order (as done by the other recursive rules), rather than in the
885 inverse order. They used to do that in order to work a round a
886 limitation in an older implementation of the automatic dependency
887 tracking support, but that limitation had been lifted years ago
888 already, when the automatic dependency tracking based on side-effects
889 of compilation had been introduced.
891 - Cleaning rules for compiled objects (both "plain" and libtool) work
892 better when subdir objects are involved, not triggering a distinct
893 'rm' invocation for each such object. They do so by removing *any*
894 compiled object file that is in the same directory of a subdir
895 object. See automake bug#10697.
897 * Silent rules support:
899 - A new predefined $(AM_V_P) make variable is provided; it expands
900 to a shell conditional that can be used in recipes to know whether
901 make is being run in silent or verbose mode.
903 Bugs fixed in 1.12.2:
905 * SECURITY VULNERABILITIES!
907 - The 'distcheck' recipe no longer grants temporary world-write
908 permissions on the extracted distdir. Even if such rights were
909 only granted for a vanishingly small time window, the implied
910 race condition proved to be enough to allow a local attacker
911 to run arbitrary code with the privileges of the user running
912 "make distcheck". This is CVE-2012-3386.
914 * Long-standing bugs:
916 - The "recheck" targets behaves better in the face of build failures
917 related to previously failed tests. For example, if a test is a
918 compiled program that must be rerun by "make recheck", and its
919 compilation fails, it will still be rerun by further "make recheck"
920 invocations. See automake bug#11791.
922 * Bugs introduced by 1.12.1:
924 - Automake provides once again the '$(mkdir_p)' make variable and the
925 '@mkdir_p@' substitution (both as simple aliases for '$(MKDIR_P)'),
926 for better backward-compatibility.
928 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
932 * New supported languages:
934 - Support for Objective C++ has been added; it should work similarly to
935 the support for Objective C.
937 * Deprecated obsolescent features:
939 - Use of the long-deprecated two- and three-arguments invocation forms
940 of the AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE macro now elicits a warning in the 'obsolete'
941 category. Starting from some future major Automake release (likely
942 post-1.13), such usages will no longer be allowed.
944 - Support for the "Cygnus-style" trees (enabled by the 'cygnus' option) is
945 now deprecated (its use triggers a warning in the 'obsolete' category).
946 It will be removed in the next major Automake release (1.13).
948 - The long-obsolete (since 1.10) automake-provided $(mkdir_p) make
949 variable, @mkdir_p@ configure-time substitution and AM_PROG_MKDIR
950 m4 macro are deprecated, eliciting a warning in the 'obsolete'
953 * Miscellaneous changes:
955 - The Automake test cases now require a proper POSIX-conforming shell.
956 Older non-POSIX Bourne shells (like Solaris 10 /bin/sh) will no longer
957 be accepted. In most cases, the user shouldn't have to specify such
958 POSIX shell explicitly, since it will be looked up at configure time.
959 Still, when this lookup fails, or when the user wants to override its
960 conclusion, the variable 'AM_TEST_RUNNER_SHELL' can be used (pointing
961 to the shell that will be used to run the Automake test cases).
963 Bugs fixed in 1.12.1:
965 * Bugs introduced by 1.12:
967 - Several weaknesses in Automake's own build system and test suite
970 * Bugs introduced by 1.11.3:
972 - When given non-option arguments, aclocal rejects them, instead of
973 silently ignoring them.
975 * Long-standing bugs:
977 - When the 'color-tests' option is in use, forcing of colored testsuite
978 output through "AM_COLOR_TESTS=always" works even if the terminal is
979 a non-ANSI one, i.e., if the TERM environment variable has a value of
982 - Several inefficiencies and poor performances in the implementation
983 of the parallel-tests 'check' and 'recheck' targets have been fixed.
985 - The post-processing of output "#line" directives done the ylwrap
986 script is more faithful w.r.t. files in a subdirectory; for example,
987 if the processed file is "src/grammar.y", ylwrap will correctly
988 produce directives like:
989 #line 7 "src/grammar.y"
994 * Bugs with new Perl versions:
996 - Aclocal works correctly with perl 5.16.0 (automake bug#11543).
998 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1002 * Obsolete features removed:
1004 - The never documented nor truly used script 'acinstall' has been
1007 - Support for automatic de-ANSI-fication has been removed.
1009 - The support for the "obscure" multilib feature has been removed
1010 from Automake core (but remains available in the 'contrib/'
1011 directory of the Automake distribution).
1013 - Support for ".log -> .html" conversion and the check-html and
1014 recheck-html targets has been removed from Automake core (but
1015 remains available in the 'contrib/' directory of the Automake
1018 - The deprecated 'lzma' compression format for distribution archives
1019 has been removed, in favor of 'xz' and 'lzip'.
1021 - The obsolete AM_WITH_REGEX macro has been removed.
1023 - The long-deprecated options '--output-dir', '--Werror' and
1024 '--Wno-error' have been removed.
1026 - The chapter on the history of Automake has been moved out of the
1027 reference manual, into a new dedicated Texinfo file.
1031 - New 'cscope' target to build a cscope database for the source tree.
1033 * Changes to Automake-generated testsuite harnesses:
1035 - The new automake option 'serial-tests' has been introduced. It can
1036 be used to explicitly instruct automake to use the older serial
1037 testsuite harness. This is still the default at the moment, but it
1038 might change in future versions.
1040 - The 'recheck' target (provided by the parallel testsuite harness) now
1041 depends on the 'all' target. This allows for a better user-experience
1042 in test-driven development. See automake bug#11252.
1044 - Test scripts that exit with status 99 to signal an "hard error" (e.g.,
1045 and unexpected or internal error, or a failure to set up the test case
1046 scenario) have their outcome reported as an 'ERROR' now. Previous
1047 versions of automake reported such an outcome as a 'FAIL' (the only
1048 difference with normal failures being that hard errors were counted
1049 as failures even when the test originating them was listed in
1052 - The testsuite summary displayed by the parallel-test harness has a
1053 completely new format, that always list the numbers of passed, failed,
1054 xfailed, xpassed, skipped and errored tests, even when these numbers
1055 are zero (but using smart coloring when the color-tests option is in
1058 - The default testsuite driver offered by the 'parallel-tests' option is
1059 now implemented (partly at least) with the help of automake-provided
1060 auxiliary scripts (e.g., 'test-driver'), instead of relying entirely
1061 on code in the generated Makefile.in.
1062 This has two noteworthy implications. The first one is that projects
1063 using the 'parallel-tests' option should now either run automake with
1064 the '--add-missing' option, or manually copy the 'test-driver' script
1065 into their tree. The second, and more important, implication is that
1066 now, when the 'parallel-tests' option is in use, TESTS_ENVIRONMENT can
1067 no longer be used to define a test runner, and the command specified
1068 in LOG_COMPILER (and <ext>_LOG_COMPILER) must be a *real* executable
1069 program or script. For example, this is still a valid usage (albeit
1070 a little contorted):
1072 TESTS_ENVIRONMENT = \
1073 if test -n '$(STRICT_TESTS)'; then \
1074 maybe_errexit='-e'; \
1078 LOG_COMPILER = $(SHELL) $$maybe_errexit
1080 OTOH, this is no longer a valid usage:
1082 TESTS_ENVIRONMENT = \
1083 $(SHELL) `test -n '$(STRICT_TESTS_CHECKING)' && echo ' -e'`
1087 TESTS_ENVIRONMENT = \
1088 run_with_perl_or_shell () \
1090 if grep -q '^#!.*perl' $$1; then
1096 LOG_COMPILER = run_with_perl_or_shell
1098 - The package authors can now use customary testsuite drivers within
1099 the framework provided by the 'parallel-tests' testsuite harness.
1100 Consistently with the existing syntax, this can be done by defining
1101 special makefile variables 'LOG_DRIVER' and '<ext>_LOG_DRIVER'.
1103 - A new developer-reserved variable 'AM_TESTS_FD_REDIRECT' can be used
1104 to redirect/define file descriptors used by the test scripts.
1106 - The parallel-tests harness generates now, in addition the '.log' files
1107 holding the output produced by the test scripts, a new set of '.trs'
1108 files, holding "metadata" derived by the execution of the test scripts;
1109 among such metadata are the outcomes of the test cases run by a script.
1111 - Initial and still experimental support for the TAP test protocol is
1114 * Changes to Yacc and Lex support:
1116 - C source and header files derived from non-distributed Yacc and/or
1117 Lex sources are now removed by a simple "make clean" (while they were
1118 previously removed only by "make maintainer-clean").
1120 - Slightly backward-incompatible change, relevant only for use of Yacc
1121 with C++: the extensions of the header files produced by the Yacc
1122 rules are now modelled after the extension of the corresponding
1123 sources. For example, yacc files named "foo.y++" and "bar.yy" will
1124 produce header files named "foo.h++" and "bar.hh" respectively, where
1125 they would have previously produced header files named simply "foo.h"
1126 and "bar.h". This change offers better compatibility with 'bison -o'.
1128 * Miscellaneous changes:
1130 - The AM_PROG_VALAC macro now causes configure to exit with status 77,
1131 rather than 1, if the vala compiler found is too old.
1133 - The build system of Automake itself now avoids the use of make
1134 recursion as much as possible.
1136 - Automake now prefers to quote 'like this' or "like this", rather
1137 than `like this', in diagnostic message and generated Makefiles,
1138 to accommodate the new GNU Coding Standards recommendations.
1140 - Automake has a new option '--print-libdir' that prints the path of the
1141 directory containing the Automake-provided scripts and data files.
1143 - The 'dist' and 'dist-all' targets now can run compressors in parallel.
1145 - The rules to create pdf, dvi and ps output from Texinfo files now
1146 works better with modern 'texi2dvi' script, by explicitly passing
1147 it the '--clean' option to ensure stray auxiliary files are not
1148 left to clutter the build directory.
1150 - Automake can now generate silenced rules for texinfo outputs.
1152 - Some auxiliary files that are automatically distributed by Automake
1153 (e.g., 'install-sh', or the 'depcomp' script for packages compiling
1154 C sources) might now be listed in the DIST_COMMON variable in many
1155 Makefile.in files, rather than in the top-level one.
1157 - Messages of types warning or error from 'automake' and 'aclocal'
1158 are now prefixed with the respective type, and presence of -Werror
1161 - Automake's early configure-time sanity check now tries to avoid
1162 sleeping for a second, which slowed down cached configure runs
1163 noticeably. In that case, it will check back at the end of the
1164 configure script to ensure that at least one second has passed, to
1165 avoid time stamp issues with makefile rules rerunning autotools
1168 - The warnings in the category 'extra-portability' are now enabled by
1169 '-Wall'. In previous versions, one has to use '-Wextra-portability'
1174 - Various minor bugfixes for recent or long-standing bugs.
