1 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.60c (??)
3 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.60b (2006-10-22)
6 Autoconf-generated shell scripts no longer export BIN_SH, due to
7 configuration hassles with this. Installers who need BIN_SH in
8 their environment should set it before invoking 'configure' and
9 'make'. As far as we know, this affects only Unixware installations.
12 The documentation now says that the following macros are obsolescent,
13 as they are superseded by Gnulib:
15 AC_FUNC_FNMATCH AC_FUNC_FNMATCH_GNU AC_FUNC_GETLOADVG AC_REPLACE_FNMATCH
17 New programs should use the Gnulib counterparts of these macros.
18 We have no current plans to remove them from Autoconf.
20 ** AC_COMPUTE_INT no longer caches or reports results.
22 ** New macros AC_C_FLEXIBLE_ARRAY_MEMBER, AC_C_VARARRAYS.
24 ** AC_ARG_WITH now allows '.' in package names.
26 ** AC_CHECK_DECL now also works with aggregate objects.
28 ** AC_USE_SYSTEM_EXTENSIONS now defines _TANDEM_SOURCE for NonStop platforms.
30 ** GNU M4 1.4.7 or later is now recommended.
33 New M4sugar macro, which is more secure than the POSIX M4 maketemp.
36 Now an alias for m4_mkstemp.
38 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.60a (2006-08-25)
40 ** GNU M4 1.4.6 or later is now recommended. At least one "make check"
41 test fails with earlier versions of M4.
43 ** The check for C99 now tests for varargs macros, as documented.
44 It also tests that the preprocessor supports 64-bit integers.
46 ** Autoconf now uses constructs like "#ifdef HAVE_STDLIB_H" rather than
47 "#if HAVE_STDLIB_H", so that it now works with "gcc -Wundef -Werror".
49 ** The functionality of the undocumented _AC_COMPUTE_INT is now provided
50 by a public and documented macro, AC_COMPUTE_INT. The parameters to the
51 two macros are different, so autoupdate will not change the old private name
52 to the new one. _AC_COMPUTE_INT may be removed in a future release.
54 ** AC_TYPE_LONG_LONG_INT and AC_TYPE_UNSIGNED_LONG_LONG_INT now require
55 that long long types be at least 64 bits wide, as C99 and tradition
56 requires. Formerly, they accepted implementations of any width.
59 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.60
61 Released 2006-06-23, by Ralf Wildenhues.
63 ** Autoconf no longer depends on whether m4wrap is FIFO (as Posix requires)
64 or LIFO (as in GNU M4 1.4.x). GNU M4 2.0 is expected to conform to Posix
65 here, so m4wrap/m4_wrap users should no longer depend on LIFO behavior.
67 ** Provide a way to turn off warnings about the changed directory variables.
69 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.59d
71 Released 2006-06-05, by Ralf Wildenhues.
73 ** GNU make now recommended for VPATH builds
74 INSTALL now suggests VPATH builds (e.g., "sh ../srcdir/configure")
75 only if you use GNU make. In practice, other 'make' implementations
76 have too many subtle incompatibilities in their support for VPATH.
77 Many packages (including Autoconf itself) are portable to other
78 'make' implementations, but some packages are not, and recommending
79 GNU make keeps the installation instructions simpler.
81 ** Even more safety checks for the new Directory variables:
82 Warn about suspicious `${datarootdir}' found in config files output.
84 ** AC_TRY_COMMAND, AC_TRY_EVAL, ac_config_guess, ac_config_sub, ac_configure
85 These never-documented macros and variables have been marked with
86 comments saying that they may be removed in a future release,
87 because their use can lead to unintended code being executed.
88 If you need functionality that only these macros or variables
89 currently supply, please write bug-autoconf@gnu.org.
91 ** AC_SUBST, AC_DEFINE
92 Literal arguments to these are passed to m4_pattern_allow now.
95 Passing 'ac_cv_prog_cc_stdc=no' to 'configure' now sets ac_cv_prog_cc_c99
96 and ac_cv_prog_cc_c89 to 'no' as well, for backward compatibility with
97 obsolete K&R tests in the Automake test suite.
106 Now more robust with special characters in file names, or when
107 multiple processes create the same directory at the same time.
109 ** Obsolescent macros
110 The documentation now says that the following macros are obsolescent:
111 they test for problems that are so old that they are no longer of
112 practical importance on current systems.
114 AC_C_BACKSLASH_A AC_FUNC_MEMCMP AC_HEADER_DIRENT
115 AC_C_CONST AC_FUNC_SELECT_ARGTYPES AC_HEADER_STAT
116 AC_C_PROTOTYPES AC_FUNC_SETPGRP AC_HEADER_STDC
117 AC_C_STRINGIZE AC_FUNC_SETVBUF_REVERSED AC_HEADER_SYS_WAIT
118 AC_C_VOLATILE AC_FUNC_STAT AC_HEADER_TIME
119 AC_FUNC_CLOSEDIR_VOID AC_FUNC_STRFTIME AC_ISC_POSIX
120 AC_FUNC_GETPGRP AC_FUNC_UTIME_NULL AC_PROG_GCC_TRADITIONAL
121 AC_FUNC_LSTAT AC_FUNC_VPRINTF AC_STRUCT_TM
123 New programs need not use these macros. We have no current plans to
127 For compatibility with future Libtool 2.0, autoreconf will invoke
128 libtoolize with the option `--ltdl' now, if LT_CONFIG_LTDL_DIR is
131 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.59c
133 Released 2006-04-12, by Ralf Wildenhues.
135 ** The configure command now redirects standard input from /dev/null,
136 to help avoid problems with subsidiary commands that might mistakenly
137 read standard input. AS_ORIGINAL_STDIN_FD points to the original
138 standard input before this redirection, if you really want configure to
139 read from standard input.
