1 GNU Autoconf NEWS - User visible changes.
3 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.64 (????-??-??) [stable]
4 Released by Eric Blake, based on git versions 2.63.*.
6 ** AC_LANG_ERLANG works once again (regression introduced in 2.61a).
8 ** Autotest testsuites accept an option --jobs[=N] for parallel testing.
10 ** Autotest testsuites do not attempt to write startup error messages
11 to the log file before that is opened (regression introduced in 2.63).
13 ** The following m4sugar macros are new:
16 ** The following m4sh macros are documented now:
20 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.63 (2008-09-09) [stable]
21 Released by Eric Blake, based on git versions 2.62.*.
23 ** AC_C_BIGENDIAN does not mistakenly report "universal" for some
24 bigendian hosts, a regression introduced with universal binary
27 ** AC_PATH_X now includes /lib64 and /usr/lib64 in its list of default
30 ** AC_USE_SYSTEM_EXTENSIONS no longer conflicts with an external
31 AC_DEFINE([__EXTENSIONS__]). This fixes a regression introduced in
32 2.62 when using macros such as AC_AIX that were made obsolete in
33 favor of the more portable AC_USE_SYSTEM_EXTENSIONS.
35 ** AC_CHECK_TARGET_TOOLS is usable in the non-cross-compile case.
37 ** Newly obsolete macros
38 The following macro has been marked obsolete, since current porting
39 targets can safely assume C89 semantics that signal handlers return
40 void. We have no current plans to remove the macro.
44 ** The macros m4_map and m4_map_sep now ignore any list elements
45 consisting of just empty quotes, and m4_map_sep now expands its
46 separator. This fixes a regression in 2.62 when these macros were
47 first documented, for the sake of clients expecting the semantics
48 that these macros had prior to that time. The new macros m4_mapall
49 and m4_mapall_sep, along with extra quoting of the separator, can
50 be used to get the semantics that m4_map_sep had in 2.62.
52 ** Clients of m4_expand, such as AS_HELP_STRING and AT_SETUP, can now
53 handle properly quoted but otherwise unbalanced parentheses (for
54 some macros, this fixes a regression in 2.62).
56 ** Two new quadrigraphs have been introduced: @{:@ for (, and @:}@ for ),
57 allowing the output of unbalanced parentheses in more contexts.
59 ** The following m4sugar macros are new:
60 m4_joinall m4_mapall m4_mapall_sep m4_reverse m4_set_add
61 m4_set_add_all m4_set_contains m4_set_contents m4_set_delete
62 m4_set_difference m4_set_dump m4_set_empty m4_set_foreach
63 m4_set_intersection m4_set_list m4_set_listc m4_set_remove
64 m4_set_size m4_set_union
66 ** The following m4sugar macros now accept multiple arguments, as is the
67 case with underlying m4:
68 m4_defn m4_popdef m4_undefine
70 ** The following m4sugar macros now guarantee linear scaling; they
71 previously had linear scaling with m4 1.6 but quadratic scaling
72 when using m4 1.4.x. All macros built on top of these also gain
73 the scaling improvements.
74 m4_bmatch m4_bpatsubsts m4_case m4_cond m4_do m4_dquote_elt
75 m4_foreach m4_join m4_list_cmp m4_map m4_map_sep m4_max
78 ** AT_KEYWORDS once again performs expansion on its argument, such that
79 AT_KEYWORDS([m4_if([$1], [], [default])]) no longer complains about
80 the possibly unexpanded m4_if [regression introduced in 2.62].
82 ** Config header templates `#undef UNDEFINED /* comment */' do not lead to
83 nested comments any more; regression introduced in 2.62.
86 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.62 (2008-04-05) [stable]
87 Released by Eric Blake, based on git versions 2.61a.*.
89 ** Many optimizations have been applied to make overall execution faster.
91 ** Autotest now makes use of shell functions.
93 ** config.status now uses awk instead of sed also for config headers.
95 - As a side effect, AC_DEFINE and AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED now handle multi-line
96 values, i.e., backslash-newline combinations are handled correctly.
97 Further, for config headers, the total size of values is not limited by
98 the POSIX length limit of text lines any more, only each single line.
100 ** New config variable `top_build_prefix'.
102 ** New Autoconf macros:
103 AC_AUTOCONF_VERSION AC_OPENMP AC_PATH_PROGS_FEATURE_CHECK
105 ** AC_C_BIGENDIAN now supports universal binaries a la Mac OS X.
107 ** AC_C_RESTRICT now prefers to #define 'restrict' to a variant spelling
108 like '__restrict' if the variant spelling is available, as this is
109 more likely to work when mixing C and C++ code.
111 ** AC_CHECK_ALIGNOF's type argument T is now documented better: it must
112 be a string of tokens such that "T y;" is a valid member declaration
115 ** AC_CHECK_SIZEOF now accepts objects as well as types: the general rule
116 is that sizeof (X) works, then AC_CHECK_SIZEOF (X) should work.
118 ** AC_CHECK_TYPE and AC_CHECK_TYPES now work on any C type-name; formerly,
119 they did not work for function types. In C++, they now work on any
120 type-id that can be the operand of sizeof; this is similar to C,
121 except it excludes anonymous struct and union types. Formerly,
122 some (but not all) C++ types involving anonymous struct and union
123 were accepted, though this was not documented.
125 ** AC_CONFIG_LINKS now prefers to link against files in the build tree
126 if found, and it works to link against a file of the same name in
127 the source tree, even if both trees coincide.
129 ** AC_INIT no longer alters $@; regression introduced in 2.60.
131 ** AC_USE_SYSTEM_EXTENSIONS now defines _ALL_SOURCE for Interix platforms.
133 ** AS_HELP_STRING no longer underquotes its first argument; it also handles
134 the case where the first argument contains single-quoted commas.
135 For example, "AS_HELP_STRING([-a, [--arg[=foo]]], [bar])" produces:
136 " -a, --arg[=foo] bar"
137 Additionally, the macro now takes two additional arguments,
138 indent-column and wrap-column; these should not normally be needed,
139 but can be used to fine-tune how the output text is wrapped.
141 ** AC_PROG_INSTALL now requires an install program that can install multiple
142 files into a target directory.
144 ** The command 'autoconf -' now correctly processes a file from stdin.
146 ** 'autoreconf -m' now honors $MAKE.
148 ** For all of the directory arguments for 'configure', such as '--prefix'
149 or '--bindir', trailing slashes are stripped. As an example, if
150 tab completion in the user's shell appends trailing slashes, the
151 command './configure --prefix=/usr/' will still result in an
152 expanded libdir value of /usr/lib, not /usr//lib.
154 ** `configure --help=recursive' now works in read-only trees and from
155 unconfigured build trees.
157 ** If precious variables differ only in whitespace, then the cache consistency
158 check warns instead of fails, and reuses the old value.
160 ** AT_BANNER is now documented.
162 ** AT_SETUP now handles macro expansions properly when calculating line
165 ** Autotest now determines $srcdir correctly.
167 ** Testsuites built by autotest now accept a -C/--directory=DIR option
168 to adjust the working directory prior to creating files.
170 ** Autoconf now requires GNU M4 1.4.5 or later. Earlier versions of M4 have
171 a bug in macro tracing that interferes with the interaction between
172 Autoconf and Automake. GNU M4 1.4.11 or later is recommended. The
173 configure search for a working M4 is improved.
175 ** For portability with the eventual M4 2.0, macros should no longer use
176 anything larger than $9 to refer to arguments.
178 ** Documentation for m4sugar is improved.
180 - The following macros were previously available as undocumented
181 interfaces; the macros are now documented as stable interfaces.
183 __oline__ m4_assert m4_bmatch m4_bpatsubsts m4_car m4_case
184 m4_cdr m4_default m4_divert_once m4_divert_pop m4_divert_push
185 m4_divert_text m4_do m4_errprintn m4_fatal m4_flatten
186 m4_ifndef m4_ifset m4_ifval m4_ifvaln m4_location
187 m4_n m4_shiftn m4_strip m4_warn
189 - The following macros were previously available as undocumented
190 interfaces, but had bug fixes or semantic changes as part of this
191 release. Packages that relied on the undocumented behavior
192 should be analyzed to make sure they will still work with the
193 new documented behavior.
195 m4_cmp m4_list_cmp m4_join m4_map m4_map_sep m4_sign
196 m4_text_box m4_text_wrap m4_version_compare
198 - The m4_wrap macro used to have unspecified order, but now
199 guarantees FIFO order. m4_wrap_lifo was added to guarantee LIFO
202 - Packages using the undocumented m4sugar macro m4_PACKAGE_VERSION
203 should consider using the new AC_AUTOCONF_VERSION instead.
205 - m4sugar macros that are not documented in the manual are still
206 deemed experimental, and should not be used outside of Autoconf.