1176 * Bugs introduced by 1.11:
1178 - The AM_COND_IF macro also works if the shell expression for the
1179 conditional is no longer valid for the condition.
1181 - The automake-provided parallel testsuite harness no longer fails
1182 with BSD make used in parallel mode when there are test scripts in
1183 a subdirectory, like in:
1185 TESTS = sub/foo.test sub/bar.test
1187 * Long-standing bugs:
1189 - Automake's own build system finally have a real "installcheck" target.
1191 - Vala-related cleanup rules are now more complete, and work better in
1194 - Files listed with the AC_REQUIRE_AUX_FILE macro in configure.ac are
1195 now automatically distributed also if the directory of the auxiliary
1196 files coincides with the top-level directory.
1198 - Automake now detects the presence of the '-d' flag in the various
1199 '*YFLAGS' variables even when their definitions involve indirections
1200 through other variables, such as in:
1202 AM_YFLAGS = $(foo_opts)
1204 - Automake now complains if a '*YFLAGS' variable has any conditional
1205 content, not only a conditional definition.
1207 - Explicit enabling and/or disabling of Automake warning categories
1208 through the '-W...' options now always takes precedence over the
1209 implicit warning level implied by Automake strictness (foreign, gnu
1210 or gnits), regardless of the order in which such strictness and
1211 warning flags appear. For example, a setting like:
1212 AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = -Wall --foreign
1213 will cause the warnings in category 'portability' to be enabled, even
1214 if those warnings are by default disabled in 'foreign' strictness.
1216 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1218 Bugs fixed in 1.11.5:
1220 * Bugs introduced by 1.11.3:
1222 - Vala files with '.vapi' extension are now recognized and handled
1223 correctly again. See automake bug#11222.
1225 - Vala support work again for projects that contain some program
1226 built from '.vala' (and possibly '.c') sources and some other
1227 program built from '.c' sources *only*. See automake bug#11229.
1229 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1233 * Miscellaneous changes:
1235 - The 'ar-lib' script now ignores the "s" (symbol index) and "S" (no
1236 symbol index) modifiers as well as the "s" action, as the symbol index
1237 is created unconditionally by Microsoft lib. Also, the "q" (quick)
1238 action is now a synonym for "r" (replace). Also, the script has been
1239 ignoring the "v" (verbose) modifier already since Automake 1.11.3.
1241 - When the 'compile' script is used to wrap MSVC, it now accepts an
1242 optional space between the -I, -L and -l options and their respective
1243 arguments, for better POSIX compliance.
1245 - There is an initial, experimental support for automatic dependency
1246 tracking with tcc (the Tiny C Compiler). Its associated depmode is
1247 currently recognized as "icc" (but this and other details are likely
1248 to change in future versions).
1250 - Automatic dependency tracking now works also with the IBM XL C/C++
1251 compilers, thanks to the new new depmode 'xlc'.
1253 Bugs fixed in 1.11.4:
1255 * Bugs introduced by 1.11.2:
1257 - A definition of 'noinst_PYTHON' before 'python_PYTHON' (or similar)
1258 no longer cause spurious failures upon "make install".
1260 - The user can now instruct the 'uninstall-info' rule not to update
1261 the '${infodir}/dir' file by exporting the environment variable
1262 'AM_UPDATE_INFO_DIR' to the value "no". This is done for consistency
1263 with how the 'install-info' rule operates since automake 1.11.2.
1265 * Long-standing bugs:
1267 - It is now possible for a foo_SOURCES variable to hold Vala sources
1268 together with C header files, as well as with sources and headers for
1269 other supported languages (e.g., C++). Previously, only mixing C and
1270 Vala sources was supported.
1272 - If "aclocal --install" is used, and the first directory specified with
1273 '-I' is non-existent, aclocal will now create it before trying to copy
1276 - An empty declaration of a "foo_PRIMARY" no longer cause the generated
1277 install rules to create an empty $(foodir) directory; for example, if
1278 Makefile.am contains something like:
1280 pkglibexec_SCRIPTS =
1282 pkglibexec_SCRIPTS += bar.sh
1285 the $(pkglibexec) directory will not be created upon "make install".
1287 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1291 * Miscellaneous changes:
1293 - Automake's own build system is more silent by default, making use of
1294 the 'silent-rules' option.
1296 - The master copy of the 'gnupload' script is now maintained in gnulib,
1299 - The 'missing' script no longer tries to wrap calls to 'tar'.
1301 - "make dist" no longer wraps 'tar' invocations with the 'missing'
1302 script. Similarly, the obsolescent variable '$(AMTAR)' (which you
1303 shouldn't be using BTW ;-) no longer invokes the 'missing' script
1304 to wrap tar, but simply invokes the 'tar' program itself.
1306 - "make dist" can now create lzip-compressed tarballs.
1308 - In the Automake info documentation, the Top node and the nodes about
1309 the invocation of the automake and aclocal programs have been renamed;
1310 now, calling "info automake" will open the Top node, while calling
1311 "info automake-invocation" and "info aclocal-invocation" will access
1312 the nodes about the invocation of respectively automake and aclocal.
1314 - Automake is now distributed as a gzip-compressed and an xz-compressed
1315 tarball. Previously, bzip2 was used instead of xz.
1317 - The last relics of Python 1.5 support have been removed from the
1318 AM_PATH_PYTHON macro.
1320 - For programs and libraries, automake now detects EXTRA_foo_DEPENDENCIES
1321 and adds them to the normal list of dependencies, but without
1322 overwriting the foo_DEPENDENCIES variable, which is normally computed
1325 Bugs fixed in 1.11.3:
1327 * Bugs introduced by 1.11.2:
1329 - Automake now correctly recognizes the prefix/primary combination
1330 'pkglibexec_SCRIPTS' as valid.
1332 - The parallel-tests harness no longer trips on sed implementations
1333 with stricter limits on the length of input lines (problem seen at
1334 least on Solaris 8).
1336 * Long-standing bugs:
1338 - The "deleted header file problem" for *.am files is avoided by stub
1339 rules. This allows 'make' to trigger a rerun of 'automake' also if
1340 some previously needed '.am' file has been removed.
1342 - The 'silent-rules' option now generates working makefiles even
1343 for the uncommon 'make' implementations that do not support the
1344 nested-variables extension to POSIX 2008. For such 'make'
1345 implementations, whether a build is silent is determined at
1346 configure time, and cannot be overridden at make time with
1347 "make V=0" or "make V=1".
1349 - Vala support now works better in VPATH setups.
1351 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1355 * Changes to aclocal:
1357 - The `--acdir' option is deprecated. Now you should use the new options
1358 `--automake-acdir' and `--system-acdir' instead.
1360 - The `ACLOCAL_PATH' environment variable is now interpreted as a
1361 colon-separated list of additional directories to search after the
1362 automake internal acdir (by default ${prefix}/share/aclocal-APIVERSION)
1363 and before the system acdir (by default ${prefix}/share/aclocal).
1365 * Miscellaneous changes:
1367 - The Automake support for automatic de-ANSI-fication has been
1368 deprecated. It will probably be removed in the next major Automake
1371 - The `lzma' compression scheme and associated automake option `dist-lzma'
1372 is obsoleted by `xz' and `dist-xz' due to upstream changes.
1374 - You may adjust the compression options used in dist-xz and dist-bzip2.
1375 The default is now merely -e for xz, but still -9 for bzip; you may
1376 specify a different level via the XZ_OPT and BZIP2 envvars respectively.
1377 E.g., "make dist-xz XZ_OPT=-7" or "make dist-bzip2 BZIP2=-5"
1379 - The `compile' script now converts some options for MSVC for a better
1380 user experience. Similarly, the new `ar-lib' script wraps Microsoft lib.
1382 - The py-compile script now accepts empty arguments passed to the options
1383 `--destdir' and `--basedir', and complains about unrecognized options.
1384 Moreover, a non-option argument or a special `--' argument terminates
1385 the list of options.
1387 - A developer that needs to pass specific flags to configure at "make
1388 distcheck" time can now, and indeed is advised to, do so by defining
1389 the developer-reserved makefile variable AM_DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS,
1390 instead of the old DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS.
1391 The DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS variable should now be reserved for the
1392 user; still, the old Makefile.am files that used to define it will
1393 still continue to work as before.
1395 - New macro AM_PROG_AR that looks for an archiver and wraps it in the new
1396 'ar-lib' auxiliary script if the selected archiver is Microsoft lib.
1397 This new macro is required for LIBRARIES and LTLIBRARIES when automake
1398 is run with -Wextra-portability and -Werror.
1400 - When using DejaGnu-based testsuites, the user can extend the `site.exp'
1401 file generated by automake-provided rules by defining the special make
1402 variable `$(EXTRA_DEJAGNU_SITE_CONFIG)'.
1404 - The `install-info' rule can now be instructed not to create/update
1405 the `${infodir}/dir' file, by exporting the new environment variable
1406 `AM_UPDATE_INFO_DIR' to the value "no".
1408 Bugs fixed in 1.11.2:
1410 * Bugs introduced by 1.11:
1412 - The parallel-tests driver no longer produces erroneous results with
1413 Tru64/OSF 5.1 sh upon unreadable log files.
1415 - The `parallel-tests' test driver does not report spurious successes
1416 when used with concurrent FreeBSD make (e.g., "make check -j3").
1418 - When the parallel-tests driver is in use, automake now explicitly
1419 rejects invalid entries and conditional contents in TEST_EXTENSIONS,
1420 instead of issuing confusing and apparently unrelated error messages
1421 (e.g., "non-POSIX variable name", "bad characters in variable name",
1422 or "redefinition of TEST_EXTENSIONS), or even, in some situations,
1423 silently producing broken `Makefile.in' files.
1425 - The `silent-rules' option now truly silences all compile rules, even
1426 when dependency tracking is disabled. Also, when `silent-rules' is
1427 not used, `make' output no longer contains spurious backslash-only
1428 lines, thus once again matching what Automake did before 1.11.
1430 - The AM_COND_IF macro also works if the shell expression for the
1431 conditional is no longer valid for the condition.
1433 * Long-standing bugs:
1435 - The order of Yacc and Lex flags is fixed to be consistent with other
1436 languages: $(AM_YFLAGS) comes before $(YFLAGS), and $(AM_LFLAGS) before
1437 $(LFLAGS), so that the user variables override the developer variables.