141 ** Directory variables adjusted to recent changes in the GNU Coding Standards.
142 The following directory variables are new:
144 datarootdir read-only architecture-independent data root [PREFIX/share]
145 localedir locale-specific message catalogs [DATAROOTDIR/locale]
146 docdir documentation root [DATAROOTDIR/doc/PACKAGE]
147 htmldir html documentation [DOCDIR]
148 dvidir dvi documentation [DOCDIR]
149 pdfdir pdf documentation [DOCDIR]
150 psdir ps documentation [DOCDIR]
152 The following variables have new default values:
154 datadir read-only architecture-independent data [DATAROOTDIR]
155 infodir info documentation [DATAROOTDIR/info]
156 mandir man documentation [DATAROOTDIR/man]
158 This means that if you use any of `@datadir@', `@infodir@', or
159 `@mandir@' in a file, you will have to ensure `${datarootdir}' is
160 defined in this file. As a temporary measure, if any of those are
161 found but no mention of `datarootdir', the substitutions will be
162 replaced with values that do not contain `${datarootdir}', and a
163 warning will be issued.
165 ** @top_builddir@ is now a dir name: it is always nonempty and doesn't have
166 a trailing slash. Similar change will be made to ac_top_builddir in a
167 future release; the old style value, which matches (../)*, is (and will
168 continue to be) available as ac_top_build_prefix.
171 New macro to check for support of 'typeof' syntax a la GNU C.
173 ** AC_CHECK_DECLS_ONCE, AC_CHECK_FUNCS_ONCE, AC_CHECK_HEADERS_ONCE
174 New "once-only" variants of commonly-used macros, to make 'configure'
175 smaller and faster in common cases.
178 New macro to check for strtold with C99 semantics.
181 New macro that lets builder disable assertions at 'configure'-time.
184 Now checks for X11/Xlib.h and XrmInitialize (X proper) rather than
185 X11/Intrinsic.h and XtMalloc (Xt).
187 ** AC_PRESERVE_HELP_ORDER
188 New macro that causes `configure' to display help strings for AC_ARG_ENABLE
189 and AC_ARG_WITH arguments in one region, in the order defined. The default
190 behavior is to group options of each classes separately.
192 ** AC_PROG_CC, AC_PROG_CXX
193 No longer automatically arrange to declare the 'exit' function of C,
194 when a C++ compiler is used. Standard Autoconf macros no longer use
195 'exit', so this is no longer an issue for them. If you use C++, and
196 want to call 'exit', you'll have to arrange for its declaration
197 yourself. But we now suggest you return from 'main' instead.
199 ** AC_PROG_CC_C89, AC_PROG_CC_C99
200 New macros for ISO C99 support. AC_PROG_CC_C89 and AC_PROG_CC_C99
201 check for ANSI C89 and ISO C99 support respectively.
204 Has been unobsoleted, and will check if the compiler supports ISO
205 C99, falling back to ANSI C89 if not. ac_cv_prog_cc_stdc is
206 retained for backwards compatibility, assuming the value of
207 ac_cv_prog_cc_c99 or ac_cv_prog_cc_c89 (whichever is valid, in
210 ** AC_STRUCT_DIRENT_D_INO, AC_STRUCT_DIRENT_D_TYPE
211 New macros for checking commonly-used members of struct dirent.
214 The substituted value can now contain newlines.
217 The substitution now occurs only when @variable@ is on a line by itself,
218 optionally surrounded by spaces and tabs. The whole line is replaced.
220 ** AC_TYPE_LONG_DOUBLE, AC_TYPE_LONG_DOUBLE_WIDER
221 New macros to check for long double, and whether it is wider than double.
222 The old macro AC_C_TYPE_LONG_DOUBLE has been marked as obsolete;
223 applications should switch to the new macro.
225 ** AC_TYPE_INT8_T, AC_TYPE_INT16_T, AC_TYPE_INT32_T, AC_TYPE_INT64_T,
226 AC_TYPE_INTMAX_T, AC_TYPE_INTPTR_T, AC_TYPE_LONG_LONG_INT, AC_TYPE_SSIZE_T,
227 AC_TYPE_UINT8_T, AC_TYPE_UINT16_T, AC_TYPE_UINT32_T, AC_TYPE_UINT64_T,
228 AC_TYPE_UINTMAX_T, AC_TYPE_UINTPTR_T, AC_TYPE_UNSIGNED_LONG_LONG_INT
229 New macros to check for C99 and POSIX types.
231 ** AC_USE_SYSTEM_EXTENSIONS
232 New macro to enable extensions to Posix.
235 New macro which is defined to the name of the first declared config header
236 or undefined if no config headers have been declared yet.