208 ** The m4sugar macros m4_append and m4_append_uniq, first documented in
209 2.60, have been fixed to treat both the string and the separator
210 arguments consistently with regards to quoting. Prior to this fix,
211 m4_append_uniq could mistakenly duplicate entries if the expansion
212 of the separator resulted in a different string (for example, if it
213 contained quotes, a comma, or a macro name). However, it means
214 that programs previously using
215 m4_append([name], [string], [[, ]])
216 are now using a four-character separator instead of the intended
217 comma and space. If you need portability to earlier versions of
218 Autoconf, you can insert the following snippet after AC_INIT but
219 before any other macro expansions, to enforce the new semantics:
220 m4_pushdef([m4_append], [m4_define([$1],
221 m4_ifdef([$1], [m4_defn([$1])[$3]])[$2])])
222 Additionally, m4_append_uniq now takes optional parameters that can
223 be used to take action depending on whether anything was appended,
224 and warns if a non-empty separator occurs within the string being
225 appended, since that can lead to duplicates.
227 ** The following m4sugar macros are new:
228 m4_append_uniq_w m4_apply m4_combine m4_cond m4_count
229 m4_dquote_elt m4_echo m4_expand m4_ignore m4_make_list m4_max
230 m4_min m4_newline m4_shift2 m4_shift3 m4_unquote m4_wrap_lifo
232 ** Warnings are now generated by default when an installer invokes
233 'configure' with an unknown --enable-* or --with-* option.
234 These warnings can be disabled with the new AC_DISABLE_OPTION_CHECKING
235 macro, or by invoking 'configure' with --disable-option-checking.
237 ** Existing obsolete macros
238 The documentation for the following macros is adjusted to make it
239 more clear that they have previously been marked obsolete, as their
240 functionality can be accomplished by other macros. We have no
241 current plans to remove them from Autoconf.
243 AC_ENABLE AC_STRUCT_ST_BLKSIZE AC_STRUCT_ST_RDEV AC_WITH
245 ** Newly obsolete macros
246 The following macros have been marked obsolete, as they only
247 perform a subset of AC_USE_SYSTEM_EXTENSIONS. We have no current
248 plans to remove them.
250 AC_AIX AC_GNU_SOURCE AC_ISC_POSIX AC_MINIX
252 ** AC_C_LONG_DOUBLE is obsolescent.
253 The documentation now says that AC_C_LONG_DOUBLE is obsolescent: it
254 tests for problems that are so old that it is no longer of
255 practical importance on current systems. New programs need not use
256 AC_C_LONG_DOUBLE. We have no current plans to remove it.
258 ** AC_DIAGNOSE, AC_WARNING, and AC_FATAL are obsolescent.
259 The documentation now favors the use of M4sugar macros m4_warn and
260 m4_fatal, since the naming makes it more obvious that the
261 diagnostics are associated with M4 expansion (ie. when running
262 `autoconf'), and offers less confusion with the AC_MSG_ERROR,
263 AC_MSG_FAILURE, and AC_MSG_WARN macros which manage diagnostics
264 when running `configure'. We have no current plans to remove these
268 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.61a (2006-12-11)
270 ** AC_FUNC_FSEEKO was broken in 2.61; it didn't make fseeko and ftello visible
271 on many platforms. This has been fixed.
273 ** AC_FUNC_SETVBUF_REVERSED is now obsolete. It is still defined for backward
274 compatibility but it does nothing. The macro was already
275 obsolescent, as the last systems to have the problem were those
276 based on SVR2, which became obsolete in 1987. The macro had bugs
277 on some modern systems and could no longer be maintained reliably
278 due to lack of ancient systems to test it on.
280 ** config.status now uses awk instead of sed for most substitutions, for speed.
282 - As a side effect multi-line values of substituted variables no
283 longer have a small limit in total size, though for portability
284 each line should not exceed the POSIX length limit for text lines.
286 - It is now documented that Makefile.in should not contain
287 overlapping variable occurrences, e.g., @VAR1@VAR2@.
288 Autoconf's behavior was always iffy in such cases, and the
289 awk implementation has changed the behavior.
291 ** Many uses of 'echo' have been rewritten so that Autoconf-generated
292 scripts have fewer problems with strings or file names containing
293 embedded special characters such as backslash or leading "-". This
294 was implemented by using `printf '%s\n' "$foo"' instead of `echo
295 "$foo"' when printf works. Due to the implementation technique
296 used, Autoconf-generated scripts now run considerably more slowly
297 on ancient implementations lacking printf. However, this should
298 not be a problem, since Autoconf-generated scripts in practice
299 invariably find a more-modern shell these days.
302 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.61 (2006-11-17)
304 ** New macros AC_C_FLEXIBLE_ARRAY_MEMBER, AC_C_VARARRAYS.
306 ** AC_ARG_ENABLE and AC_ARG_WITH now allow '.' in feature and package names.
309 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.60b (2006-10-22)
312 Autoconf-generated shell scripts no longer export BIN_SH, due to
313 configuration hassles with this. Installers who need BIN_SH in
314 their environment should set it before invoking 'configure' and
315 'make'. As far as we know, this affects only Unixware installations.
317 ** Obsolescent macros
318 The documentation now says that the following macros are obsolescent,
319 as they are superseded by Gnulib:
321 AC_FUNC_FNMATCH AC_FUNC_FNMATCH_GNU AC_FUNC_GETLOADVG AC_REPLACE_FNMATCH
323 New programs should use the Gnulib counterparts of these macros.
324 We have no current plans to remove them from Autoconf.
326 ** AC_COMPUTE_INT no longer caches or reports results.
328 ** AC_CHECK_DECL now also works with aggregate objects.
330 ** AC_USE_SYSTEM_EXTENSIONS now defines _TANDEM_SOURCE for NonStop platforms.
332 ** GNU M4 1.4.7 or later is now recommended.
335 New M4sugar macro, which is more secure than the POSIX M4 maketemp.
338 Now an alias for m4_mkstemp.
340 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.60a (2006-08-25)
342 ** GNU M4 1.4.6 or later is now recommended.
344 ** The check for C99 now tests for varargs macros, as documented.
345 It also tests that the preprocessor supports 64-bit integers.
347 ** Autoconf now uses constructs like "#ifdef HAVE_STDLIB_H" rather than
348 "#if HAVE_STDLIB_H", so that it now works with "gcc -Wundef -Werror".
350 ** The functionality of the undocumented _AC_COMPUTE_INT is now provided
351 by a public and documented macro, AC_COMPUTE_INT. The parameters to the
352 two macros are different, so autoupdate will not change the old private name
353 to the new one. _AC_COMPUTE_INT may be removed in a future release.
355 ** AC_TYPE_LONG_LONG_INT and AC_TYPE_UNSIGNED_LONG_LONG_INT now require
356 that long long types be at least 64 bits wide, as C99 and tradition
357 requires. Formerly, they accepted implementations of any width.
360 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.60
362 Released 2006-06-23, by Ralf Wildenhues.
364 ** Autoconf no longer depends on whether m4wrap is FIFO (as Posix requires)
365 or LIFO (as in GNU M4 1.4.x). GNU M4 2.0 is expected to conform to Posix
366 here, so m4wrap/m4_wrap users should no longer depend on LIFO behavior.
368 ** Provide a way to turn off warnings about the changed directory variables.
370 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.59d
372 Released 2006-06-05, by Ralf Wildenhues.
374 ** GNU make now recommended for VPATH builds
375 INSTALL now suggests VPATH builds (e.g., "sh ../srcdir/configure")
376 only if you use GNU make. In practice, other 'make' implementations
377 have too many subtle incompatibilities in their support for VPATH.
378 Many packages (including Autoconf itself) are portable to other
379 'make' implementations, but some packages are not, and recommending
380 GNU make keeps the installation instructions simpler.
382 ** Even more safety checks for the new Directory variables:
383 Warn about suspicious `${datarootdir}' found in config files output.
385 ** AC_TRY_COMMAND, AC_TRY_EVAL, ac_config_guess, ac_config_sub, ac_configure
386 These never-documented macros and variables have been marked with
387 comments saying that they may be removed in a future release,
388 because their use can lead to unintended code being executed.
389 If you need functionality that only these macros or variables
390 currently supply, please write bug-autoconf@gnu.org.
392 ** AC_SUBST, AC_DEFINE
393 Literal arguments to these are passed to m4_pattern_allow now.
396 Passing 'ac_cv_prog_cc_stdc=no' to 'configure' now sets ac_cv_prog_cc_c99
397 and ac_cv_prog_cc_c89 to 'no' as well, for backward compatibility with
398 obsolete K&R tests in the Automake test suite.
407 Now more robust with special characters in file names, or when
408 multiple processes create the same directory at the same time.
410 ** Obsolescent macros
411 The documentation now says that the following macros are obsolescent:
412 they test for problems that are so old that they are no longer of
413 practical importance on current systems.