1439 - "make distcheck" now correctly complains also when "make uninstall"
1440 leaves one and only one file installed in $(prefix).
1442 - A "make uninstall" issued before a "make install", or after a mere
1443 "make install-data" or a mere "make install-exec" does not spuriously
1446 - Automake now warns about more primary/directory invalid combinations,
1447 such as "doc_LIBRARIES" or "pkglib_PROGRAMS".
1449 - Rules generated by Automake now try harder to not change any files when
1450 `make -n' is invoked. Fixes include compilation of Emacs Lisp, Vala, or
1451 Yacc source files and the rule to update config.h.
1453 - Several scripts and the parallel-tests testsuite driver now exit with
1454 the right exit status upon receiving a signal.
1456 - A per-Makefile.am setting of -Werror does not erroneously carry over
1457 to the handling of other Makefile.am files.
1459 - The code for automatic dependency tracking works around a Solaris
1460 make bug triggered by sources containing repeated slashes when the
1461 `subdir-objects' option was used.
1463 - The makedepend and hp depmodes now work better with VPATH builds.
1465 - Java sources specified with check_JAVA are no longer compiled for
1466 "make all", but only for "make check".
1468 - An usage like "java_JAVA = foo.java" will now cause Automake to warn
1469 and error out if `javadir' is undefined, instead of silently producing
1470 a broken Makefile.in.
1472 - aclocal and automake now honour the configure-time definitions of
1473 AUTOCONF and AUTOM4TE when they spawn autoconf or autom4te processes.
1475 - The `install-info' recipe no longer tries to guess whether the
1476 `install-info' program is from Debian or from GNU, and adaptively
1477 change its behaviour; this has proven to be frail and easy to
1480 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1482 Bugs fixed in 1.11.1:
1484 - Lots of minor bugfixes.
1486 * Bugs introduced by 1.11:
1488 - The `parallel-tests' test driver works around a GNU make 3.80 bug with
1489 trailing white space in the test list (`TESTS = foo $(EMPTY)').
1491 * Long standing bugs:
1493 - On Darwin 9, `pythondir' and `pyexecdir' pointed below `/Library/Python'
1494 even if the `--prefix' argument pointed outside of a system directory.
1495 AM_PATH_PYTHON has been fixed to ignore the value returned from python's
1496 `get_python_lib' function if it points outside the configured prefix,
1497 unless the `--prefix' argument was either `/usr' or below `/System'.
1499 - The testsuite does not try to change the mode of `ltmain.sh' files from
1500 a Libtool installation (symlinked to test directories) any more.
1502 - AM_PROG_GCJ uses AC_CHECK_TOOLS to look for `gcj' now, so that prefixed
1503 tools are preferred in a cross-compile setup.
1505 - The distribution is tarred up with mode 755 now by the `dist*' targets.
1506 This fixes a race condition where untrusted users could modify files
1507 in the $(PACKAGE)-$(VERSION) distdir before packing if the toplevel
1508 build directory was world-searchable. This is CVE-2009-4029.
1510 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1514 * Version requirements:
1516 - Autoconf 2.62 or greater is required.
1518 * Changes to aclocal:
1520 - The autoconf version check implemented by aclocal in aclocal.m4
1521 (and new in Automake 1.10) is degraded to a warning. This helps
1522 in the common case where the Autoconf versions used are compatible.
1524 * Changes to automake:
1526 - The automake program can run multiple threads for creating most
1527 Makefile.in files concurrently, if at least Perl 5.7.2 is available
1528 with interpreter-based threads enabled. Set the environment variable
1529 AUTOMAKE_JOBS to the maximum number of threads to use, in order to
1530 enable this experimental feature.
1532 * Changes to Libtool support:
1534 - Libtool generic flags are now passed to the install and uninstall
1537 - distcheck works with Libtool 2.x even when LT_OUTPUT is used, as
1538 config.lt is removed correctly now.
1540 * Languages changes:
1542 - subdir-object mode works now with Fortran (F77, FC, preprocessed
1543 Fortran, and Ratfor).
1545 - For files with extension .f90, .f95, .f03, or .f08, the flag
1546 $(FCFLAGS_f[09]x) computed by AC_FC_SRCEXT is now used in compile rules.
1548 - Files with extension .sx are also treated as preprocessed assembler.
1550 - The default source file extension (.c) can be overridden with
1551 AM_DEFAULT_SOURCE_EXT now.
1553 - Python 3.0 is supported now, Python releases prior to 2.0 are no
1556 - AM_PATH_PYTHON honors python's idea about the site directory.
1558 - There is initial support for the Vala programming language, when using
1559 Vala 0.7.0 or later.
1561 * Miscellaneous changes:
1563 - Automake development is done in a git repository on Savannah now, see
1565 https://git.sv.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=automake.git
1567 A read-only CVS mirror is provided at
1569 cvs -d :pserver:anonymous@pserver.git.sv.gnu.org:/automake.git \
1570 checkout -d automake HEAD
1572 - "make dist" can now create xz-compressed tarballs,
1573 as well as (deprecated?) lzma-compressed tarballs.
1575 - `automake --add-missing' will by default install the GPLv3 file as
1576 COPYING if it is missing. It will also warn that the license file
1577 should be added to source control. Note that Automake will never
1578 overwrite an existing COPYING file, even when the `--force-missing'
1581 - The manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL 1.3.
1583 - Automake ships and installs man pages for automake and aclocal now.
1585 - New shorthand `$(pkglibexecdir)' for `$(libexecdir)/@PACKAGE@'.
1587 - install-sh supports -C, which does not update the installed file
1588 (and its time stamps) if the contents did not change.
1590 - The `gnupload' script has been revamped.
1592 - The `depcomp' and `compile' scripts now work with MSVC under MSYS.
1594 - The targets `install' and `uninstall' are more efficient now, in that
1595 for example multiple files from one Automake variable such as
1596 `bin_SCRIPTS' are copied in one `install' (or `libtool --mode=install')
1597 invocation if they do not have to be renamed.
1599 Both install and uninstall may sometimes enter (`cd' into) the target
1600 installation directory now, when no build-local scripts are used.
1602 Both install and uninstall do not fail anymore but do nothing if an
1603 installation directory variable like `bindir' is set to the empty string.
1605 For built-in rules, `make install' now fails reliably if installation
1606 of a file failed. Conversely, `make uninstall' even succeeds when
1607 issued multiple times.
1609 These changes may need some adjustments from users: For example,
1610 some `install' programs refuse to install multiple copies of the
1611 same file in one invocation, so you may need to remove duplicate
1612 entries from file lists.
1614 Also, within one set of files, say, nobase_data_DATA, the order of
1615 installation may be changed, or even unstable among different hosts,
1616 due to the use of associative arrays in awk. The increased use of
1617 awk matches a similar move in Autoconf to provide for better scaling.
1619 Further, most undocumented per-rule install command variables such as
1620 binSCRIPT_INSTALL have been removed because they are not needed any
1621 more. Packages which use them should be using the appropriate one of
1622 INSTALL_{DATA,PROGRAM,SCRIPT} or their install_sh_{DATA,PROGRAM,SCRIPT}
1623 counterpart, depending on the type of files and the need for automatic
1624 target directory creation.
1626 - The "deleted header file problem" for *.m4 files is avoided by
1627 stub rules. This allows `make' to trigger a rerun of `aclocal'
1628 also if some previously needed macro file has been removed.
1630 - Rebuild rules now also work for a removed `subdir/Makefile.in' in
1631 an otherwise up to date tree.
1633 - The `color-tests' option causes colored test result output on terminals.
1635 - The `parallel-tests' option enables a new test driver that allows for
1636 parallel test execution, inter-test dependencies, lazy test execution
1637 for unit-testing, re-testing only failed tests, and formatted result output
1638 as RST (reStructuredText) and HTML. Enabling this option may require some
1639 changes to your test suite setup; see the manual for details.
1641 - The `silent-rules' option enables Linux kernel-style silent build output.
1642 This option requires the widely supported but non-POSIX `make' feature
1643 of recursive variable expansion, so do not use it if your package needs
1644 to build with `make' implementations that do not support it.
1646 To enable less verbose build output, the developer has to use the Automake
1647 option `silent-rules' in `AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE', or call the `AM_SILENT_RULES'
1648 macro. The user may then set the default verbosity by passing the
1649 `--enable-silent-rules' option to `configure'. At `make' run time, this
1650 default may be overridden using `make V=0' for less verbose, and `make V=1'
1651 for backward-compatible verbose output.
1653 - New prefix `notrans_' for manpages which should not be transformed
1654 by --program-transform.
1656 - New macro AM_COND_IF for conditional evaluation and conditional
1659 - For AC_CONFIG_LINKS, if source and destination are equal, do not
1660 remove the file in a non-VPATH build. Such setups work with Autoconf
1663 - AM_MAINTAINER_MODE now allows for an optional argument specifying
1664 the default setting.
1666 - AM_SUBST_NOTMAKE may prevent substitution of AC_SUBSTed variables,
1667 useful especially for multi-line values.
1669 - Automake's early configure-time sanity check now diagnoses an
1670 unsafe absolute source directory name and makes configure fail.
1672 - The Automake macros and rules cope better with whitespace in the
1673 current directory name, as long as the relative path to `configure'
1674 does not contain whitespace. To this end, the values of `$(MISSING)'
1675 and `$(install_sh)' may contain suitable quoting, and their expansion
1676 might need `eval'uation if used outside of a makefile. These
1677 undocumented variables may be used in several documented macros such
1678 as $(AUTOCONF) or $(MAKEINFO).
1682 * Long-standing bugs:
1684 - Fix aix dependency tracking for libtool objects.
1686 - Work around AIX sh quoting issue in AC_PROG_CC_C_O, leading to
1687 unnecessary use of the `compile' script.
1689 - For nobase_*_LTLIBRARIES with nonempty directory components, the
1690 correct `-rpath' argument is used now.
1692 - `config.status --file=Makefile depfiles' now also works with the
1693 extra quoting used internally by Autoconf 2.62 and newer
1694 (it used to work only without the `--file=' bit).
1696 - The `missing' script works better with versioned tool names.
1698 - Semantics for `missing help2man' have been revamped:
1700 Previously, if `help2man' was not present, `missing help2man' would have
1701 the following semantics: if some man page was out of date but present, then
1702 a warning would be printed, but the exit status was 0. If the man page was
1703 not present at all, then `missing' would create a replacement man page
1704 containing an error message, and exit with a status of 2. This does not play
1705 well with `make': the next run will see this particular man page as being up
1706 to date, and will only error out on the next generated man page, if any;
1707 repeat until all pages are done. This was not desirable.