239 The macro correctly handles quadrigraphs now.
241 ** AS_BOURNE_COMPATIBLE, AS_SHELL_SANITIZE, AS_CASE
242 These macros are new or published now.
245 New macro for copyright notices in testsuite files.
247 ** ALLOCA, LIBOBJS, LTLIBOBJS
248 Object names added to these variables are now prefixed with `${LIBOBJDIR}',
249 as in `${LIBOBJDIR}alloca.o'. LIBOBJDIR is meant to be defined from
250 `Makefile.in' in case the object files lie in a different directory.
251 The LIBOBJDIR feature is experimental.
254 Supports --no-recursive now.
256 ** New macros to support Erlang/OTP.
257 New macros for configuring paths to Erlang tools and libraries:
258 AC_ERLANG_PATH_ERLC, AC_ERLANG_NEED_ERLC, AC_ERLANG_PATH_ERL,
259 AC_ERLANG_NEED_ERL, AC_ERLANG_CHECK_LIB, AC_ERLANG_SUBST_ROOT_DIR,
260 AC_ERLANG_SUBST_LIB_DIR.
262 New macros for configuring installation of Erlang libraries:
263 AC_ERLANG_SUBST_INSTALL_LIB_DIR, AC_ERLANG_SUBST_INSTALL_LIB_SUBDIR.
265 ** The manual now mentions Gnulib more prominently.
267 ** New macros to support Objective C.
268 AC_PROG_OBJC, AC_PROG_OBJCPP.
270 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.59b
272 Released 2004-08-20, by Paul Eggert.
275 New macro that computes the default alignment of a type.
277 ** AC_CHECK_TOOL, AC_PATH_TOOL, AC_CHECK_TOOLS
278 When cross-compiling, these macros will give a warning if the tool
279 is not prefixed. In the future, unprefixed cross tools will not
280 be detected; please consult the info documentation for information
281 about the reason of this change.
283 ** AC_CHECK_TARGET_TOOL, AC_PATH_TARGET_TOOL, AC_CHECK_TARGET_TOOLS
284 New macros that detect programs whose name is prefixed with the
285 target type, if the build type and target type are different.
287 ** AC_REQUIRE_AUX_FILE
288 New trace macro that declares expected auxiliary files.
291 New macro that tests for a grep program that accepts as a long a line
294 ** AC_PROG_EGREP, AC_PROG_FGREP
295 These macros now require AC_PROG_GREP, and try EGREP="$GREP -E" and
296 FGREP="$GREP -F" respectively if possible, or else run a path search for
297 a program that accepts as long a line as possible.
300 New macro that tests for a sed program that truncates as few characters
303 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.59
305 Released 2003-11-04, by Akim Demaille
307 ** ac_abs_builddir etc.
308 Absolute file names were actually relative in 2.58.
310 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.58
312 Released 2003-11-04, by Akim Demaille
315 core.* files are no longer removed, as they may be valid user files.
317 ** autoreconf and auxiliary directory
318 Autoreconf creates the auxiliary directory if needed. This is
319 especially useful for initial "bootstrapping" of fresh CVS checkouts.
321 ** AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR
322 Use this macro to declare the directory for local M4 macros for aclocal.
325 No longer includes twice the same file in LIBOBJS if invoked
328 ** AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS
329 The directory for its first argument is automatically created. For
332 AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS([src/modules.hh], [...])
334 $top_builddir/src/ is created if needed.
336 ** Autotest and local.at
337 The optional file local.at is always included in Autotest test suites.
340 The warnings are always issued, including with cached runs.
341 This became a significant problem since aclocal and automake can
342 run autoconf behind the scene.
344 ** autoheader warnings
345 The warnings of autoheader can be turned off, using --warning.
346 For instance, -Wno-obsolete disables the complaints about acconfig.h
347 and other deprecated constructs.
350 AC_C_RESTRICT, AC_INCLUDES_DEFAULT, AC_LANG_ASSERT, AC_LANG_WERROR,
353 ** AC_DECL_SYS_SIGLIST
357 Now checks that mktime is the inverse of localtime.
359 ** Improve DJGPP portability
360 The Autoconf tools and configure behave better under DJGPP.
362 ** Present But Cannot Be Compiled
363 New FAQ section dedicated to the mystic
365 configure: WARNING: pi.h: present but cannot be compiled
366 configure: WARNING: pi.h: check for missing prerequisite headers?
367 configure: WARNING: pi.h: proceeding with the preprocessor's result
370 ** Concurrent executions of autom4te
371 autom4te now locks its internal files, which enables concurrent
372 executions of autom4te, likely to happen if automake, autoconf,
373 autoheader etc. are run simultaneously.
376 Use of Libtool 1.5 and higher is encouraged. Compatibility with
377 Libtool pre-1.4 is not checked.
380 Testsuites no longer rerun failed tests in verbose mode; instead,
381 failures are logged while the test is run.