415 AC_C_BACKSLASH_A AC_FUNC_MEMCMP AC_HEADER_DIRENT
416 AC_C_CONST AC_FUNC_SELECT_ARGTYPES AC_HEADER_STAT
417 AC_C_PROTOTYPES AC_FUNC_SETPGRP AC_HEADER_STDC
418 AC_C_STRINGIZE AC_FUNC_SETVBUF_REVERSED AC_HEADER_SYS_WAIT
419 AC_C_VOLATILE AC_FUNC_STAT AC_HEADER_TIME
420 AC_FUNC_CLOSEDIR_VOID AC_FUNC_STRFTIME AC_ISC_POSIX
421 AC_FUNC_GETPGRP AC_FUNC_UTIME_NULL AC_PROG_GCC_TRADITIONAL
422 AC_FUNC_LSTAT AC_FUNC_VPRINTF AC_STRUCT_TM
424 New programs need not use these macros. We have no current plans to
428 For compatibility with future Libtool 2.0, autoreconf will invoke
429 libtoolize with the option `--ltdl' now, if LT_CONFIG_LTDL_DIR is
432 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.59c
434 Released 2006-04-12, by Ralf Wildenhues.
436 ** The configure command now redirects standard input from /dev/null,
437 to help avoid problems with subsidiary commands that might mistakenly
438 read standard input. AS_ORIGINAL_STDIN_FD points to the original
439 standard input before this redirection, if you really want configure to
440 read from standard input.
442 ** Directory variables adjusted to recent changes in the GNU Coding Standards.
443 The following directory variables are new:
445 datarootdir read-only architecture-independent data root [PREFIX/share]
446 localedir locale-specific message catalogs [DATAROOTDIR/locale]
447 docdir documentation root [DATAROOTDIR/doc/PACKAGE]
448 htmldir html documentation [DOCDIR]
449 dvidir dvi documentation [DOCDIR]
450 pdfdir pdf documentation [DOCDIR]
451 psdir ps documentation [DOCDIR]
453 The following variables have new default values:
455 datadir read-only architecture-independent data [DATAROOTDIR]
456 infodir info documentation [DATAROOTDIR/info]
457 mandir man documentation [DATAROOTDIR/man]
459 This means that if you use any of `@datadir@', `@infodir@', or
460 `@mandir@' in a file, you will have to ensure `${datarootdir}' is
461 defined in this file. As a temporary measure, if any of those are
462 found but no mention of `datarootdir', the substitutions will be
463 replaced with values that do not contain `${datarootdir}', and a
464 warning will be issued.
466 ** @top_builddir@ is now a dir name: it is always nonempty and doesn't have
467 a trailing slash. Similar change will be made to ac_top_builddir in a
468 future release; the old style value, which matches (../)*, is (and will
469 continue to be) available as ac_top_build_prefix.
472 New macro to check for support of 'typeof' syntax a la GNU C.
474 ** AC_CHECK_DECLS_ONCE, AC_CHECK_FUNCS_ONCE, AC_CHECK_HEADERS_ONCE
475 New "once-only" variants of commonly-used macros, to make 'configure'
476 smaller and faster in common cases.
479 New macro to check for strtold with C99 semantics.
482 New macro that lets builder disable assertions at 'configure'-time.
485 Now checks for X11/Xlib.h and XrmInitialize (X proper) rather than
486 X11/Intrinsic.h and XtMalloc (Xt).
488 ** AC_PRESERVE_HELP_ORDER
489 New macro that causes `configure' to display help strings for AC_ARG_ENABLE
490 and AC_ARG_WITH arguments in one region, in the order defined. The default
491 behavior is to group options of each classes separately.
493 ** AC_PROG_CC, AC_PROG_CXX
494 No longer automatically arrange to declare the 'exit' function of C,
495 when a C++ compiler is used. Standard Autoconf macros no longer use
496 'exit', so this is no longer an issue for them. If you use C++, and
497 want to call 'exit', you'll have to arrange for its declaration
498 yourself. But we now suggest you return from 'main' instead.
500 ** AC_PROG_CC_C89, AC_PROG_CC_C99
501 New macros for ISO C99 support. AC_PROG_CC_C89 and AC_PROG_CC_C99
502 check for ANSI C89 and ISO C99 support respectively.
505 Has been unobsoleted, and will check if the compiler supports ISO
506 C99, falling back to ANSI C89 if not. ac_cv_prog_cc_stdc is
507 retained for backwards compatibility, assuming the value of
508 ac_cv_prog_cc_c99 or ac_cv_prog_cc_c89 (whichever is valid, in
511 ** AC_STRUCT_DIRENT_D_INO, AC_STRUCT_DIRENT_D_TYPE
512 New macros for checking commonly-used members of struct dirent.
515 The substituted value can now contain newlines.
518 The substitution now occurs only when @variable@ is on a line by itself,
519 optionally surrounded by spaces and tabs. The whole line is replaced.
521 ** AC_TYPE_LONG_DOUBLE, AC_TYPE_LONG_DOUBLE_WIDER
522 New macros to check for long double, and whether it is wider than double.
523 The old macro AC_C_TYPE_LONG_DOUBLE has been marked as obsolete;
524 applications should switch to the new macro.
526 ** AC_TYPE_INT8_T, AC_TYPE_INT16_T, AC_TYPE_INT32_T, AC_TYPE_INT64_T,
527 AC_TYPE_INTMAX_T, AC_TYPE_INTPTR_T, AC_TYPE_LONG_LONG_INT, AC_TYPE_SSIZE_T,
528 AC_TYPE_UINT8_T, AC_TYPE_UINT16_T, AC_TYPE_UINT32_T, AC_TYPE_UINT64_T,
529 AC_TYPE_UINTMAX_T, AC_TYPE_UINTPTR_T, AC_TYPE_UNSIGNED_LONG_LONG_INT
530 New macros to check for C99 and POSIX types.
532 ** AC_USE_SYSTEM_EXTENSIONS
533 New macro to enable extensions to Posix.
536 New macro which is defined to the name of the first declared config header
537 or undefined if no config headers have been declared yet.
540 The macro correctly handles quadrigraphs now.
542 ** AS_BOURNE_COMPATIBLE, AS_SHELL_SANITIZE, AS_CASE
543 These macros are new or published now.
546 New macro for copyright notices in testsuite files.
548 ** ALLOCA, LIBOBJS, LTLIBOBJS
549 Object names added to these variables are now prefixed with `${LIBOBJDIR}',
550 as in `${LIBOBJDIR}alloca.o'. LIBOBJDIR is meant to be defined from
551 `Makefile.in' in case the object files lie in a different directory.
552 The LIBOBJDIR feature is experimental.
555 Supports --no-recursive now.
557 ** New macros to support Erlang/OTP.
558 New macros for configuring paths to Erlang tools and libraries:
559 AC_ERLANG_PATH_ERLC, AC_ERLANG_NEED_ERLC, AC_ERLANG_PATH_ERL,
560 AC_ERLANG_NEED_ERL, AC_ERLANG_CHECK_LIB, AC_ERLANG_SUBST_ROOT_DIR,
561 AC_ERLANG_SUBST_LIB_DIR.
563 New macros for configuring installation of Erlang libraries:
564 AC_ERLANG_SUBST_INSTALL_LIB_DIR, AC_ERLANG_SUBST_INSTALL_LIB_SUBDIR.
566 ** The manual now mentions Gnulib more prominently.
568 ** New macros to support Objective C.
569 AC_PROG_OBJC, AC_PROG_OBJCPP.
571 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.59b
573 Released 2004-08-20, by Paul Eggert.
576 New macro that computes the default alignment of a type.
578 ** AC_CHECK_TOOL, AC_PATH_TOOL, AC_CHECK_TOOLS
579 When cross-compiling, these macros will give a warning if the tool
580 is not prefixed. In the future, unprefixed cross tools will not
581 be detected; please consult the info documentation for information
582 about the reason of this change.
584 ** AC_CHECK_TARGET_TOOL, AC_PATH_TARGET_TOOL, AC_CHECK_TARGET_TOOLS
585 New macros that detect programs whose name is prefixed with the
586 target type, if the build type and target type are different.
588 ** AC_REQUIRE_AUX_FILE
589 New trace macro that declares expected auxiliary files.
592 New macro that tests for a grep program that accepts as a long a line
595 ** AC_PROG_EGREP, AC_PROG_FGREP
596 These macros now require AC_PROG_GREP, and try EGREP="$GREP -E" and
597 FGREP="$GREP -F" respectively if possible, or else run a path search for
598 a program that accepts as long a line as possible.
601 New macro that tests for a sed program that truncates as few characters
604 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.59
606 Released 2003-11-04, by Akim Demaille
608 ** ac_abs_builddir etc.