1709 These are the new semantics: if some man page is not present, and help2man
1710 is not either, then `missing' will warn and generate the replacement page
1711 containing the error message, but exit successfully. However, `make dist'
1712 will ensure that no such bogus man pages are packaged into a tarball.
1714 - Targets provided by automake behave better with `make -n', in that they
1715 take care not to create files.
1717 - `config.status Makefile... depfiles' works fine again in the presence of
1718 disabled dependency tracking.
1720 - The default no-op recursive rules for these targets also work with BSD make
1721 now: html, install-html, install-dvi, install-pdf, install-pdf, install-info.
1723 - `make distcheck' works also when both a directory and some file below it
1724 have been added to a distribution variable, such as EXTRA_DIST or *_SOURCES.
1726 - Texinfo dvi, ps, pdf, and html output files are not removed upon
1727 `make mostlyclean' any more; only the LaTeX by-products are.
1729 - Renamed objects also work with the `subdir-objects' option and
1730 source file languages which Automake does not know itself.
1732 - `automake' now correctly complains about variable assignments which are
1733 preceded by a comment, extend over multiple lines with backslash-escaped
1734 newlines, and end in a comment sign. Previous versions would silently
1735 and wrongly ignore such assignments completely.
1737 * Bugs introduced by 1.10:
1739 - Fix output of dummy dependency files in presence of post-processed
1740 Makefile.in's again, but also cope with long lines.
1742 - $(EXEEXT) is automatically appended to filenames of XFAIL_TESTS
1743 that have been declared as programs in the same Makefile.
1744 This is for consistency with the analogous change to TESTS in 1.10.
1746 - Fix order of standard includes to again be `-I. -I$(srcdir)',
1747 followed by directories containing config headers.
1749 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1753 * Version requirements:
1755 - Autoconf 2.60 or greater is required.
1757 - Perl 5.6 or greater is required.
1759 * Changes to aclocal:
1761 - aclocal now also supports -Wmumble and -Wno-mumble options.
1763 - `dirlist' entries (for the aclocal search path) may use shell
1764 wildcards such as `*', `?', or `[...]'.
1766 - aclocal supports an --install option that will cause system-wide
1767 third-party macros to be installed in the local directory
1768 specified with the first -I flag. This option also uses #serial
1769 lines in M4 files to upgrade local macros.
1771 The new aclocal options --dry-run and --diff help to review changes
1772 before they are installed.
1774 - aclocal now outputs an autoconf version check in aclocal.m4 in
1775 projects using automake.
1777 For a few years, automake and aclocal have been calling autoconf
1778 (or its underlying engine autom4te) to accurately retrieve the
1779 data they need from configure.ac and its siblings. Doing so can
1780 only work if all autotools use the same version of autoconf. For
1781 instance a Makefile.in generated by automake for one version of
1782 autoconf may stop working if configure is regenerated with another
1783 version of autoconf, and vice versa.
1785 This new version check ensures that the whole build system has
1786 been generated using the same autoconf version.
1788 * Support for new Autoconf macros:
1790 - The new AC_REQUIRE_AUX_FILE Autoconf macro is supported.
1792 - If `subdir-objects' is set, and AC_CONFIG_LIBOBJ_DIR is specified,
1793 $(LIBOBJS), $(LTLIBOBJS), $(ALLOCA), and $(LTALLOCA) can be used
1794 in different directories. However, only one instance of such a
1795 library objects directory is supported.
1797 * Change to Libtool support:
1799 - Libtool generic flags (those that go before the --mode=MODE option)
1800 can be specified using AM_LIBTOOLFLAGS and target_LIBTOOLFLAGS.
1802 * Yacc and Lex changes:
1804 - The rebuild rules for distributed Yacc and Lex output will avoid
1805 overwriting existing files if AM_MAINTAINER_MODE and maintainer-mode
1808 - ylwrap is now always used for lex and yacc source files,
1809 regardless of whether there is more than one source per directory.
1811 * Languages changes:
1813 - Preprocessed assembler (*.S) compilation now honors CPPFLAGS,
1814 AM_CPPFLAGS and per-target _CPPFLAGS, and supports dependency
1815 tracking, unlike non-preprocessed assembler (*.s).
1817 - subdir-object mode works now with Assembler. Automake assumes
1818 that the compiler understands `-c -o'.
1820 - Preprocessed assembler (*.S) compilation now also honors
1821 $(DEFS) $(DEFAULT_INCLUDES) $(INCLUDES).
1823 - Improved support for Objective C:
1824 - Autoconf's new AC_PROG_OBJC will enable automatic dependency tracking.
1825 - A new section of the manual documents the support.
1827 - New support for Unified Parallel C:
1828 - AM_PROG_UPC looks for a UPC compiler.
1829 - A new section of the manual documents the support.
1831 - Per-target flags are now correctly handled in link rules.
1833 For instance maude_CFLAGS correctly overrides AM_CFLAGS; likewise
1834 for maude_LDFLAGS and AM_LDFLAGS. Previous versions bogusly
1835 preferred AM_CFLAGS over maude_CFLAGS while linking, and they
1836 used both AM_LDFLAGS and maude_LDFLAGS on the same link command.
1838 The fix for compiler flags (i.e., using maude_CFLAGS instead of
1839 AM_CFLAGS) should not hurt any package since that is how _CFLAGS
1840 is expected to work (and actually works during compilation).
1842 However using maude_LDFLAGS "instead of" AM_LDFLAGS rather than
1843 "in addition to" breaks backward compatibility with older versions.
1844 If your package used both variables, as in
1846 AM_LDFLAGS = common flags
1847 bin_PROGRAMS = a b c
1848 a_LDFLAGS = more flags
1851 and assumed *_LDFLAGS would sum up, you should rewrite it as
1853 AM_LDFLAGS = common flags
1854 bin_PROGRAMS = a b c
1855 a_LDFLAGS = $(AM_LDFLAGS) more flags
1858 This new behavior of *_LDFLAGS is more coherent with other
1859 per-target variables, and the way *_LDFLAGS variables were
1860 considered internally.
1862 * New installation targets:
1864 - New targets mandated by GNU Coding Standards:
1869 By default they will only install Texinfo manuals.
1870 You can customize them with *-local variants:
1876 - The undocumented recursive target `uninstall-info' no longer exists.
1877 (`uninstall' is in charge of removing all possible documentation
1878 flavors, including optional formats such as dvi, ps, or info even
1879 when `no-installinfo' is used.)
1881 * Miscellaneous changes:
1883 - Automake no longer complains if input files for AC_CONFIG_FILES
1884 are specified using shell variables.
1886 - clean, distribution, or rebuild rules are normally disabled for
1887 inputs and outputs of AC_CONFIG_FILES, AC_CONFIG_HEADERS, and
1888 AC_CONFIG_LINK specified using shell variables. However, if these
1889 variables are used as ${VAR}, and AC_SUBSTed, then Automake will
1890 be able to output rules anyway.
1891 (See the Automake documentation for AC_CONFIG_FILES.)
1893 - $(EXEEXT) is automatically appended to filenames of TESTS
1894 that have been declared as programs in the same Makefile.
1895 This is mostly useful when some check_PROGRAMS are listed in TESTS.
1897 - `-Wportability' has finally been turned on by default for `gnu' and
1898 `gnits' strictness. This means, automake will complain about %-rules
1899 or $(GNU Make functions) unless you switch to `foreign' strictness or
1900 use `-Wno-portability'.
1902 - Automake now uses AC_PROG_MKDIR_P (new in Autoconf 2.60), and uses
1903 $(MKDIR_P) instead of $(mkdir_p) to create directories. The
1904 $(mkdir_p) variable is still defined (to the same value as
1905 $(MKDIR_P)) but should be considered obsolete. If you are using
1906 $(mkdir_p) in some of your rules, please plan to update them to
1907 $(MKDIR_P) at some point.
1909 - AM_C_PROTOTYPES and ansi2knr are now documented as being obsolete.
1910 They still work in this release, but may be withdrawn in a future one.
1912 - Inline compilation rules for gcc3-style dependency tracking are
1915 - Automake installs a "Hello World!" example package in $(docdir).
1916 This example is used throughout the new "Autotools Introduction"
1917 chapter of the manual.
1919 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1923 * Makefile.in bloat reduction:
1925 - Inference rules are used to compile sources in subdirectories when
1926 the `subdir-objects' option is used and no per-target flags are
1927 used. This should reduce the size of some projects a lot, because
1928 Automake used to output an explicit rule for each such object in
1931 - Automake no longer outputs three rules (.o, .obj, .lo) for each
1932 object that must be built with explicit rules. It just outputs
1933 the rules required to build the kind of object considered: either
1934 the two .o and .obj rules for usual objects, or the .lo rule for
1937 * Change to Libtool support:
1939 - Libtool tags are used with libtool versions that support them.
1940 (I.e., with Libtool 1.5 or greater.)
1942 - Automake is now able to handle setups where a libtool library is
1943 conditionally installed in different directories, as in
1946 lib_LTLIBRARIES = liba.la
1948 pkglib_LTLIBRARIES = liba.la
1950 liba_la_SOURCES = ...
1952 * Changes to aclocal:
1954 - aclocal now ensures that AC_DEFUNs and AU_DEFUNs it discovers are
1955 really evaluated, before it decides to include them in aclocal.m4.
1956 This solves nasty problems with conditional redefinitions of
1957 Autoconf macros in /usr/share/aclocal/*.m4 files causing extraneous
1958 *.m4 files to be included in any project using these macros.
1959 (Calls to AC_PROG_EGREP causing libtool.m4 to be included is the
1960 most famous instance of this bug.)
1962 - Do not complain about missing conditionally AC_REQUIREd macros
1963 that are not actually used. In 1.8.x aclocal would correctly
1964 determine which of these macros were really needed (and include
1965 only these in the package); unfortunately it would also require
1966 all of them to be present in order to run. This created
1967 situations were aclocal would not work on a tarball distributing
1968 all the macros it uses. For instance running aclocal on a project
1969 containing only the subset of the Gettext macros in use by the
1970 project did not work, because gettext conditionally requires other
1973 * Portability improvements:
1975 - Tar format can be chosen with the new options tar-v7, tar-ustar, and
1976 tar-pax. The new option filename-length-max=99 helps diagnosing
1977 filenames that are too long for tar-v7. (PR/414)
1979 - Variables augmented with `+=' are now automatically flattened (i.e.,
1980 trailing backslashes removed) and then wrapped around 80 columns
1981 (adding trailing backslashes). In previous versions, a long series
1987 would result in a single-line definition of VAR that could possibly
1988 exceed the maximum line length of some make implementations.