383 In addition, expected failures can be marked as such.
385 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.57
387 Released 2002-12-03 by Paul Eggert.
389 Bug fixes for problems with AIX linker, with freestanding C compilers,
390 with GNU M4 limitations, and with obsolete copies of GNU documents.
392 The Free Documentation License has been upgraded from 1.1 to 1.2.
394 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.56
396 Released 2002-11-15 by Akim Demaille.
398 One packaging problem fixed (config/install-sh was not executable).
400 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.55
402 Released 2002-11-14 by Akim Demaille.
406 Have your configure.ac checked by autoscan ("autoscan").
407 Try the warning options ("autoreconf -fv -Wall").
411 - AC_CHECK_HEADER, AC_CHECK_HEADERS
412 More information on proper use.
414 - Writing Test Programs
416 This sections explains how to write good test sources to use with
417 AC_COMPILE_IFELSE etc. It documents AC_LANG_PROGRAM and so forth.
419 - AC_FOO_IFELSE vs. AC_TRY_FOO
421 Explains why Autoconf moves from AC_TRY_COMPILE etc. to
422 AC_COMPILE_IFELSE and AC_LANG_PROGRAM etc.
426 - Is more robust to different Gettext installations.
428 - Produces messages (when --verbose) to be understood by Emacs'
431 - Supports -W/--warnings.
434 Once the GNU Build System reinstalled, run `./config.status
435 --recheck && ./config.status && make' if possible.
439 - Supports --cache, and --no-cache.
441 - ~/.autom4te.cfg makes it possible to disable the caching mechanism
442 (autom4te.cache). See `Customizing autom4te' in the documentation.
449 Support for the obsoleted options -m, --macrodir, -l, --localdir is
450 dropped in favor of the safer --include/--prepend-include scheme.
455 AC_COMPILER_IFELSE, AC_FUNC_MBRTOWC, AC_HEADER_STDBOOL,
456 AC_LANG_CONFTEST, AC_LANG_SOURCE, AC_LANG_PROGRAM, AC_LANG_CALL,
457 AC_LANG_FUNC_TRY_LINK, AC_MSG_FAILURE, AC_PREPROC_IFELSE.
460 Obsoleted macros are kept for Autoconf backward compatibility, but
461 should be avoided in configure.ac. Running autoupdate is advised.
464 - AC_DEFINE/AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED
466 We have to stop using the old compatibility scheme --that tried to
467 avoid useless backslashes-- because Libtool 1.4.3 contains a
469 AC_DEFINE([error_t], [int],
470 [Define to a type to use for \`error_t' if it is not
471 otherwise available.])
473 We have to quote the single quotes and backslashes with \. The old
474 compatibility scheme saw that ` was backslashed, and therefore did
475 not quote the single quote... Failure. Hence, Autoconf 2.54 is not
476 compatible with Libtool. Autoconf 2.55 is, but in some cases might
477 produce more \ than wanted.
479 Please, note that in the future the same problem will happen with
480 AC_MSG_*: use `autoreconf -f -Wall'.
484 - Portability of the Autoconf package to Solaris.
486 - Spurious warnings caused by config.status.
487 This bug is benign, but painful: on some systems (typically
488 FreeBSD), warnings such as:
490 config.status: creating Makefile
491 mv: Makefile: set owner/group (was: 1357/0): Operation not permitted
493 could be issued. This is fixed.
496 Simultaneous executions of config.status are possible again.
498 - Precious variables accumulation
500 config.status could stack several copies of the precious variables
504 ** Plans for later versions
508 The compatibility hooks with the old scheme will be completely
509 removed. Please, advice/use `--build', `--host', and `--target'
512 - AC_CHECK_HEADER, AC_CHECK_HEADERS
514 The tests will be stricter, please make sure your invocations are
519 Shell functions will gradually be introduced, probably starting with
520 Autotest. If you know machines which are in use that you suspect
521 *not* to support shell functions, please run the test suite of
522 Autoconf 2.55 on it, and report the results to
523 bug-autoconf@gnu.org.
527 Special characters in AC_MSG_* need not be quoted. Currently,
528 Autoconf has heuristics to decide when a string is escaped, or has
529 to be escaped. This scheme is fragile, and will be removed; the
530 only risk is uglified messages. Please, run `autoreconf -f -Wall'
531 to find occurrences that will be affected.
533 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.54
535 Released 2002-09-13 by Akim Demaille.
539 - autoreconf no longer changes the version of the gettext/po/intl
540 support files. It now adds the files the correspond to the
541 AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION declared in configure.ac.
543 Warning: It now relies on the 'autopoint' program, which is part
544 of GNU gettext 0.11.4 and newer.
546 Please note that you need to have a GNU gettext version that
547 corresponds at least to the AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION declared
548 in configure.ac. You can upgrade to newer GNU gettext versions,
549 though, without needing to change configure.ac.
551 - The -I DIR or --include=DIR option now appends DIR to the include path
552 instead of prepending; this is for consistency with other GNU tools.
553 The new -B DIR or --prepend-include=DIR option has the old behavior.
558 Now handles all the gory details about LIBOBJS and LTLIBOBJS.
559 Please, remove lines such as
561 # This is necessary so that .o files in LIBOBJS are also
562 # built via the ANSI2KNR-filtering rules.