609 Absolute file names were actually relative in 2.58.
611 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.58
613 Released 2003-11-04, by Akim Demaille
616 core.* files are no longer removed, as they may be valid user files.
618 ** autoreconf and auxiliary directory
619 Autoreconf creates the auxiliary directory if needed. This is
620 especially useful for initial "bootstrapping" of fresh CVS checkouts.
622 ** AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR
623 Use this macro to declare the directory for local M4 macros for aclocal.
626 No longer includes twice the same file in LIBOBJS if invoked
629 ** AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS
630 The directory for its first argument is automatically created. For
633 AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS([src/modules.hh], [...])
635 $top_builddir/src/ is created if needed.
637 ** Autotest and local.at
638 The optional file local.at is always included in Autotest test suites.
641 The warnings are always issued, including with cached runs.
642 This became a significant problem since aclocal and automake can
643 run autoconf behind the scene.
645 ** autoheader warnings
646 The warnings of autoheader can be turned off, using --warning.
647 For instance, -Wno-obsolete disables the complaints about acconfig.h
648 and other deprecated constructs.
651 AC_C_RESTRICT, AC_INCLUDES_DEFAULT, AC_LANG_ASSERT, AC_LANG_WERROR,
654 ** AC_DECL_SYS_SIGLIST
658 Now checks that mktime is the inverse of localtime.
660 ** Improve DJGPP portability
661 The Autoconf tools and configure behave better under DJGPP.
663 ** Present But Cannot Be Compiled
664 New FAQ section dedicated to the mystic
666 configure: WARNING: pi.h: present but cannot be compiled
667 configure: WARNING: pi.h: check for missing prerequisite headers?
668 configure: WARNING: pi.h: proceeding with the preprocessor's result
671 ** Concurrent executions of autom4te
672 autom4te now locks its internal files, which enables concurrent
673 executions of autom4te, likely to happen if automake, autoconf,
674 autoheader etc. are run simultaneously.
677 Use of Libtool 1.5 and higher is encouraged. Compatibility with
678 Libtool pre-1.4 is not checked.
681 Testsuites no longer rerun failed tests in verbose mode; instead,
682 failures are logged while the test is run.
684 In addition, expected failures can be marked as such.
686 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.57
688 Released 2002-12-03 by Paul Eggert.
690 Bug fixes for problems with AIX linker, with freestanding C compilers,
691 with GNU M4 limitations, and with obsolete copies of GNU documents.
693 The Free Documentation License has been upgraded from 1.1 to 1.2.
695 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.56
697 Released 2002-11-15 by Akim Demaille.
699 One packaging problem fixed (config/install-sh was not executable).
701 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.55
703 Released 2002-11-14 by Akim Demaille.
707 Have your configure.ac checked by autoscan ("autoscan").
708 Try the warning options ("autoreconf -fv -Wall").
712 - AC_CHECK_HEADER, AC_CHECK_HEADERS
713 More information on proper use.
715 - Writing Test Programs
717 This sections explains how to write good test sources to use with
718 AC_COMPILE_IFELSE etc. It documents AC_LANG_PROGRAM and so forth.
720 - AC_FOO_IFELSE vs. AC_TRY_FOO
722 Explains why Autoconf moves from AC_TRY_COMPILE etc. to
723 AC_COMPILE_IFELSE and AC_LANG_PROGRAM etc.
727 - Is more robust to different Gettext installations.
729 - Produces messages (when --verbose) to be understood by Emacs'
732 - Supports -W/--warnings.
735 Once the GNU Build System reinstalled, run `./config.status
736 --recheck && ./config.status && make' if possible.
740 - Supports --cache, and --no-cache.
742 - ~/.autom4te.cfg makes it possible to disable the caching mechanism
743 (autom4te.cache). See `Customizing autom4te' in the documentation.
750 Support for the obsoleted options -m, --macrodir, -l, --localdir is
751 dropped in favor of the safer --include/--prepend-include scheme.
756 AC_COMPILER_IFELSE, AC_FUNC_MBRTOWC, AC_HEADER_STDBOOL,
757 AC_LANG_CONFTEST, AC_LANG_SOURCE, AC_LANG_PROGRAM, AC_LANG_CALL,
758 AC_LANG_FUNC_TRY_LINK, AC_MSG_FAILURE, AC_PREPROC_IFELSE.
761 Obsoleted macros are kept for Autoconf backward compatibility, but
762 should be avoided in configure.ac. Running autoupdate is advised.
765 - AC_DEFINE/AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED
767 We have to stop using the old compatibility scheme --that tried to
768 avoid useless backslashes-- because Libtool 1.4.3 contains a
770 AC_DEFINE([error_t], [int],
771 [Define to a type to use for \`error_t' if it is not
772 otherwise available.])
774 We have to quote the single quotes and backslashes with \. The old
775 compatibility scheme saw that ` was backslashed, and therefore did
776 not quote the single quote... Failure. Hence, Autoconf 2.54 is not
777 compatible with Libtool. Autoconf 2.55 is, but in some cases might
778 produce more \ than wanted.
780 Please, note that in the future the same problem will happen with
781 AC_MSG_*: use `autoreconf -f -Wall'.
785 - Portability of the Autoconf package to Solaris.
787 - Spurious warnings caused by config.status.
788 This bug is benign, but painful: on some systems (typically
789 FreeBSD), warnings such as:
791 config.status: creating Makefile
792 mv: Makefile: set owner/group (was: 1357/0): Operation not permitted
794 could be issued. This is fixed.
797 Simultaneous executions of config.status are possible again.
799 - Precious variables accumulation
801 config.status could stack several copies of the precious variables
805 ** Plans for later versions
809 The compatibility hooks with the old scheme will be completely
810 removed. Please, advice/use `--build', `--host', and `--target'
813 - AC_CHECK_HEADER, AC_CHECK_HEADERS
815 The tests will be stricter, please make sure your invocations are
820 Shell functions will gradually be introduced, probably starting with
821 Autotest. If you know machines which are in use that you suspect
822 *not* to support shell functions, please run the test suite of
823 Autoconf 2.55 on it, and report the results to
824 bug-autoconf@gnu.org.
828 Special characters in AC_MSG_* need not be quoted. Currently,
829 Autoconf has heuristics to decide when a string is escaped, or has
830 to be escaped. This scheme is fragile, and will be removed; the
831 only risk is uglified messages. Please, run `autoreconf -f -Wall'
832 to find occurrences that will be affected.
834 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.54
836 Released 2002-09-13 by Akim Demaille.
840 - autoreconf no longer changes the version of the gettext/po/intl
841 support files. It now adds the files the correspond to the
842 AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION declared in configure.ac.
844 Warning: It now relies on the 'autopoint' program, which is part
845 of GNU gettext 0.11.4 and newer.
847 Please note that you need to have a GNU gettext version that
848 corresponds at least to the AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION declared
849 in configure.ac. You can upgrade to newer GNU gettext versions,
850 though, without needing to change configure.ac.
852 - The -I DIR or --include=DIR option now appends DIR to the include path
853 instead of prepending; this is for consistency with other GNU tools.
854 The new -B DIR or --prepend-include=DIR option has the old behavior.
859 Now handles all the gory details about LIBOBJS and LTLIBOBJS.
860 Please, remove lines such as
862 # This is necessary so that .o files in LIBOBJS are also
863 # built via the ANSI2KNR-filtering rules.
864 LIBOBJS=`echo $LIBOBJS|sed 's/\.o /\$U.o /g;s/\.o$/\$U.o/'`
866 and read the `AC_LIBOBJ vs LIBOBJS' section. Do not define U in
867 your Makefiles either.
869 - AC_CONFIG_LINKS now makes copies if it can't make links.
871 - AC_FUNC_FNMATCH now tests only for POSIX compatibility, reverting to
872 Autoconf 2.13 behavior. The new macro AC_FUNC_FNMATCH_GNU also
873 tests for GNU extensions to fnmatch, and replaces fnmatch if needed.
875 - AC_FUNC_SETVBUF_REVERSED no longer fails when cross-compiling.
877 - AC_PROG_CC_STDC is integrated into AC_PROG_CC.
879 - AC_PROG_F77 default search no longer includes cf77 and cfg77.
883 AC_C_BACKSLASH_A, AC_CONFIG_LIBOBJ_DIR, AC_GNU_SOURCE,
884 AC_PROG_EGREP, AC_PROG_FGREP, AC_REPLACE_FNMATCH,
885 AC_FUNC_FNMATCH_GNU, AC_FUNC_REALLOC, AC_TYPE_MBSTATE_T.
888 looks for getloadavg.c in the CONFIG_LIBOBJ_DIR.
891 Now defines HAVE_MALLOC to 0 if `malloc' does not work, and asks
892 for an AC_LIBOBJ replacement.
896 - Spurious complaints from `m4_bmatch' about invalid regular
897 expressions are suppressed.