1990 Non-augmented variables are still output as they are defined in
1995 - Support Fortran 90/95 with the new "fc" and "ppfc" languages.
1996 Works the same as the old Fortran 77 implementation; just replace
1997 F77 with FC everywhere (exception: FFLAGS becomes FCFLAGS).
1998 Requires a version of autoconf which provides AC_PROG_FC (>=2.59).
2000 - Support for conditional _LISP.
2002 - Support for conditional -hook and -local rules (PR/428).
2004 - Diagnose AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR calls following AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE. (PR/49)
2006 - Automake will not write any Makefile.ins after the first error it
2007 encounters. The previous Makefile.ins (if any) will be left in
2008 place. (Warnings will not prevent output, but remember they can
2009 be turned into errors with -Werror.)
2011 - The restriction that SUBDIRS must contain direct children is gone.
2014 - The manual tells more about SUBDIRS vs. DIST_SUBDIRS.
2015 It also gives an example of nested packages using AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS.
2017 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2019 Bugs fixed in 1.8.5:
2021 * Long-standing bugs:
2023 - Define DIST_SUBDIRS even when the `no-dist' or `cygnus' options are used
2024 so that `make distclean' and `make maintainer-clean' can work.
2026 - Define AR and ARFLAGS even when only EXTRA_LIBRARIES are defined.
2028 - Fix many rules to please FreeBSD make, which runs commands with `sh -e'.
2030 - Polish diagnostic when no input file is found.
2032 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2034 Bugs fixed in 1.8.4:
2036 * Long-standing bugs:
2038 - Fix AM_PATH_PYTHON to correctly display $PYTHON when it has been
2039 overridden by the user.
2041 - Honor PATH_SEPARATOR in various places of the Automake package, for
2044 - Adjust dependency tracking mode detection to ICC 8.0's new output.
2047 - Fix install-sh so it can install the `mv' binary... using `mv'.
2049 - Fix tru64 dependency tracking for libtool objects.
2051 - Work around Exuberant Ctags when creating a TAGS files in a directory
2052 without files to scan but with subdirectories to include.
2054 * Bugs introduced by 1.8:
2056 - Fix an "internal error" when @LIBOBJS@ is used in a variable that is
2057 not defined in the same conditions as the _LDADD that uses it.
2059 - Do not warn when JAVAROOT is overridden, this is legitimate.
2061 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2063 Bugs fixed in 1.8.3:
2065 * Long-standing bugs:
2067 - Quote filenames in installation rules, in case $DESTDIR, $prefix,
2068 or any of the other *dir variables contain a space.
2070 Please note that Automake does not and cannot support spaces in
2071 filenames that are involved during the build. This change affects
2072 only installation paths, so that `make install' does not bomb out
2073 in packages configured with
2074 ./configure --prefix '/c/Program Files'
2076 - Fix the depfiles output so it works with GNU sed (<4.1) even when
2077 POSIXLY_CORRECT is set.
2079 - Do not AC_SUBST(LIBOBJS) in AM_WITH_REGEX. This macro was unusable
2080 since Autoconf 2.54, which defines LIBOBJS itself.
2082 - Fix a potential (but unlikely) race condition in parallel elisp
2083 builds. (Introduced in 1.7.3.)
2085 - Do not assume that users override _DEPENDENCIES in all conditions
2086 where Automake will try to define them.
2088 - Do not use `mkdir -p' in mkinstalldirs, unless this is GNU mkdir.
2089 Solaris 8's `mkdir -p' is not thread-safe and can break parallel
2092 This fix also affects the $(mkdir_p) variable defined since
2093 Automake 1.8. It will be set to `mkdir -p' only if mkdir is GNU
2094 mkdir, and to `mkinstalldirs' or `install-sh -d' otherwise.
2096 - Secure temporary directory creation in `make distcheck'. (PR/413)
2098 - Do not generate two build rules for `parser.h' when the
2099 parser appears in two different conditionals.
2101 - Work around a Solaris 8 /bin/sh bug in the test for dependency
2102 checking. Usually ./configure will not pick this shell; so this
2103 fix only helps cases where the shell is forced to /bin/sh.
2105 * Bugs introduced by 1.8:
2107 - In some situations (hand-written `m4_include's), aclocal would
2108 call the `File::Spec->rel2abs' method, which was only introduced
2109 in Perl 5.6. This new version reestablish support Perl 5.005.
2111 It is likely that the next major Automake releases will require at
2112 least Perl 5.6. Consider upgrading your development environment
2113 if you are still using the five-year-old Perl 5.005.
2115 - Automake would sometimes fail to define rules for targets listed
2116 in variables defined in multiple conditions. For instance on
2122 it would define only the `a.$(OBJEXT): a.c' rule and omit the
2123 `b.$(OBJEXT): b.c' rule.
2125 * New sections in manual:
2127 - Third-Party Makefiles: how to interface third party Makefiles.
2128 - Upgrading: upgrading packages to newer Automake versions.
2129 - Multiple Outputs: handling tools that produce many outputs.
2131 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2135 * A (well known) portability bug slipped in the changes made to
2136 install-sh in Automake 1.8.1. The broken install-sh would refuse to
2137 install anything on Tru64.
2139 * Fix install rules for conditionally built python files. (This never
2142 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2146 * Bugs introduced by 1.8:
2148 - Fix Config.pm import error with old Perl versions (at least
2149 5.005_03). One symptom is that aclocal could not find its macro
2152 - Automake 1.8 used `mkdir -m 0755 -p --' to ensure that directories
2153 created by `make install' are always world readable, even if the
2154 installer happens to have an overly restrictive umask (e.g. 077).
2155 This was a mistake and has been reverted. There are at least two
2156 reasons why we must not use `-m 0755':
2157 - it causes special bits like SGID to be ignored,
2158 - it may be too restrictive (some setups expect 775 directories).
2160 - Fix aclocal to honor definitions located in files which have been
2161 m4_included manually. aclocal 1.8 had been updated to check
2162 m4_included files for new requirements, but forgot that these
2163 m4_included files can also provide new definitions.
2165 Note that if you have such a setup, we recommend you get rid of
2166 it. In the past, there was a reason to m4_include files manually:
2167 aclocal used to duplicate entire M4 files into aclocal.m4, even
2168 files that were distributed. Some packages were therefore
2169 m4_including the distributed file directly, and playing some
2170 tricks to ensure aclocal would not copy that file to aclocal.m4,
2171 in order to limit the amount of duplication. Since aclocal 1.8.x
2172 will precisely output m4_includes for local M4 files, we recommend
2173 that you clean up your setup, removing all manual m4_includes and
2174 letting aclocal output them.
2176 - Output detailed menus in the Info version if the Automake manual,
2177 so that Emacs can locate the indexes.
2179 - configure.ac and configure were listed twice in DIST_COMMON (an
2180 internal variable where Automake lists configury files to
2181 distribute). This was harmless, but unaesthetic.
2183 - Use `chmod a-w' instead of `chmod -w' as the latter honors umask.
2184 This was an issue only in the Automake package itself, not in
2187 - Automake assumed that all AC_CONFIG_LINKS arguments had the form
2188 DEST:SRC. This was wrong, as some packages do
2189 AC_CONFIG_LINKS($computedlinks). This version no longer abort in
2192 - Contrary to mkinstalldirs, $(mkdir_p) was expecting exactly one
2193 argument. This caused two kinds of failures:
2194 - Rules installing data in a conditionally defined directory
2195 failed when that directory was undefined. In this case no
2196 argument was supplied.
2197 - `make installdirs' failed, because several directories were
2198 passed to $(mkdir_p). This was an issue only on platform
2199 were $(mkdir_p) is implemented with `install-sh -d'.
2200 $(mkdir_p) as been changed to accept 0 or more arguments, as
2203 * Long-standing bugs:
2205 - Fix an unexpected diagnostic occurring when users attempt
2206 to override some internal variables that Automake appends to.
2208 - aclocal now scans configure.ac for macro definitions (PR/319).
2210 - Fix a portability issue with OSF1/Tru64 Make. If a directory
2211 distributes files which are outside itself (this usually occurs
2212 when using AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR([../dir]) to use auxiliary files
2213 from a parent package), then `make distcheck' fails due to an
2214 optimization performed by OSF1/Tru64 Make in its VPATH handling.
2215 (tests/subpkg2.test failure)
2217 - Fix another portability issue with Sun and OSF1/Tru64 Make.
2218 In a VPATH-build configuration, `make install' would install
2219 nobase_ files to wrong locations.
2221 - Fix a Perl `uninitialized value' diagnostic occurring when
2222 automake complains that a Texinfo file does not have a
2223 @setfilename statement.
2225 - Erase config.status.lineno during `make distclean'. This file
2226 can be created by config.status. Automake already knew about
2227 configure.lineno, but forgot config.status.lineno.
2229 - Distribute all files, even those which are built and installed
2230 conditionally. This change affects files listed in conditionally
2231 defined *_HEADERS and *_PYTHON variable (unless they are nodist_*)
2232 as well as those listed in conditionally defined dist_*_DATA,
2233 dist_*_JAVA, dist_*_LISP, and dist_*_SCRIPTS variables.
2235 - Fix AM_PATH_LISPDIR to avoid \? in sed regular expressions; it
2236 doesn't conform to POSIX.
2238 - Normalize help strings for configure variables and options added
2243 - Check for python2.4 in AM_PATH_PYTHON.
2245 * Spurious failures in test suite:
2247 - tests/libtool5.test, tests/ltcond.test, tests/ltcond2.test,
2248 tests/ltconv.test: fix failures with CVS Libtool.
2249 - tests/aclocal6.test: fix failure if autom4te.cache is disabled.
2250 - tests/txinfo24.test, tests/txinfo25.test, tests/txinfo28.test:
2251 fix failures with old Texinfo versions.
2253 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2259 - The NEWS file is more verbose.
2263 - Autoconf 2.58 or greater is required.
2267 - Default source file names in the absence of a _SOURCES declaration
2268 are made by removing any target extension before appending `.c', so
2269 to make the libtool module `foo.la' from `foo.c', you only need to
2272 lib_LTLIBRARIES = foo.la
2273 foo_la_LDFLAGS = -module
2275 For backward compatibility, foo_la.c will be used instead of
2276 foo.c if this file exists or is the explicit target of a rule.
2277 However -Wobsolete will warn about this deprecated naming.
2279 - AR's `cru' flags are now set in a global ARFLAGS variable instead
2280 of being hard-coded in each $(AR) invocation, so they can be
2281 substituted from configure.ac. This has been requested by people
2282 dealing with non-POSIX ar implementations.