563 LIBOBJS=`echo $LIBOBJS|sed 's/\.o /\$U.o /g;s/\.o$/\$U.o/'`
565 and read the `AC_LIBOBJ vs LIBOBJS' section. Do not define U in
566 your Makefiles either.
568 - AC_CONFIG_LINKS now makes copies if it can't make links.
570 - AC_FUNC_FNMATCH now tests only for POSIX compatibility, reverting to
571 Autoconf 2.13 behavior. The new macro AC_FUNC_FNMATCH_GNU also
572 tests for GNU extensions to fnmatch, and replaces fnmatch if needed.
574 - AC_FUNC_SETVBUF_REVERSED no longer fails when cross-compiling.
576 - AC_PROG_CC_STDC is integrated into AC_PROG_CC.
578 - AC_PROG_F77 default search no longer includes cf77 and cfg77.
582 AC_C_BACKSLASH_A, AC_CONFIG_LIBOBJ_DIR, AC_GNU_SOURCE,
583 AC_PROG_EGREP, AC_PROG_FGREP, AC_REPLACE_FNMATCH,
584 AC_FUNC_FNMATCH_GNU, AC_FUNC_REALLOC, AC_TYPE_MBSTATE_T.
587 looks for getloadavg.c in the CONFIG_LIBOBJ_DIR.
590 Now defines HAVE_MALLOC to 0 if `malloc' does not work, and asks
591 for an AC_LIBOBJ replacement.
595 - Spurious complaints from `m4_bmatch' about invalid regular
596 expressions are suppressed.
598 - Empty top_builddirs are properly handled.
600 - AC_CHECK_MEMBER works correctly when the member is an aggregate.
603 Now colon in the optional path arguments are properly handled.
605 ** Improved portability
607 - Both Autoconf the package, and the scripts it produces, should run
608 more reliably with Zsh. Bear in mind it is the default Bourne shell
611 - Autoconf and the scripts it produces no longer assume the existence of
612 the obsolescent commands egrep and fgrep.
616 - Limitations of Make
620 The GNATS base moved to
621 http://bugs.gnu.org/cgi-bin/gnatsweb.pl?database=autoconf
622 (It is no longer available, though.)
627 Now contains the list of ouput variables and files (AC_SUBST,
630 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.53
632 Released 2002-03-08 by Akim Demaille.
636 Perl 5.005_03 or later is required: autom4te is written in Perl and is
637 needed by autoconf. autoheader, autoreconf, ifnames, and autoscan are
643 Argument requirements, output variables, defined macros.
644 - M4sugar, M4sh, Autotest
646 - Double quoting macros
647 AC_TRY_CPP, AC_TRY_COMPILE, AC_TRY_LINK and AC_TRY_RUN.
649 The Autoconf manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
650 - Section `Hosts and Cross-Compilation'
651 Explains the rationale for the 2.5x changes in the cross-compilation
652 chain, and in the relationships between build, host, and target
654 Emphasizes that `cross-compilation' == `--host is given'.
655 If you are working on compilers etc., be sure to read this section.
656 - Section `AC_LIBOBJ vs. LIBOBJS'
657 Explains why assigning LIBOBJS directly is now an error.
658 Details how to update the code.
663 Now used instead of hard coded line numbers.
664 This eases the comparison of `configure's, and diminishes the
665 pressure over control version archives.
666 Automatic replacement for shells that don't support this feature.
667 - New output variables
668 @builddir@, @top_builddir@, @abs_srcdir@, @abs_top_srcdir@, @abs_builddir@,
673 Autoconf and Autotest modes are provided.
678 New, used by the Autoconf suite to cache and speed up most processing.
680 Supported by autom4te, autoconf and autoheader.
682 Replaces --autoconf-dir and --localdir in autoconf, autoheader,
683 autoupdate, and autoreconf.
685 No longer passes --cygnus, --foreign, --gnits, --gnu, --include-deps:
686 automake options are to be given via AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS.
688 Runs gettextize and libtoolize when appropriate.
690 --m4dir is no longer supported.
692 Now runs only in the specified directories, defaulting to `.',
693 but understands AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS for dependent directories.
694 Before, it used to run on all the `configure.ac' found in the
696 Independent packages are properly updated.
700 - The top level $prefix is propagated to the AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS configures.
702 Under the user pressure, $? is finally available. Probably a mistake.
703 - AC_F77_LIBRARY_LDFLAGS now supports the HP/UX f90 compiler.
704 - Precious variables accumulation
705 config.status could stack several copies of the precious variables
707 - AC_PATH_PROG and family.
708 Works properly when given a literal path.
710 Somewhere since 2.13, the result had been reversed.
714 - AC_C_BIGENDIAN supports the cross-compiling case.
715 - AC_C_BIGENDIAN accepts ACTION-IF-TRUE, ACTION-IF-FALSE, and
716 ACTION-IF-UNKNOWN arguments. All are facultative, and the default
717 for ACTION-IF-TRUE is to define WORDS_BIGENDIAN like AC_C_BIGENDIAN
719 - AC_C_LONG_DOUBLE now succeeds only if `long double' has more range or
720 precision than `double'.