899 - Empty top_builddirs are properly handled.
901 - AC_CHECK_MEMBER works correctly when the member is an aggregate.
904 Now colon in the optional path arguments are properly handled.
906 ** Improved portability
908 - Both Autoconf the package, and the scripts it produces, should run
909 more reliably with Zsh. Bear in mind it is the default Bourne shell
912 - Autoconf and the scripts it produces no longer assume the existence of
913 the obsolescent commands egrep and fgrep.
917 - Limitations of Make
921 The GNATS base moved to
922 http://bugs.gnu.org/cgi-bin/gnatsweb.pl?database=autoconf
923 (It is no longer available, though.)
928 Now contains the list of ouput variables and files (AC_SUBST,
931 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.53
933 Released 2002-03-08 by Akim Demaille.
937 Perl 5.005_03 or later is required: autom4te is written in Perl and is
938 needed by autoconf. autoheader, autoreconf, ifnames, and autoscan are
944 Argument requirements, output variables, defined macros.
945 - M4sugar, M4sh, Autotest
947 - Double quoting macros
948 AC_TRY_CPP, AC_TRY_COMPILE, AC_TRY_LINK and AC_TRY_RUN.
950 The Autoconf manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
951 - Section `Hosts and Cross-Compilation'
952 Explains the rationale for the 2.5x changes in the cross-compilation
953 chain, and in the relationships between build, host, and target
955 Emphasizes that `cross-compilation' == `--host is given'.
956 If you are working on compilers etc., be sure to read this section.
957 - Section `AC_LIBOBJ vs. LIBOBJS'
958 Explains why assigning LIBOBJS directly is now an error.
959 Details how to update the code.
964 Now used instead of hard coded line numbers.
965 This eases the comparison of `configure's, and diminishes the
966 pressure over control version archives.
967 Automatic replacement for shells that don't support this feature.
968 - New output variables
969 @builddir@, @top_builddir@, @abs_srcdir@, @abs_top_srcdir@, @abs_builddir@,
974 Autoconf and Autotest modes are provided.
979 New, used by the Autoconf suite to cache and speed up most processing.
981 Supported by autom4te, autoconf and autoheader.
983 Replaces --autoconf-dir and --localdir in autoconf, autoheader,
984 autoupdate, and autoreconf.
986 No longer passes --cygnus, --foreign, --gnits, --gnu, --include-deps:
987 automake options are to be given via AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS.
989 Runs gettextize and libtoolize when appropriate.
991 --m4dir is no longer supported.
993 Now runs only in the specified directories, defaulting to `.',
994 but understands AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS for dependent directories.
995 Before, it used to run on all the `configure.ac' found in the
997 Independent packages are properly updated.
1001 - The top level $prefix is propagated to the AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS configures.
1003 Under the user pressure, $? is finally available. Probably a mistake.
1004 - AC_F77_LIBRARY_LDFLAGS now supports the HP/UX f90 compiler.
1005 - Precious variables accumulation
1006 config.status could stack several copies of the precious variables
1008 - AC_PATH_PROG and family.
1009 Works properly when given a literal path.
1011 Somewhere since 2.13, the result had been reversed.
1015 - AC_C_BIGENDIAN supports the cross-compiling case.
1016 - AC_C_BIGENDIAN accepts ACTION-IF-TRUE, ACTION-IF-FALSE, and
1017 ACTION-IF-UNKNOWN arguments. All are facultative, and the default
1018 for ACTION-IF-TRUE is to define WORDS_BIGENDIAN like AC_C_BIGENDIAN
1020 - AC_C_LONG_DOUBLE now succeeds only if `long double' has more range or
1021 precision than `double'.
1026 It now defines the preprocessor symbols PACKAGE_NAME,
1027 PACKAGE_TARNAME, PACKAGE_VERSION, PACKAGE_STRING, and
1031 Admits a fourth optional parameter: the tar name.
1033 - AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS, HEADERS, FILES, LINKS.
1034 Provide the user with srcdir, ac_srcdir, ac_top_srcdir, ac_builddir,
1035 ac_top_builddir, ac_abs_srcdir, ac_abs_top_srcdir, ac_abs_builddir,
1036 ac_abs_top_builddir.
1038 - AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS, HEADERS, FILES, LINKS and AC_OUTPUT.
1039 Are much less expensive when using long lists of files.
1042 Works with shell variables, and non alphanumeric names.
1046 - AC_FUNC_STRERROR_R now sets STRERROR_R_CHAR_P, not HAVE_WORKING_STRERROR_R,
1047 because POSIX 1003.1-200x draft 7 says strerror_r returns int, not char *.
1049 - AC_FUNC_STRTOD substitutes POW_LIB.
1054 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.52
1056 Released 2001-07-18 by Akim Demaille.
1061 This feature was present in autoconf 2.50 but was not documented.
1062 For example, `@<:@' is translated to `[' just before output. This
1063 is useful when writing strings that contain unbalanced quotes, or
1064 other hard-to-quote constructs.
1065 - m4_pattern_forbid, m4_pattern_allow
1066 - Tips for upgrading from 2.13.
1067 - Using autoscan to maintain a configure.ac.
1070 - Now include stdint.h.
1071 - sys/types.h and sys/stat.h are guarded.
1072 - strings.h is included if available, and not conflicting with string.h.
1075 - The test suite is more robust and presents less false failures.
1076 - Invocation of GNU M4 now robust to POSIXLY_CORRECT.
1077 - configure accepts --prefix='' again.
1078 - AC_CHECK_LIB works properly when its first argument is not a
1080 - HAVE_INTTYPES_H is defined only if not conflicting with sys/types.h.
1081 - build_, host_, and target_alias are AC_SUBST as in 2.13.
1082 - AC_ARG_VAR properly propagates precious variables inherited from the
1083 environment to ./config.status.
1084 - Using --program-suffix/--program-prefix is portable.
1085 - Failures to detect the default compiler's output extension are less
1087 - `config.status foo' works properly when `foo' depends on variables
1088 set in an AC_CONFIG_THING INIT-CMD.
1089 - autoheader is more robust to broken input.
1090 - Fixed Fortran name-mangling and link tests on a number of systems,
1091 e.g. NetBSD; see AC_F77_DUMMY_MAIN, below.
1094 - AC_CHECK_HEADER and AC_CHECK_HEADERS support a fourth argument to
1095 specify pre-includes. In this case, the headers are compiled with
1096 cc, not merely preprocessed by cpp. Therefore it is the _usability_
1097 of a header which is checked for, not just its availability.
1098 - AC_ARG_VAR refuses to run configure when precious variables have
1100 - Versions of compilers are dumped in the logs.
1101 - AC_CHECK_TYPE recognizes use of `foo_t' as a replacement type.
1104 - AC_PATH_XTRA only adds -ldnet to $LIBS if it's needed to link.
1105 - AC_FUNC_WAIT3 and AC_SYS_RESTARTABLE_SYSCALLS are obsoleted.
1106 - AM_FUNC_ERROR_AT_LINE, AM_FUNC_FNMATCH, AM_FUNC_MKTIME,
1107 AM_FUNC_OBSTACK, and AM_FUNC_STRTOD are now activated.
1108 Be sure to read `Upgrading from Version 2.13' to understand why
1109 running `autoupdate' is needed.
1110 - AC_F77_DUMMY_MAIN, AC_F77_MAIN: new macros to detect whether
1111 a main-like routine is required/possible when linking C/C++ with
1112 Fortran. Users of e.g. AC_F77_WRAPPERS should be aware of these.
1113 - AC_FUNC_GETPGRG behaves better when cross-compiling.
1115 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.51
1116 There was no release of Autoconf 2.51 since some packagers had used
1117 this version number without permission to ship intermediary versions
1118 of 2.50. The version was skipped to avoid confusion.
1120 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.50
1122 Released 2001-05-21 by Akim Demaille.
1124 ** Lots of bug fixes
1125 There have been far too many to enumerate them here. Check out
1126 ChangeLog if you really want to know more.
1128 ** Improved documentation
1129 In particular, portability issues are better covered.
1132 All the standard GNU Makefile targets are supported. The layout has
1133 changed: m4/ holds the M4 extensions Autoconf needs for its
1134 configuration, doc/ contains the documentation, and tests/ contains
1137 ** Man pages are provided
1138 For autoconf, autoreconf, autoupdate, autoheader, autoscan, ifnames,
1139 config.guess, config.sub.
1143 Provides a safe and powerful means to trace the macro uses. This
1144 provide the parsing layer for tools which need to `study'
1148 Specify what category of warnings should be enabled.
1150 - When recursing into subdirectories, try for configure.gnu before
1151 configure to adapt for packages not using autoconf on case-insensitive
1155 More errors are now caught (circular AC_REQUIRE dependencies,
1156 AC_DEFINE in the action part of an AC_CACHE_CHECK, too many pops
1157 etc.). In addition, their location and call stack are given.