2284 - New warning option: -Woverride. This will warn about any user
2285 target or variable definitions which override Automake
2288 - Texinfo rules back up and restore info files when makeinfo fails.
2290 - Texinfo rules now support the `html' target.
2291 Running this requires Texinfo 4.0 or greater.
2293 `html' is a new recursive target, so if your package mixes
2294 hand-crafted `Makefile.in's with Automake-generated
2295 `Makefile.in's, you should adjust the former to support (or
2296 ignore) this target so that `make html' recurses successfully. If
2297 you had a custom `html' rule in your `Makefile.am', it's better to
2298 rename it as `html-local', otherwise your rule will override
2299 Automake's new rule (you can check that by running `automake
2300 -Woverride') and that will stop the recursion to subdirectories.
2302 Last but not least, this `html' rule is declared PHONY, even when
2303 overridden. Fortunately, it appears that few packages use a
2304 non-PHONY `html' rule.
2306 - Any file which is m4_included from configure.ac will appear as a
2307 configure and Makefile.in dependency, and will be automatically
2310 - The rules for rebuilding Makefiles and Makefile.ins will now
2311 rebuild all Makefiles and all Makefile.ins at once when one of
2312 configure's dependencies has changed. This is considerably faster
2313 than previous implementations, where config.status and automake
2314 were run separately in each directory (this still happens when you
2315 change a Makefile.am locally, without touching configure.ac or
2316 friends). Doing this also solves a longstanding issue: these
2317 rebuild rules failed to work when adding new directories to the
2318 tree, forcing you to run automake manually.
2320 - For similar reasons, the rules to rebuild configure,
2321 config.status, and aclocal.m4 are now defined in all directories.
2322 Note that if you were using the CONFIG_STATUS_DEPENDENCIES and
2323 CONFIGURE_DEPENDENCIES (formerly undocumented) variables, you
2324 should better define them in all directories. This is easily done
2325 using an AC_SUBST (make sure you prefix these dependencies with
2326 $(top_srcdir) since this variable will appear at different
2327 levels of the build tree).
2329 - aclocal will now use `m4_include' instead of copying local m4
2330 files into aclocal.m4. (Local m4 files are those you ship with
2331 your project, other files will be copied as usual.)
2333 Because m4_included files are automatically distributed, it means
2334 for most projects there is no point in EXTRA_DISTing the list of
2335 m4 files which are used. (You can probably get rid of
2336 m4/Makefile.am if you had one.)
2338 - aclocal will avoid touching aclocal.m4 when possible, so that
2339 Autom4te's cache isn't needlessly invalidated. This behavior can
2340 be switched off with the new `--force' option.
2342 - aclocal now uses Autoconf's --trace to detect macros which are
2343 actually used and will no longer include unused macros simply
2344 because they where mentioned. This was often the case for macros
2345 called conditionally.
2347 - New options no-dist and no-dist-gzip.
2349 - compile, depcomp, elisp-comp, install-sh, mdate-sh, mkinstalldirs,
2350 py-compile, and ylwrap, now all understand --version and --help.
2352 - Automake will now recognize AC_CONFIG_LINKS so far as removing created
2353 links as part of the distclean target and including source files in
2356 - AM_PATH_PYTHON now supports ACTION-IF-FOUND and ACTION-IF-NOT-FOUND
2357 argument. The latter can be used to override the default behavior
2358 (which is to abort).
2360 - Automake will exit with $? = 63 on version mismatch. (So does
2361 Autoconf 2.58) missing knows this, and in this case it will
2362 emulate the tools as if they were absent. Because older versions
2363 of Automake and Autoconf did not use this exit code, this change
2364 will only be useful in projects generated with future versions of
2367 - When using AC_CONFIG_FILES with multiple input files, Automake
2368 generates the first ".in" input file for which a ".am" exists.
2369 (Former versions would try to use only the first input file.)
2371 - lisp_DATA is now allowed. If you are using the empty ELCFILES
2372 idiom to disable byte-compilation of lisp_LISP files, it is
2373 recommended that you switch to using lisp_DATA. Note that
2374 this is not strictly equivalent: lisp_DATA will install elisp
2375 files even if emacs is not installed, while *_LISP do not
2376 install anything unless emacs is found.
2378 - Makefiles will prefer `mkdir -p' over mkinstalldirs if it is
2379 available. This selection is achieved through the Makefile
2380 variable $(mkdir_p) that is set by AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE to either
2381 `mkdir -m 0755 -p --', `$(mkinstalldirs) -m 0755', or
2382 `$(install_sh) -m 0755 -d'.
2386 - Because `mkdir -p' is available on most platforms, and we can use
2387 `install-sh -d' when it is not, the use of the mkinstalldirs
2388 script is being phased out. `automake --add-missing' no longer
2389 installs it, and if you remove mkinstalldirs from your package,
2390 automake will define $(mkinstalldirs) as an alias for $(mkdir_p).
2392 Gettext 0.12.1 still requires mkinstalldirs. Fortunately
2393 gettextize and autopoint will install it when needed. Automake
2394 will continue to define the $(mkinstalldirs) and to distribute
2395 mkinstalldirs when this script is in the source tree.
2397 - AM_PROG_CC_STDC is now empty. The content of this macro was
2398 merged in AC_PROG_CC. If your code uses $am_cv_prog_cc_stdc, you
2399 should adjust it to use $ac_cv_prog_cc_stdc instead. (This
2400 renaming should be safe, even if you have to support several,
2401 versions of Automake, because AC_PROG_CC defines this variable
2402 since Autoconf 2.54.)
2404 - Some users where using the undocumented ACLOCAL_M4_SOURCES
2405 variable to override the aclocal.m4 dependencies computed
2406 (inaccurately) by older versions of Automake. Because Automake
2407 now tracks configure's m4 dependencies accurately (see m4_include
2408 above), the use of ACLOCAL_M4_SOURCES should be considered
2409 obsolete and will be flagged as such when running `automake
2414 - Defining programs conditionally using Automake conditionals no
2415 longer leads to a combinatorial explosion. The following
2416 construct used to be troublesome when used with dozens of
2431 Likewise for _SOURCES, _LDADD, and _LIBADD variables.
2433 - Due to implementation constraints, previous versions of Automake
2434 proscribed multiple conditional definitions of some variables
2444 All _PROGRAMS, _LDADD, and _LIBADD variables were affected.
2445 This restriction has been lifted, and these variables now
2446 support multiple conditional definitions as do other variables.
2448 - Cleanup the definitions of $(distdir) and $(top_distdir).
2449 $(top_distdir) now points to the root of the distribution
2450 directory created during `make dist', as it did in Automake 1.4,
2451 not to the root of the build tree as it did in intervening
2452 versions. Furthermore these two variables are now only defined in
2453 the top level Makefile, and passed to sub-directories when running
2456 - The --no-force option now correctly checks the Makefile.in's
2457 dependencies before deciding not to update it.
2459 - Do not assume that make files are called Makefile in cleaning rules.
2461 - Update .info files in the source tree, not in the build tree. This
2462 is what the GNU Coding Standard recommend. Only Automake 1.7.x
2463 used to update these files in the build tree (previous versions did
2464 it in the source tree too), and it caused several problems, varying
2465 from mere annoyance to portability issues.
2467 - COPYING, COPYING.LIB, and COPYING.LESSER are no longer overwritten
2468 when --add-missing and --force-missing are used. For backward
2469 compatibility --add-missing will continue to install COPYING (in
2470 `gnu' strictness) when none of these three files exist, but this
2471 use is deprecated: you should better choose a license yourself and
2472 install it once for all in your source tree (and in your code
2475 - Fix ylwrap so that it does not overwrite header files that haven't
2476 changed, as the inline rule already does.
2478 - User-defined rules override automake-defined rules for the same
2479 targets, even when rules do not have commands. This is not new
2480 (and was documented), however some of the automake-generated
2481 rules have escaped this principle in former Automake versions.
2482 Rules for the following targets are affected by this fix:
2484 clean, clean-am, dist-all, distclean, distclean-am, dvi, dvi-am,
2485 info, info-am, install-data-am, install-exec-am, install-info,
2486 install-info-am, install-man, installcheck-am, maintainer-clean,
2487 maintainer-clean-am, mostlyclean, mostlyclean-am, pdf, pdf-am,
2488 ps, ps-am, uninstall-am, uninstall-info, uninstall-man
2490 Practically it means that an attempt to supplement the dependencies
2491 of some target, as in
2493 clean: my-clean-rule
2495 will now *silently override* the automake definition of the
2496 rule for this target. Running `automake -Woverride' will diagnose
2497 all such overriding definitions.
2499 It should be noted that almost all of these targets support a *-local
2500 variant that is meant to supplement the automake-defined rule
2501 (See node `Extending' in the manual). The above rule should
2504 clean-local: my-clean-rule
2506 These *-local targets have been documented since at least
2507 Automake 1.2, so you should not fear the change if you have
2508 to support multiple automake versions.
2512 - The Automake manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
2514 - Targets dist-gzip, dist-bzip2, dist-tarZ, dist-zip are always defined.
2516 - core dumps are no longer removed by the cleaning rules. There are
2517 at least three reasons for this:
2518 1. These files should not be created by any build step,
2519 so their removal do not fit any of the cleaning rules.
2520 Actually, they may be precious to the developer.
2521 2. If such file is created during a build, then it's clearly a
2522 bug Automake should not hide. Not removing the file will
2523 cause `make distcheck' to complain about its presence.
2524 3. Operating systems have different naming conventions for
2525 core dump files. A core file on one system might be a
2526 completely legitimate data file on another system.
2528 - RUNTESTFLAGS, CTAGSFLAGS, ETAGSFLAGS, JAVACFLAGS are no longer
2529 defined by Automake. This means that any definition in the
2530 environment will be used, unless overridden in the Makefile.am or
2531 on the command line. The old behavior, where these variables were
2532 defined empty in each Makefile, can be obtained by AC_SUBSTing or
2533 AC_ARG_VARing each variable from configure.ac.
2535 - CONFIGURE_DEPENDENCIES and CONFIG_STATUS_DEPENDENCIES are now
2536 documented. (The is not a new feature, these variables have
2537 been there since at least Automake 1.4.)
2539 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2541 Bugs fixed in 1.7.9:
2542 * Fix install-strip to work with nobase_ binaries.
2543 * Fix renaming of #line directives in ylwrap.
2544 * Rebuild with Autoconf 2.59. (1.7.8 was not installable with pdksh.)