725 It now defines the preprocessor symbols PACKAGE_NAME,
726 PACKAGE_TARNAME, PACKAGE_VERSION, PACKAGE_STRING, and
730 Admits a fourth optional parameter: the tar name.
732 - AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS, HEADERS, FILES, LINKS.
733 Provide the user with srcdir, ac_srcdir, ac_top_srcdir, ac_builddir,
734 ac_top_builddir, ac_abs_srcdir, ac_abs_top_srcdir, ac_abs_builddir,
737 - AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS, HEADERS, FILES, LINKS and AC_OUTPUT.
738 Are much less expensive when using long lists of files.
741 Works with shell variables, and non alphanumeric names.
745 - AC_FUNC_STRERROR_R now sets STRERROR_R_CHAR_P, not HAVE_WORKING_STRERROR_R,
746 because POSIX 1003.1-200x draft 7 says strerror_r returns int, not char *.
748 - AC_FUNC_STRTOD substitutes POW_LIB.
753 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.52
755 Released 2001-07-18 by Akim Demaille.
760 This feature was present in autoconf 2.50 but was not documented.
761 For example, `@<:@' is translated to `[' just before output. This
762 is useful when writing strings that contain unbalanced quotes, or
763 other hard-to-quote constructs.
764 - m4_pattern_forbid, m4_pattern_allow
765 - Tips for upgrading from 2.13.
766 - Using autoscan to maintain a configure.ac.
769 - Now include stdint.h.
770 - sys/types.h and sys/stat.h are guarded.
771 - strings.h is included if available, and not conflicting with string.h.
774 - The test suite is more robust and presents less false failures.
775 - Invocation of GNU M4 now robust to POSIXLY_CORRECT.
776 - configure accepts --prefix='' again.
777 - AC_CHECK_LIB works properly when its first argument is not a
779 - HAVE_INTTYPES_H is defined only if not conflicting with sys/types.h.
780 - build_, host_, and target_alias are AC_SUBST as in 2.13.
781 - AC_ARG_VAR properly propagates precious variables inherited from the
782 environment to ./config.status.
783 - Using --program-suffix/--program-prefix is portable.
784 - Failures to detect the default compiler's output extension are less
786 - `config.status foo' works properly when `foo' depends on variables
787 set in an AC_CONFIG_THING INIT-CMD.
788 - autoheader is more robust to broken input.
789 - Fixed Fortran name-mangling and link tests on a number of systems,
790 e.g. NetBSD; see AC_F77_DUMMY_MAIN, below.
793 - AC_CHECK_HEADER and AC_CHECK_HEADERS support a fourth argument to
794 specify pre-includes. In this case, the headers are compiled with
795 cc, not merely preprocessed by cpp. Therefore it is the _usability_
796 of a header which is checked for, not just its availability.
797 - AC_ARG_VAR refuses to run configure when precious variables have
799 - Versions of compilers are dumped in the logs.
800 - AC_CHECK_TYPE recognizes use of `foo_t' as a replacement type.
803 - AC_PATH_XTRA only adds -ldnet to $LIBS if it's needed to link.
804 - AC_FUNC_WAIT3 and AC_SYS_RESTARTABLE_SYSCALLS are obsoleted.
805 - AM_FUNC_ERROR_AT_LINE, AM_FUNC_FNMATCH, AM_FUNC_MKTIME,
806 AM_FUNC_OBSTACK, and AM_FUNC_STRTOD are now activated.
807 Be sure to read `Upgrading from Version 2.13' to understand why
808 running `autoupdate' is needed.
809 - AC_F77_DUMMY_MAIN, AC_F77_MAIN: new macros to detect whether
810 a main-like routine is required/possible when linking C/C++ with
811 Fortran. Users of e.g. AC_F77_WRAPPERS should be aware of these.
812 - AC_FUNC_GETPGRG behaves better when cross-compiling.
814 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.51
815 There was no release of Autoconf 2.51 since some packagers had used
816 this version number without permission to ship intermediary versions
817 of 2.50. The version was skipped to avoid confusion.
819 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.50
821 Released 2001-05-21 by Akim Demaille.
824 There have been far too many to enumerate them here. Check out
825 ChangeLog if you really want to know more.
827 ** Improved documentation
828 In particular, portability issues are better covered.
831 All the standard GNU Makefile targets are supported. The layout has
832 changed: m4/ holds the M4 extensions Autoconf needs for its
833 configuration, doc/ contains the documentation, and tests/ contains
836 ** Man pages are provided
837 For autoconf, autoreconf, autoupdate, autoheader, autoscan, ifnames,
838 config.guess, config.sub.
842 Provides a safe and powerful means to trace the macro uses. This
843 provide the parsing layer for tools which need to `study'
847 Specify what category of warnings should be enabled.
849 - When recursing into subdirectories, try for configure.gnu before
850 configure to adapt for packages not using autoconf on case-insensitive
854 More errors are now caught (circular AC_REQUIRE dependencies,
855 AC_DEFINE in the action part of an AC_CACHE_CHECK, too many pops
856 etc.). In addition, their location and call stack are given.