1160 autoupdate is much more powerful, and is able to provide the glue code
1161 which might be needed to move from an old macro to its newer
1164 You are strongly encouraged to use it to modernize both your
1165 `configure.in' and your .m4 extension files.
1168 The internal machinery of autoheader has completely changed. As a
1169 result, using `acconfig.h' should be considered to be obsoleted, and
1170 you are encouraged to get rid of it using the AH macros.
1175 ** Fortran 77 compilers
1176 Globally, the support for Fortran 77 is considerably improved.
1178 Support for automatically determining a Fortran 77 compiler's
1179 name-mangling scheme. New CPP macros F77_FUNC and F77_FUNC_ are
1180 provided to wrap C/C++ identifiers, thus making it easier and more
1181 transparent for C/C++ to call Fortran 77 routines, and Fortran 77 to
1182 call C/C++ routines. See the Texinfo documentation for details.
1185 The test suite no longer uses DejaGNU. It should be easy to submit
1186 test cases in this new framework.
1189 - --help, --help=long, -hl
1190 no longer dumps useless items.
1192 lists only specific options.
1193 - --help=recursive, -hr
1194 displays the help of all the embedded packages.
1195 - Remembers environment variables when reconfiguring.
1196 The previous scheme to set envvar before running configure was
1198 what prevented configure from remembering the environment in which
1199 it was run, therefore --recheck was run in an inconsistent
1200 environment. Now, one should run
1202 and then --recheck will work properly. Variables declared with
1203 AC_ARG_VAR are also preserved.
1205 $build defaults to `config.guess`, $host to $build, and then $target
1207 Cross-compilation is a global status of the package, it no longer
1208 depends upon the current language.
1209 Cross compilation is enabled iff the user specified `--host'.
1210 `configure' now fails if it can't run the executables it compiles,
1211 unless cross-compilation is enabled.
1213 The cache file is disabled by default. The new options
1214 `--config-cache', `-C' set the cache to `config.cache'.
1218 Much faster on most architectures.
1219 - concurrent executions
1220 It is safe to use `make -j' with config.status.
1221 - human interface improved
1222 It is possible to invoke
1223 ./config.status foobar
1224 instead of the former form (still valid)
1225 CONFIG_COMMANDS= CONFIG_HEADERS= CONFIG_LINKS= \
1226 CONFIG_FILES=foobar:foo.in:bar.in \
1228 The same holds for configuration headers and links.
1229 You can instantiate unknown files and headers:
1230 ./config.status --header foo.h:foo.h.in --file bar:baz
1231 - has a useful --help
1232 - accepts special file name "-" for stdin/stdout
1237 Specify additional copyright information.
1240 Now expects the identity of the package as argument.
1244 Most macros, if not all, now strictly follow the `one quotation
1245 level' rule. This results in a more predictable expansion.
1248 A sly bug in the AC_REQUIRE machinery, which could produce incorrect
1249 configure scripts, was fixed by Axel Thimm.
1253 Document and ask for the registration of an envvar.
1256 Specifies the file which `configure' should look for when trying to
1257 find the source tree (used to be handled by AC_INIT).
1259 - AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS
1260 To add new actions to config.status. Should be used instead of
1264 Replaces AC_LINK_FILES.
1266 - AC_CONFIG_HEADERS, AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS, AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS,
1267 AC_CONFIG_LINKS, and AC_CONFIG_FILES
1268 They now obey sh: you should no longer use shell variables as
1269 argument. Instead of
1271 test "$package_foo_enabled" = yes && $my_subdirs="$my_subdirs foo"
1272 AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS($my_subdirs)
1276 if test "$package_foo_enabled" = yes; then
1277 AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS(foo)
1281 To format an Autoconf macro's help string so that it looks pretty
1282 when the user executes `configure --help'.
1285 ** Generic Test Macros
1287 The interface of the AC_CHECK families of macros (decl, header,
1288 type, member, func) is now uniform. They support the same set of
1291 - AC_CHECK_DECL, AC_CHECK_DECLS
1292 To check whether a symbol is declared.
1294 - AC_CHECK_SIZEOF, AC_C_CHAR_UNSIGNED.
1295 No longer need a cross-compilation default.
1298 The test it performs is much more robust than previously, and makes
1299 it possible to test builtin types in addition to typedefs.
1300 It is now schizophrenic:
1301 - AC_CHECK_TYPE(TYPE, REPLACEMENT)
1302 remains for backward compatibility, but its use is discouraged.
1303 - AC_CHECK_TYPE(TYPE, IF-FOUND, IF-NOT-FOUND, INCLUDES)
1304 behaves exactly like the other AC_CHECK macros.
1307 Checks whether given types are supported by the system.
1309 - AC_CHECK_MEMBER, AC_CHECK_MEMBERS
1310 Check for given members in aggregates (e.g., pw_gecos in struct
1314 Checks if the compiler supports ISO C, included when needs special
1318 Checking whether the preprocessor indicates missing includes by the
1319 error code. stderr is checked by AC_TRY_CPP only as a fallback.
1322 Takes a language as argument and replaces AC_LANG_C,
1323 AC_LANG_CPLUSPLUS and AC_LANG_FORTRAN77.
1325 - AC_LANG_PUSH, AC_LANG_POP
1326 Are preferred to AC_LANG_SAVE, AC_LANG_RESTORE.
1329 - AC_FUNC_CHOWN, AC_FUNC_MALLOC, AC_FUNC_STRERROR_R,
1330 AC_FUNC_LSTAT_FOLLOWS_SLASHED_SYMLINK, AC_FUNC_STAT, AC_FUNC_LSTAT,
1331 AC_FUNC_ERROR_AT_LINE, AC_FUNC_OBSTACK, AC_FUNC_STRTOD, AC_FUNC_FSEEKO.
1335 Sets GETGROUPS_LIBS.
1337 - AC_FUNC_GETLOADAVG
1338 Defines `HAVE_STRUCT_NLIST_N_UN_N_NAME' instead of `NLIST_NAME_UNION'.
1341 Now integrates `AC_DECL_YYTEXT' which is obsoleted.
1344 Arrange for large-file support.
1346 - AC_EXEEXT, AC_OBJEXT
1347 You are no longer expected to use them: their computation is
1348 performed by default.
1350 ** C++ compatibility
1351 Every macro has been revisited in order to support at best CC=c++.
1353 Major changes in Autoconf 2.14:
1354 There was no release of GNU Autoconf 2.14.
1356 Major changes in Autoconf 2.13:
1358 Released 1999-05-01 by Ben Elliston.
1360 * Support for building on Win32 systems where the only available C or
1361 C++ compiler is the Microsoft Visual C++ command line compiler
1362 (`cl'). Additional support for building on Win32 systems which are
1363 using the Cygwin or Mingw32 environments.
1364 * Support for alternative object file and executable file extensions.
1365 On Win32, for example, these are .obj and .exe. These are discovered
1366 using AC_OBJEXT and AC_EXEEXT, which substitute @OBJEXT@ and
1367 @EXEEXT@ in the output, respectively.
1368 * New macros: AC_CACHE_LOAD, AC_CACHE_SAVE, AC_FUNC_SELECT_ARGTYPES,
1369 AC_VALIDATE_CACHED_SYSTEM_TUPLE, AC_SEARCH_LIBS, AC_TRY_LINK_FUNC,
1370 AC_C_STRINGIZE, AC_CHECK_FILE(S), AC_PROG_F77 (and friends).
1371 * AC_DEFINE now has an optional third argument for a description to be
1372 placed in the config header input file (e.g. config.h.in).
1373 * The C++ code fragment compiled for the C++ compiler test had to be
1374 improved to include an explicit return type for main(). This was
1375 causing failures on systems using recent versions of the EGCS C++
1377 * Fixed an important bug in AC_CHECK_TYPE that would cause a configure
1378 script to report that `sometype_t' was present when only `type_t'
1380 * Merge of the FSF version of config.guess and config.sub to modernize
1381 these scripts. Add support for a few new hosts in config.guess.
1382 Incorporate latest versions of install-sh, mkinstalldirs and
1383 texinfo.tex from the FSF.
1384 * autoreconf is capable of running automake if necessary (and
1386 * Support for Fortran 77. See the Texinfo documentation for details.
1387 * Bug fixes and workarounds for quirky bugs in vendor utilities.
1389 Major changes in Autoconf 2.12:
1391 Released 1996-11-26 by David J. MacKenzie
1393 * AC_OUTPUT and AC_CONFIG_HEADER can create output files by
1394 concatenating multiple input files separated by colons, like so:
1395 AC_CONFIG_HEADER(config.h:conf.pre:config.h.in:conf.post)
1396 AC_OUTPUT(Makefile:Makefile.in:Makefile.rules)
1397 The arguments may be shell variables, to compute the lists on the fly.
1398 * AC_LINK_FILES and AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS may be called multiple times.