2546 Bugs fixed in 1.7.8:
2547 * Remove spurious blank lines in cleaning rules introduced in 1.7.7.
2548 * Fix detection of Debian's install-info, broken since version 1.5.
2549 (Debian bug #213524).
2550 * Honor -module if it appears in AM_LDFLAGS (i.e., relax name checking)
2551 This was only done for libfoo_LDFLAGS and LDFLAGS in previous versions.
2553 Bugs fixed in 1.7.7:
2554 * The implementation of automake's --no-force option is unreliable,
2555 so this option is ignored in this version. A real fix will appear in
2556 Automake 1.8. (Debian Bug #206299)
2557 * AM_PATH_PYTHON: really check the whole list of interpreters if no
2558 argument is given. (PR/399)
2559 * Do not warn about leading `_' in variable names, even with -Wportability.
2560 * Support user redefinitions of TEXINFO_TEX.
2561 * depcomp: support AIX Compiler version 6.
2562 * Fix missing rebuilds during `make dist' with BSD make.
2563 (Could produce tarballs containing out-of-date files.)
2564 * Resurrect multilib support.
2565 * Noteworthy manual updates:
2566 - Extending aclocal: how to write m4 macros that won't trigger warnings
2568 - A Shared Library: Rewrite and split into subsections.
2570 Bugs fixed in 1.7.6:
2571 * Fix depcomp's icc mode for ICC 7.1.
2572 * Diagnose calls to AC_CONFIG_FILES and friends with not enough arguments.
2573 * Fix maintainer-clean's removal of autom4te.cache in VPATH builds.
2574 * Fix AM_PATH_LISPDIR to work with POSIXLY_CORRECT=1.
2575 * Fix the location reported in some diagnostics related to AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS.
2576 * Remove Latin-1 characters from elisp-comp.
2577 * Update the manual's @dircategory to match the Free Software Directory.
2579 Bugs fixed in 1.7.5:
2580 * Update install-sh's license to remove an advertising clause.
2581 (Debian bug #191717)
2582 * Fix a bug introduced in 1.7.4, related to BUILT_SOURCE handling,
2583 that caused invalid Makefile.ins to be generated.
2584 * Make sure AM_MAKE_INCLUDE doesn't fail when a `doit' file exists.
2585 * New FAQ entry: renamed objects.
2587 Bugs fixed in 1.7.4:
2588 * Tweak the TAGS rule to support Exuberant Ctags (in addition to
2589 the Emacs implementation)
2590 * Fix output of aclocal.m4 dependencies in subdirectories.
2591 * Use `mv -f' instead of `mv' in fastdep rules.
2592 * Upgrade mdate-sh to work on OS/2.
2593 * Don't byte-compile elisp files when ELCFILES is set empty.
2594 (this documented feature was broken by 1.7.3)
2595 * Diagnose trailing backslashes on last line of Makefile.am.
2596 * Diagnose whitespace following trailing backslashes.
2597 * Multiple tests are now correctly supported in DEJATOOL. (PR/388)
2598 * Fix rebuilt rules for AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile:Makefile.in:Makefile.bot])
2600 * `make install' will build `BUILT_SOURCES' first.
2601 * Minor documentation fixes.
2603 Bugs fixed in 1.7.3:
2604 * Fix stamp files numbering (when using multiple AC_CONFIG_HEADERS).
2605 * Query distutils for `pythondir' and `pythonexecdir', instead of
2606 using an hardcoded path. This should allow builds on 64-bit
2607 distributions that usually use lib64/ instead of lib/.
2608 * AM_PATH_PYTHON will also search for python2.3.
2609 * elisp files are now built all at once instead of one by one. Besides
2610 incurring a speed-up, this is required to support interdependent elisp files.
2611 * Support for DJGPP:
2612 - `make distcheck' will now work in `_inst/' and `_build' instead
2613 of `=inst/' and `=build/'
2614 - use `_dirstamp' when the file-system doesn't support `.dirstamp'
2615 - install/uninstall `*.i[0-9][0-9]'-style info files
2616 - more changes that affect only the Automake package (not its output)
2617 * Fix some incompatibilities with upcoming perl-5.10.
2618 * Properly quote AC_PACKAGE_TARNAME and AC_PACKAGE_VERSION when defining
2619 PACKAGE and VERSION.
2621 - dashmstdout and dashXmstdout modes: don't use `-o /dev/null', this
2622 is troublesome with gcc and Solaris compilers. (PR/385)
2623 - makedepend mode: work with Libtool. (PR/385 too)
2625 * better support for unusual gettext setups, such as multiple po/ directories
2627 - Flag missing po/ and intl/ directories as warnings, not errors.
2628 - Disable these warnings if po/ does not exist.
2629 * Noteworthy manual updates:
2631 - Document how AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR interacts with missing files.
2633 - Document `AM_YFLAGS = -d'. (PR/382)
2635 Bugs fixed in 1.7.2:
2636 * Fix installation and uninstallation of Info files built in subdirectories.
2637 * Do not run `./configure --with-included-gettext' during `make distcheck'
2638 if AM_GNU_GETTEXT([external]) is used.
2639 * Correctly uninstall renamed man pages.
2640 * Do not strip escaped newline in variables defined in one condition
2641 and augmented in another condition.
2642 * Fix ansi2knr rules for LIBOBJS sources.
2643 * Clean all known Texinfo index files, not only those which appear to
2644 be used, because we cannot know which indexes are used in included files.
2645 (PR/375, Debian Bug #168671)
2646 * Honor only the first @setfilename seen in a Texinfo file.
2647 * Treat "required file X not found" diagnostics as errors (exit status 1).
2648 * Don't complain that a required file is not found when it is a Makefile
2650 * Don't use single suffix inference rules when building `.info'-less
2651 Info files, for the sake of Solaris make.
2652 * The `check' target now depends on `$(BUILT_SOURCES)'. (PR/359)
2653 * Recognize multiple inference rules such as `.a.b .c.d:'. (PR/371)
2654 * Warn about multiple inference rules when -Wportability is used. (PR/372)
2655 * Fix building of deansified files from subdirectories. (PR/370)
2656 * Add missing `fi' in the .c->.obj rules.
2657 * Improve install-sh to work even when names contain spaces or certain
2658 (but not all) shell metachars.
2659 * Fix the following spurious failures in the test suite:
2660 depcomp2.test, gnits2.test, gnits3.test, python3.test, texinfo13.test
2661 * Noteworthy manual updates:
2662 - Augment the section about BUILT_SOURCES.
2663 - Mention that AM_PROG_CC_STDC is a relic that is better avoided today.
2665 Bugs fixed in 1.7.1:
2666 * Honor `ansi2knr' for files built in subdirectories, or using per-targets
2668 * Aclocal should now recognize macro names containing parentheses, e.g.
2669 AC_DEFUN([AC_LANG_PREPROC(Fortran 90)], [...]).
2670 * Erase *.sum and *.log files created by DejaGnu, during `make distclean'.
2672 * Install Python files even if they were built. (PR/369)
2673 * Have stamp-vti dependent upon configure instead of configure.ac, as the
2674 version might not be defined in the latter. (PR/358)
2675 * Reorder arguments passed to a couple of commands, so things works
2676 when POSIXLY_CORRECT=1.
2677 * Fix a regex that can cause Perl to segfault on large input.
2679 * Fix distribution of packages that have some sources defined conditionally,
2680 as in the `Conditional compilation using Automake conditionals' example
2682 * Fix spurious test suite failures on IRIX.
2683 * Don't report a required variable as undefined if it has been
2684 defined conditionally for the "right" conditions.
2685 * Fix cleaning of the /tmp subdirectory used by `make distcheck', in case
2686 `make distcheck' fails.
2687 * Fix distribution of included Makefile fragment, so we don't create
2688 spurious directories in the distribution. (PR/366)
2689 * Don't complain that a target lacks `.$(EXEEXT)' when it has it.
2692 * Autoconf 2.54 is required.
2693 * `aclocal' and `automake' will no longer warn about obsolete
2694 configure macros. This is done by `autoconf -Wobsolete'.
2695 * AM_CONFIG_HEADER, AM_SYS_POSIX_TERMIOS and
2696 AM_HEADER_TIOCGWINSZ_NEEDS_SYS_IOCTL are obsolete (although still
2697 supported). You should use AC_CONFIG_HEADERS, AC_SYS_POSIX_TERMIOS,
2698 and AC_HEADER_TIOCGWINSZ instead. `autoupdate' can upgrade
2699 `configure.ac' for you.
2700 * Support for per-program and per-library `_CPPFLAGS'.
2701 * New `ctags' target (builds CTAGS files).
2702 * Support for -Wmumble and -Wno-mumble, where mumble is a warning category
2703 (see `automake --help' or the manual for a list of them).
2704 * Honor the WARNINGS environment variable.
2705 * Omit the call to depcomp when using gcc3: call the compiler directly.
2706 * A new option, std-options, tests that programs support --help and --version
2707 when `make installcheck' is run. This is enabled by --gnits.
2708 * Texinfo rules now support the `ps' and `pdf' targets.
2709 * Info files are now created in the build directory, not the source directory.
2710 * info_TEXINFOS supports files in subdirectories (this requires Texinfo 4.1
2712 * `make distcheck' will enforce DESTDIR support by attempting
2714 * `+=' can be used in conditionals, even if the augmented variable
2715 was defined for another condition.
2716 * Makefile fragments (inserted with `include') are always distributed.
2717 * Use Autoconf's --trace interface to inspect configure.ac and get
2718 a more accurate view of it.
2719 * Add support for extending aclocal's default macro search path
2720 using a `dirlist' file within the aclocal directory.
2721 * automake --output-dir is deprecated.
2722 * The part of the distcheck target that checks whether uninstall actually
2723 removes all installed files has been moved in a separate target,
2724 distuninstallcheck, so it can be overridden easily.
2728 * Support for AM_INIT_GETTEXT([external])
2729 * Bug fixes, including:
2730 - Fix Automake's own `make install' so it works even if `ln' doesn't.
2731 - nobase_ programs and scripts honor --program-transform correctly.
2732 - Erase configure.lineno during `make distclean'.
2733 - Erase YACC and LEX outputs during `make maintainer-clean'.
2736 * Many bug fixes, including:
2737 - Requiring the current version works.
2738 - Fix "$@" portability issues (for Zsh).
2739 - Fix output of dummy dependency files in presence of post-processed
2741 - Don't compute dependencies in background to avoid races with libtool.
2742 - Fix handling of _OBJECTS variables for targets sharing source variables.
2743 - Check dependency mode for Java when AM_PROG_GCJ is used.