859 autoupdate is much more powerful, and is able to provide the glue code
860 which might be needed to move from an old macro to its newer
863 You are strongly encouraged to use it to modernize both your
864 `configure.in' and your .m4 extension files.
867 The internal machinery of autoheader has completely changed. As a
868 result, using `acconfig.h' should be considered to be obsoleted, and
869 you are encouraged to get rid of it using the AH macros.
874 ** Fortran 77 compilers
875 Globally, the support for Fortran 77 is considerably improved.
877 Support for automatically determining a Fortran 77 compiler's
878 name-mangling scheme. New CPP macros F77_FUNC and F77_FUNC_ are
879 provided to wrap C/C++ identifiers, thus making it easier and more
880 transparent for C/C++ to call Fortran 77 routines, and Fortran 77 to
881 call C/C++ routines. See the Texinfo documentation for details.
884 The test suite no longer uses DejaGNU. It should be easy to submit
885 test cases in this new framework.
888 - --help, --help=long, -hl
889 no longer dumps useless items.
891 lists only specific options.
892 - --help=recursive, -hr
893 displays the help of all the embedded packages.
894 - Remembers environment variables when reconfiguring.
895 The previous scheme to set envvar before running configure was
897 what prevented configure from remembering the environment in which
898 it was run, therefore --recheck was run in an inconsistent
899 environment. Now, one should run
901 and then --recheck will work properly. Variables declared with
902 AC_ARG_VAR are also preserved.
904 $build defaults to `config.guess`, $host to $build, and then $target
906 Cross-compilation is a global status of the package, it no longer
907 depends upon the current language.
908 Cross compilation is enabled iff the user specified `--host'.
909 `configure' now fails if it can't run the executables it compiles,
910 unless cross-compilation is enabled.
912 The cache file is disabled by default. The new options
913 `--config-cache', `-C' set the cache to `config.cache'.
917 Much faster on most architectures.
918 - concurrent executions
919 It is safe to use `make -j' with config.status.
920 - human interface improved
921 It is possible to invoke
922 ./config.status foobar
923 instead of the former form (still valid)
924 CONFIG_COMMANDS= CONFIG_HEADERS= CONFIG_LINKS= \
925 CONFIG_FILES=foobar:foo.in:bar.in \
927 The same holds for configuration headers and links.
928 You can instantiate unknown files and headers:
929 ./config.status --header foo.h:foo.h.in --file bar:baz
930 - has a useful --help
931 - accepts special file name "-" for stdin/stdout
936 Specify additional copyright information.
939 Now expects the identity of the package as argument.
943 Most macros, if not all, now strictly follow the `one quotation
944 level' rule. This results in a more predictable expansion.
947 A sly bug in the AC_REQUIRE machinery, which could produce incorrect
948 configure scripts, was fixed by Axel Thimm.
952 Document and ask for the registration of an envvar.
955 Specifies the file which `configure' should look for when trying to
956 find the source tree (used to be handled by AC_INIT).
959 To add new actions to config.status. Should be used instead of
963 Replaces AC_LINK_FILES.
965 - AC_CONFIG_HEADERS, AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS, AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS,
966 AC_CONFIG_LINKS, and AC_CONFIG_FILES
967 They now obey sh: you should no longer use shell variables as
970 test "$package_foo_enabled" = yes && $my_subdirs="$my_subdirs foo"
971 AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS($my_subdirs)
975 if test "$package_foo_enabled" = yes; then
976 AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS(foo)
980 To format an Autoconf macro's help string so that it looks pretty
981 when the user executes `configure --help'.
984 ** Generic Test Macros
986 The interface of the AC_CHECK families of macros (decl, header,
987 type, member, func) is now uniform. They support the same set of
990 - AC_CHECK_DECL, AC_CHECK_DECLS
991 To check whether a symbol is declared.
993 - AC_CHECK_SIZEOF, AC_C_CHAR_UNSIGNED.
994 No longer need a cross-compilation default.
997 The test it performs is much more robust than previously, and makes
998 it possible to test builtin types in addition to typedefs.
999 It is now schizophrenic:
1000 - AC_CHECK_TYPE(TYPE, REPLACEMENT)
1001 remains for backward compatibility, but its use is discouraged.
1002 - AC_CHECK_TYPE(TYPE, IF-FOUND, IF-NOT-FOUND, INCLUDES)
1003 behaves exactly like the other AC_CHECK macros.
1006 Checks whether given types are supported by the system.
1008 - AC_CHECK_MEMBER, AC_CHECK_MEMBERS
1009 Check for given members in aggregates (e.g., pw_gecos in struct
1013 Checks if the compiler supports ISO C, included when needs special
1017 Checking whether the preprocessor indicates missing includes by the
1018 error code. stderr is checked by AC_TRY_CPP only as a fallback.