1399 * New macro AC_OUTPUT_COMMANDS adds more commands to run in config.status.
1402 Major changes in Autoconf 2.11:
1404 Released November 18th, 1996, by David J. MacKenzie
1406 * AC_PROG_CC and AC_PROG_CXX check whether the compiler works.
1407 They also default CFLAGS/CXXFLAGS to "-g -O2" for gcc, instead of "-g -O".
1408 * AC_REPLACE_FUNCS defines HAVE_foo if the system has the function `foo'.
1409 * AC_CONFIG_HEADER expands shell variables in its argument.
1410 * New macros: AC_FUNC_FNMATCH, AC_FUNC_SETPGRP.
1411 * The "checking..." messages and the source code for test programs that
1412 fail are saved in config.log.
1413 * Another workaround has been added for seds with small command length limits.
1414 * config.sub and config.guess recognize more system types.
1417 Major changes in Autoconf 2.10:
1419 Released May 7th, 1996, by Roland McGrath
1422 * The cache variable names used by `AC_CHECK_LIB(LIB, FUNC, ...)' has
1423 changed: now $ac_cv_lib_LIB_FUNC, previously $ac_cv_lib_LIB.
1425 Major changes in Autoconf 2.9:
1427 Released March 16th, 1996, by Roland McGrath
1431 Major changes in Autoconf 2.8:
1433 Released March 8th, 1996, by Roland McGrath
1437 Major changes in Autoconf 2.7:
1439 Released November 22nd, 1995, by David J. MacKenzie
1443 Major changes in Autoconf 2.6:
1445 Released November 20th, 1995, by David J. MacKenzie
1449 Major changes in Autoconf 2.5:
1451 Released November 17th, 1995, by Roland McGrath
1453 * New configure options --bindir, --libdir, --datadir, etc., with
1454 corresponding output variables.
1455 * New macro: AC_CACHE_CHECK, to make using the cache easier.
1456 * config.log contains the command being run as well as any output from it.
1457 * AC_CHECK_LIB can check for libraries with "." or "/" or "+" in their name.
1458 * AC_PROG_INSTALL doesn't cache a name for install-sh, for sharing caches.
1459 * AC_CHECK_PROG, AC_PATH_PROG, AC_CHECK_PROGS, AC_PATH_PROGS, and
1460 AC_CHECK_TOOL can search a path other than $PATH.
1461 * AC_CHECK_SIZEOF takes an optional size to use when cross-compiling.
1463 Major changes in Autoconf 2.4:
1465 Released June 14th, 1995, by David J. MacKenzie
1467 * Fix a few bugs found by Emacs testers.
1469 Major changes in Autoconf 2.3:
1471 Released March 27th, 1995, by David J. MacKenzie
1473 * Fix the cleanup trap in several ways.
1474 * Handle C compilers that are picky about option placement.
1475 * ifnames gets the version number from the right directory.
1477 Major changes in Autoconf 2.2:
1479 Released March 8th, 1995, by David J. MacKenzie
1481 * The ifnames utility is much faster but requires a "new awk" interpreter.
1482 * AC_CHECK_LIB and AC_HAVE_LIBRARY check and add the new
1483 library before existing libs, not after, in case it uses them.
1484 * New macros: AC_FUNC_GETPGRP, AC_CHECK_TOOL.
1485 * Lots of bug fixes.
1486 * Many additions to the TODO file :-)
1488 Major changes in Autoconf 2.1:
1490 Released November 4th, 1994, by David J. MacKenzie
1493 * More explanations in the manual.
1494 * Fix a spurious failure in the testsuite.
1495 * Clarify some warning messages.
1496 * autoreconf by default only rebuilds configure and config.h.in files
1497 that are older than any of their particular input files; there is a
1498 --force option to use after installing a new version of Autoconf.
1500 Thanks to everybody who's submitted changes and additions to Autoconf!
1501 I've incorporated many of them, and am still considering others for
1502 future releases -- but I didn't want to postpone this release indefinitely.
1504 Caution: don't indiscriminately rebuild configure scripts with
1505 Autoconf version 2. Some configure.in files need minor adjustments to
1506 work with it; the documentation has a chapter on upgrading. A few
1507 configure.in files, including those for GNU Emacs and the GNU C
1508 Library, need major changes because they relied on undocumented
1509 internals of version 1. Future releases of those packages will have
1510 updated configure.in files.
1512 It's best to use GNU M4 1.3 (or later) with Autoconf version 2.
1513 Autoconf now makes heavy use of M4 diversions, which were implemented
1514 inefficiently in GNU M4 releases before 1.3.
1516 Major changes in Autoconf 2.0:
1518 Released October 26th, 1994, by David J. MacKenzie
1520 ** New copyright terms:
1521 * There are no restrictions on distribution or use of configure scripts.
1524 * Autoconf manual is reorganized to make information easier to find
1525 and has several new indexes.
1526 * INSTALL is reorganized and clearer and is now made from Texinfo source.
1529 * autoscan to generate a preliminary configure.in for a package by
1530 scanning its source code for commonly used nonportable functions,
1531 programs, and header files.
1532 * ifnames to list the symbols used in #if and #ifdef directives in a
1534 * autoupdate to update a configure.in to use the version 2 macro names.
1535 * autoreconf to recursively remake configure and configuration header
1536 files in a source tree.
1538 ** Changed utilities:
1539 * autoheader can take pieces of acconfig.h to replace config.h.{top,bot}.
1540 * autoconf and autoheader can look for package-local definition files
1541 in an alternate directory.
1544 * AC_CACHE_VAL to share results of tests between configure runs.
1545 * AC_DEFUN to define macros, automatically AC_PROVIDE them, and ensure
1546 that macros invoked with AC_REQUIRE don't interrupt other macros.
1547 * AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR, AC_CANONICAL_SYSTEM, AC_CANONICAL_HOST, AC_LINK_FILES to
1548 support deciding unguessable features based on the host and target types.
1549 * AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS to recursively configure a source tree.
1550 * AC_ARG_PROGRAM to use the options --program-prefix,
1551 --program-suffix, and --program-transform-name to change the names
1552 of programs being installed.
1553 * AC_PREFIX_DEFAULT to change the default installation prefix.
1554 * AC_TRY_COMPILE to compile a test program without linking it.
1555 * AC_CHECK_TYPE to check whether sys/types.h or stdlib.h defines a given type.
1556 * AC_CHECK_LIB to check for a particular function and library.
1557 * AC_MSG_CHECKING and AC_MSG_RESULT to print test results, on a single line,
1558 whether or not the test succeeds. They obsolete AC_CHECKING and AC_VERBOSE.
1559 * AC_SUBST_FILE to insert one file into another.
1560 * AC_FUNC_MEMCMP to check whether memcmp is 8-bit clean.
1561 * AC_FUNC_STRFTIME to find strftime even if it's in -lintl.
1562 * AC_FUNC_GETMNTENT to find getmntent even if it's in -lsun or -lseq.
1563 * AC_HEADER_SYS_WAIT to check whether sys/wait.h is POSIX.1 compatible.
1566 * Many macros renamed systematically, but old names are accepted for
1567 backward compatibility.
1568 * AC_OUTPUT adds the "automatically generated" comment to
1569 non-Makefiles where it finds @configure_input@ in an input file, to
1570 support files with various comment syntaxes.
1571 * AC_OUTPUT does not replace "prefix" and "exec_prefix" in generated
1572 files when they are not enclosed in @ signs.
1573 * AC_OUTPUT allows the optional environment variable CONFIG_STATUS to
1574 override the file name "config.status".
1575 * AC_OUTPUT takes an optional argument for passing variables from
1576 configure to config.status.
1577 * AC_OUTPUT and AC_CONFIG_HEADER allow you to override the input-file names.
1578 * AC_OUTPUT automatically substitutes the values of CFLAGS, CXXFLAGS,
1579 CPPFLAGS, and LDFLAGS from the environment.
1580 * AC_PROG_CC and AC_PROG_CXX now set CFLAGS and CXXFLAGS, respectively.
1581 * AC_PROG_INSTALL looks for install-sh or install.sh in the directory
1582 specified by AC_CONFIG_AUXDIR, or srcdir or srcdir/.. or
1583 srcdir/../.. by default.
1584 * AC_DEFINE, AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED, and AC_SUBST are more robust and smaller.
1585 * AC_DEFINE no longer prints anything, because of the new result reporting
1586 mechanism (AC_MSG_CHECKING and AC_MSG_RESULT).
1587 * AC_VERBOSE pays attention to --quiet/--silent, not --verbose.
1588 * AC_ARG_ENABLE and AC_ARG_WITH support whitespace in the arguments to
1589 --enable- and --with- options.