2746 * automake --output-dir is deprecated
2747 * Many bug fixes, including:
2748 - Don't choke on AM_LDFLAGS definitions.
2749 - Clean libtool objects from subdirectories.
2750 - Allow configure variables with reserved suffix and unknown prefix
2751 (e.g. AC_SUBST(mumble_LDFLAGS) when 'mumble' is not a target).
2752 - Fix the definition of AUTOMAKE and ACLOCAL in configure.
2755 * Autoconf 2.52 is required.
2756 * automake no longer run libtoolize.
2757 This is the job of autoreconf (from GNU Autoconf).
2758 * `dist' generates all the archive flavors, as did `dist-all'.
2759 * `dist-gzip' generates the Gzip tar file only.
2760 * Combining Automake Makefile conditionals no longer lead to a combinatorial
2761 explosion. Makefile.in's keep a reasonable size.
2762 * AM_FUNC_ERROR_AT_LINE, AM_FUNC_STRTOD, AM_FUNC_OBSTACK, AM_PTRDIFF_T
2763 are no longer shipped, since Autoconf 2.52 provides them (both as AM_
2765 * `#line' of Lex and Yacc files are properly set.
2766 * EXTRA_DIST can contain generated directories.
2767 * Support for dot-less extensions in suffix rules.
2768 * The part of the distcheck target that checks whether distclean actually
2769 cleans all built files has been moved in a separate target, distcleancheck,
2770 so it can be overridden easily.
2771 * `make distcheck' will pass additional options defined in
2772 $(DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS) to configure.
2773 * Fixed CDPATH portability problems, in particular for MacOS X.
2774 * Fixed handling of nobase_ targets.
2775 * Fixed support of implicit rules leading to .lo objects.
2776 * Fixed late inclusion of --add-missing files (e.g. depcomp) in DIST_COMMON
2777 * Added uninstall-hook target
2778 * `AC_INIT AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE(tarname,version)' is an obsolete construct.
2779 You can now use `AC_INIT(pkgname,version) AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE' instead.
2780 (Note that "pkgname" is not "tarname", see the manual for details.)
2781 It is also possible to pass a list of global Automake options as
2782 first argument to this new form of AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE.
2783 * Compiler-based assembler is now called `CCAS'; people expected `AS'
2784 to be a real assembler.
2785 * AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE will set STRIP itself when it needs it. Adding
2786 AC_CHECK_TOOL([STRIP], [strip]) manually is no longer required.
2787 * aclocal and automake are also installed with the version number
2788 appended, and some of the install directory names have changed.
2789 This lets you have multiple versions installed simultaneously.
2790 * Support for parsers and lexers in subdirectories.
2793 * Support for `configure.ac'.
2794 * Support for `else COND', `endif COND' and negated conditions `!COND'.
2795 * `make dist-all' is much faster.
2796 * Allows '@' AC_SUBSTs in macro names.
2797 * Faster AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE (requires update of `missing' script)
2798 * User-side dependency tracking. Developers no longer need GNU make
2800 * Uses DIST_SUBDIRS in some situations when SUBDIRS is conditional
2801 * Most files are correctly handled if they appear in subdirs
2802 For instance, a _DATA file can appear in a subdir
2803 * GNU tar is no longer required for `make dist'
2804 * Added support for `dist_' and `nodist_' prefixes
2805 * Added support for `nobase_' prefix
2806 * Compiled Java support
2807 * Support for per-executable and per-library compilation flags
2811 * Added support for the Fortran 77 programming language.
2812 * Re-indexed the Automake Texinfo manual.
2813 * Added `AM_FOOFLAGS' variable for each compiler invocation;
2814 e.g. AM_CFLAGS can be used in Makefile.am to set C compiler flags
2815 * Support for latest autoconf, including support for objext
2816 * Can now put `.' in SUBDIRS to control build order
2817 * `include' command and `+=' support for macro assignment
2818 * Dependency tracking no long susceptible to deleted header file problem
2819 * Maintainer mode now a conditional. @MAINT@ is now an anachronism.
2824 * Better Cygwin32 support
2825 * Support for suffix rules with _SOURCES variables
2826 * New options `readme-alpha' and `check-news'; Gnits mode sets these
2827 * @LEXLIB@ no longer required when lex source seen
2828 Lex support in `missing', and new lex macro. Update your missing script.
2829 * Built-in support for assembly
2830 * aclocal gives error if `AM_' macro not found
2831 * Passed YFLAGS, not YACCFLAGS, to yacc
2832 * AM_PROG_CC_STDC does not have to come before AC_PROG_CPP
2833 * Dependencies computed as a side effect of compilation
2834 * Preliminary support for Java
2835 * DESTDIR support at "make install" time
2836 * Improved ansi2knr support; you must use the latest ansi2knr.c (included)
2840 * Better DejaGnu support
2841 * Added no-installinfo option
2842 * Added Emacs Lisp support
2843 * Added --no-force option
2844 * Included `aclocal' program
2845 * Automake will now generate rules to regenerate aclocal.m4, if appropriate
2846 * Now uses `AM_' macro names everywhere
2847 * ansi2knr option can have directory prefix (eg `../lib/ansi2knr')
2848 ansi2knr now works correctly on K&R sources
2849 * Better C++, yacc, lex support
2850 * Will compute _DEPENDENCIES variables automatically if not supplied
2851 * Will interpolate $(...) and ${...} when examining contents of a variable
2852 * .deps files now in build directory, not source directory; dependency
2853 handling generally rewritten
2854 * DATA, MANS and BUILT_SOURCES no longer included in distribution
2855 * can now put config.h into a subdir
2856 * Added dist-all target
2857 * Support for install-info program (see texinfo 3.9)
2858 * Support for "yacc -d"
2859 * configure substitutions are automatically discovered and included
2860 in generated Makefile.in
2861 * Special --cygnus mode
2862 * OMIT_DEPENDENCIES can now hold list of dependencies to be omitted
2863 when making distribution. Some dependencies are auto-ignored.
2864 * Changed how libraries are specified in _LIBRARIES variable
2865 * Full libtool support, from Gord Matzigkeit
2866 * No longer have to explicitly touch stamp-h when using AC_CONFIG_HEADER;
2867 AM_CONFIG_HEADER handles it automatically
2868 * Texinfo output files no longer need .info extension
2869 * Added `missing' support
2871 * Conditionals in Makefile.am, from Ian Taylor
2875 * distcheck target runs install and installcheck targets
2876 * Added preliminary support for DejaGnu.
2881 * More libtool fixes from Gord Matzigkeit; libtool support is still
2883 * Added support for jm_MAINTAINER_MODE
2885 * New "distcheck" target
2889 * mkinstalldirs and mdate-sh now appear in directory specified by
2891 * Removed DIST_SUBDIRS, DIST_OTHER
2892 * AC_ARG_PROGRAM only required when an actual program exists
2893 * dist-hook target now run before distribution packaged up; idea from
2894 Dieter Baron. Other hooks exist, too.
2895 * Preliminary (unfinished) support for libtool
2896 * Added short option names.
2897 * Better "dist" support when gluing together multiple packages
2901 * Documentation updates (many from François Pinard)
2902 * strictness `normal' now renamed to `foreign'
2903 * Renamed --install-missing to --add-missing
2904 * Now handles AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR
2905 * Now handles TESTS macro
2906 * DIST_OTHER renamed to EXTRA_DIST
2907 * DIST_SUBDIRS is deprecated
2908 * @ALLOCA@ and @LIBOBJS@ now work in _LDADD variables
2909 * Better error messages in many cases
2910 * Program names are canonicalized
2911 * Added "check" prefix; from Gord Matzigkeit
2915 * configure.in scanner knows about AC_PATH_XTRA, AC_OUTPUT ":" syntax
2916 * Beginnings of a test suite
2917 * Automatically adds -I options for $(srcdir), ".", and path to config.h
2918 * Doesn't print anything when running
2919 * Beginnings of MAINT_CHARSET support
2920 * Can specify version in AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS
2921 * Most errors recognizable by Emacs' M-x next-error
2922 * Added --verbose option
2923 * All "primary" variables now obsolete; use EXTRA_PRIMARY to supply
2924 configure-generated names
2925 * Required macros now distributed in aclocal.m4
2927 * --strictness=gnu is default
2931 * More sophisticated configure.in scanning; now understands ALLOCA and
2932 LIBOBJS directly, handles AC_CONFIG_HEADER more precisely, etc.
2933 * TEXINFOS and MANS now obsolete; use info_TEXINFOS and man_MANS instead.
2934 * CONFIG_HEADER variable now obsolete
2935 * Can handle multiple Texinfo sources
2936 * Allow hierarchies deeper than 2. From Gord Matzigkeit.
2937 * HEADERS variable no longer needed; now can put .h files directly into
2938 foo_SOURCES variable.
2939 * Automake automatically rebuilds files listed in AC_OUTPUT. The
2940 corresponding ".in" files are included in the distribution.
2943 * Added --gnu and --gnits options
2944 * More standards checking
2946 * Cleaned up 'dist' targets
2947 * Added AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS variable and several options
2948 * Now scans configure.in to get some information (preliminary)
2951 * Works with Perl 4 again
2954 * Added --install-missing option.
2955 * Pretty-prints generated macros and rules
2956 * Comments in Makefile.am are placed more intelligently in Makefile.in
2957 * Generates .PHONY target
2958 * Rule or macro in Makefile.am now overrides contents of Automake file
2959 * Substantial cleanups from François Pinard
2963 * Works with Perl 4 again.
2966 * New uniform naming scheme.
2967 * --strictness option
2969 * '.c' files corresponding to '.y' or '.l' files are automatically
2971 * Many bug fixes and cleanups
2974 * Allow objects to be conditionally included in libraries via lib_LIBADD.
2977 * Bug fixes in 'clean' code.
2978 * Now generates 'installdirs' target.
2979 * man page installation reworked.
2980 * 'make dist' no longer re-creates all Makefile.in's.
2983 * Reimplemented in Perl
2984 * Added --amdir option (for debugging)
2985 * Texinfo support cleaned up.
2986 * Automatic de-ANSI-fication cleaned up.
2987 * Cleaned up 'clean' targets.
2990 * Automatic dependency tracking
2991 * More documentation
2992 * New variables DATA and PACKAGEDATA
2993 * SCRIPTS installed using $(INSTALL_SCRIPT)
2994 * No longer uses double-colon rules
2996 * Changes in advance of internationalization
3000 Copyright (C) 1995-2017 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3002 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
3003 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
3004 the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
3007 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
3008 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
3009 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
3010 GNU General Public License for more details.
3012 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
3013 along with this program. If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.