1590 * AC_CHECK_FUNCS and AC_CHECK_HEADERS take optional shell commands to
1591 execute on success or failure.
1592 * Checking for C functions in C++ works.
1595 * AC_REMOTE_TAPE and AC_RSH removed; too specific to tar and cpio, and
1596 better maintained with them.
1597 * AC_ARG_ARRAY removed because no one was likely using it.
1598 * AC_HAVE_POUNDBANG replaced with AC_SYS_INTERPRETER, which doesn't
1599 take arguments, for consistency with all of the other specific checks.
1602 * Comes with config.sub and config.guess, and uses them optionally.
1603 * Uses config.cache to cache test results. An alternate cache file
1604 can be selected with the --cache-file=FILE option.
1605 * Uses optional shell scripts $prefix/share/config.site and
1606 $prefix/etc/config.site to perform site or system specific initializations.
1607 * configure saves compiler output to ./config.log for debugging.
1608 * New files autoconf.m4 and autoheader.m4 load the other Autoconf macros.
1609 * acsite.m4 is the new name for the system-wide aclocal.m4.
1610 * Has a DejaGnu test suite.
1612 Major changes in Autoconf 1.11:
1614 * AC_PROG_INSTALL calls install.sh with the -c option.
1615 * AC_SET_MAKE cleans up after itself.
1616 * AC_OUTPUT sets prefix and exec_prefix if they weren't set already.
1617 * AC_OUTPUT prevents shells from looking in PATH for config.status.
1619 Plus a few other bug fixes.
1621 Major changes in Autoconf 1.10:
1623 * autoheader uses config.h.bot if present, analogous to config.h.top.
1624 * AC_PROG_INSTALL looks for install.sh in srcdir or srcdir/.. and
1626 * AC_PROG_CXX looks for cxx as a C++ compiler.
1628 Plus several bugs fixed.
1630 Major changes in Autoconf 1.9:
1632 * AC_YYTEXT_POINTER replaces AC_DECLARE_YYTEXT.
1633 * AC_SIZEOF_TYPE generates the cpp symbol name automatically,
1634 and autoheader generates entries for those names automatically.
1635 * AC_FIND_X gets the result from xmkmf correctly.
1636 * AC_FIND_X assumes no X if --without-x was given.
1637 * AC_FIND_XTRA adds libraries to the variable X_EXTRA_LIBS.
1638 * AC_PROG_INSTALL finds OSF/1 installbsd.
1640 Major changes in Autoconf 1.8:
1643 * New macros AC_LANG_C, AC_LANG_CPLUSPLUS, AC_LANG_SAVE, AC_LANG_RESTORE,
1644 AC_PROG_CXX, AC_PROG_CXXCPP, AC_REQUIRE_CPP
1645 for checking both C++ and C features in one configure script.
1646 * New macros AC_CHECKING, AC_VERBOSE, AC_WARN, AC_ERROR for printing messages.
1647 * New macros AC_FIND_XTRA, AC_MMAP, AC_SIZEOF_TYPE, AC_PREREQ,
1648 AC_SET_MAKE, AC_ENABLE.
1651 * AC_FIND_X looks for X in more places.
1652 * AC_PROG_INSTALL defaults to install.sh instead of cp, if it's in srcdir.
1653 install.sh is distributed with Autoconf.
1654 * AC_DECLARE_YYTEXT has been removed because it can't work, pending
1655 a rewrite of quoting in AC_DEFINE.
1656 * AC_OUTPUT adds its comments in C format when substituting in C files.
1657 * AC_COMPILE_CHECK protects its ECHO-TEXT argument with double quotes.
1659 ** New or changed command line options:
1660 * configure accepts --enable-FEATURE[=ARG] and --disable-FEATURE options.
1661 * configure accepts --without-PACKAGE, which sets withval=no.
1662 * configure accepts --x-includes=DIR and --x-libraries=DIR.
1663 * Giving --with-PACKAGE no argument sets withval=yes instead of withval=1.
1664 * configure accepts --help, --version, --silent/--quiet, --no-create options.
1665 * configure accepts and ignores most other Cygnus configure options, and
1666 warns about unknown options.
1667 * config.status accepts --help, --version options.
1669 ** File names and other changes:
1670 * Relative srcdir values are not made absolute.
1671 * The values of @prefix@ and @exec_prefix@ and @top_srcdir@ get substituted.
1672 * Autoconf library files are installed in ${datadir}/autoconf, not ${datadir}.
1673 * autoheader optionally copies config.h.top to the beginning of config.h.in.
1674 * The example Makefile dependencies for configure et al. work better.
1675 * Namespace cleanup: all shell variables used internally by Autoconf
1676 have names beginning with `ac_'.
1678 More big improvements are in process for future releases, but have not
1679 yet been (variously) finished, integrated, tested, or documented enough
1682 Major changes in Autoconf 1.7:
1684 * New macro AC_OBSOLETE.
1685 * Bugs in Makefile.in fixed.
1686 * AC_LONG_FILE_NAMES improved.
1688 Major changes in Autoconf 1.6:
1690 * New macro AC_LONG_64_BITS.
1691 * Multiple .h files can be created.
1692 * AC_FIND_X looks for X files directly if it doesn't find xmkmf.
1693 * AC_ALLOCA defines C_ALLOCA if using alloca.c.
1694 * --with-NAME can take a value, e.g., --with-targets=sun4,hp300bsd.
1695 * Unused --no-create option to configure removed.
1696 * autoheader doesn't change the timestamp of its output file if
1697 the file didn't change.
1698 * All macros that look for libraries now use AC_HAVE_LIBRARY.
1699 * config.status checks three optional environment variables to
1700 modify its behavior.
1701 * The usual bug fixes.
1703 Major changes in Autoconf 1.5:
1705 * New macros AC_FIND_X, AC_OFF_T, AC_STAT_MACROS_BROKEN, AC_REVISION.
1706 * autoconf and autoheader scripts have GNU standards conforming
1707 --version and --help options (they print their message and exit).
1710 Major changes in Autoconf 1.4:
1712 * New macros AC_HAVE_POUNDBANG, AC_TIME_WITH_SYS_TIME, AC_LONG_DOUBLE,
1713 AC_GETGROUPS_T, AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED.
1714 * autoconf and autoheader use the M4 environment variable to determine the
1715 name of the M4 program to use.
1716 * The --macrodir option to autoconf and autoheader specifies the directory
1717 in which acspecific.m4, acgeneral.m4, etc. reside if not the default.
1718 * autoconf and autoheader can take `-' as their file names, which means to
1719 read stdin as input.
1720 * Resulting configure scripts can take a --verbose option which causes them
1721 to print the results of their tests.
1722 * AC_DEFINE quotes its second argument in such a way that spaces, magic
1723 shell characters, etc. will be preserved during various stages of
1724 expansion done by the shell. If you don't want this, use
1725 AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED instead.
1726 * Much textual processing done with external calls to tr and sed have been
1727 internalized with builtin M4 `patsubst' and `translit' calls.
1728 * AC_OUTPUT doesn't hardwire the file names it outputs. Instead, you can
1729 set the shell variables `gen_files' and `gen_config' to the list of
1730 file names to output.
1731 * AC_DECLARE_YYTEXT does an AC_SUBST of `LEX_OUTPUT_ROOT', which may be
1732 "lex.yy" or "lexyy", depending on the system.
1733 * AC_PROGRAMS_CHECK takes an optional third arg. If given, it is used as
1735 * If AC_ALLOCA chooses alloca.c, it also defines STACK_DIRECTION.
1736 * AC_CONST works much more reliably on more systems.
1739 Major changes in Autoconf 1.3:
1741 configure no longer requires awk for packages that use a config.h.
1742 Support handling --with-PACKAGE options.
1743 New `autoheader' script to create `config.h.in' from `configure.in'.
1744 Ignore troublesome -lucb and -lPW when searching for alloca.
1745 Rename --exec_prefix to --exec-prefix for GNU standards conformance.
1746 Improve detection of STDC library.
1747 Add AC_HAVE_LIBRARY to check for non-default libraries.
1748 Function checking should work with future GNU libc releases.
1750 Major changes in Autoconf 1.2:
1752 The --srcdir option is now usually unnecessary.
1753 Add a file containing sample comments describing CPP macros.
1754 A comment in config.status tells which host it was configured on.
1755 Substituted variable values can now contain commas.
1756 Fix bugs in various feature checks.
1758 Major changes in Autoconf 1.1:
1760 Added AC_STRCOLL macro.
1761 Made AC_GETLOADAVG check for more things.
1762 AC_OUTPUT argument is now optional.
1767 Copyright (C) 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002,
1768 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1770 This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
1771 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
1772 the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
1773 (at your option) any later version.
1775 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
1776 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
1777 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
1778 GNU General Public License for more details.
1780 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
1781 along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.