1021 Takes a language as argument and replaces AC_LANG_C,
1022 AC_LANG_CPLUSPLUS and AC_LANG_FORTRAN77.
1024 - AC_LANG_PUSH, AC_LANG_POP
1025 Are preferred to AC_LANG_SAVE, AC_LANG_RESTORE.
1028 - AC_FUNC_CHOWN, AC_FUNC_MALLOC, AC_FUNC_STRERROR_R,
1029 AC_FUNC_LSTAT_FOLLOWS_SLASHED_SYMLINK, AC_FUNC_STAT, AC_FUNC_LSTAT,
1030 AC_FUNC_ERROR_AT_LINE, AC_FUNC_OBSTACK, AC_FUNC_STRTOD, AC_FUNC_FSEEKO.
1034 Sets GETGROUPS_LIBS.
1036 - AC_FUNC_GETLOADAVG
1037 Defines `HAVE_STRUCT_NLIST_N_UN_N_NAME' instead of `NLIST_NAME_UNION'.
1040 Now integrates `AC_DECL_YYTEXT' which is obsoleted.
1043 Arrange for large-file support.
1045 - AC_EXEEXT, AC_OBJEXT
1046 You are no longer expected to use them: their computation is
1047 performed by default.
1049 ** C++ compatibility
1050 Every macro has been revisited in order to support at best CC=c++.
1052 Major changes in Autoconf 2.14:
1053 There was no release of GNU Autoconf 2.14.
1055 Major changes in Autoconf 2.13:
1057 Released 1999-05-01 by Ben Elliston.
1059 * Support for building on Win32 systems where the only available C or
1060 C++ compiler is the Microsoft Visual C++ command line compiler
1061 (`cl'). Additional support for building on Win32 systems which are
1062 using the Cygwin or Mingw32 environments.
1063 * Support for alternative object file and executable file extensions.
1064 On Win32, for example, these are .obj and .exe. These are discovered
1065 using AC_OBJEXT and AC_EXEEXT, which substitute @OBJEXT@ and
1066 @EXEEXT@ in the output, respectively.
1067 * New macros: AC_CACHE_LOAD, AC_CACHE_SAVE, AC_FUNC_SELECT_ARGTYPES,
1068 AC_VALIDATE_CACHED_SYSTEM_TUPLE, AC_SEARCH_LIBS, AC_TRY_LINK_FUNC,
1069 AC_C_STRINGIZE, AC_CHECK_FILE(S), AC_PROG_F77 (and friends).
1070 * AC_DEFINE now has an optional third argument for a description to be
1071 placed in the config header input file (e.g. config.h.in).
1072 * The C++ code fragment compiled for the C++ compiler test had to be
1073 improved to include an explicit return type for main(). This was
1074 causing failures on systems using recent versions of the EGCS C++
1076 * Fixed an important bug in AC_CHECK_TYPE that would cause a configure
1077 script to report that `sometype_t' was present when only `type_t'
1079 * Merge of the FSF version of config.guess and config.sub to modernize
1080 these scripts. Add support for a few new hosts in config.guess.
1081 Incorporate latest versions of install-sh, mkinstalldirs and
1082 texinfo.tex from the FSF.
1083 * autoreconf is capable of running automake if necessary (and
1085 * Support for Fortran 77. See the Texinfo documentation for details.
1086 * Bug fixes and workarounds for quirky bugs in vendor utilities.
1088 Major changes in Autoconf 2.12:
1090 Released 1996-11-26 by David J. MacKenzie
1092 * AC_OUTPUT and AC_CONFIG_HEADER can create output files by
1093 concatenating multiple input files separated by colons, like so:
1094 AC_CONFIG_HEADER(config.h:conf.pre:config.h.in:conf.post)
1095 AC_OUTPUT(Makefile:Makefile.in:Makefile.rules)
1096 The arguments may be shell variables, to compute the lists on the fly.
1097 * AC_LINK_FILES and AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS may be called multiple times.
1098 * New macro AC_OUTPUT_COMMANDS adds more commands to run in config.status.
1101 Major changes in Autoconf 2.11:
1103 Released November 18th, 1996, by David J. MacKenzie
1105 * AC_PROG_CC and AC_PROG_CXX check whether the compiler works.
1106 They also default CFLAGS/CXXFLAGS to "-g -O2" for gcc, instead of "-g -O".
1107 * AC_REPLACE_FUNCS defines HAVE_foo if the system has the function `foo'.
1108 * AC_CONFIG_HEADER expands shell variables in its argument.
1109 * New macros: AC_FUNC_FNMATCH, AC_FUNC_SETPGRP.
1110 * The "checking..." messages and the source code for test programs that
1111 fail are saved in config.log.
1112 * Another workaround has been added for seds with small command length limits.
1113 * config.sub and config.guess recognize more system types.
1116 Major changes in Autoconf 2.10:
1118 Released May 7th, 1996, by Roland McGrath
1121 * The cache variable names used by `AC_CHECK_LIB(LIB, FUNC, ...)' has
1122 changed: now $ac_cv_lib_LIB_FUNC, previously $ac_cv_lib_LIB.
1124 Major changes in Autoconf 2.9:
1126 Released March 16th, 1996, by Roland McGrath
1130 Major changes in Autoconf 2.8:
1132 Released March 8th, 1996, by Roland McGrath
1136 Major changes in Autoconf 2.7:
1138 Released November 22nd, 1995, by David J. MacKenzie
1142 Major changes in Autoconf 2.6:
1144 Released November 20th, 1995, by David J. MacKenzie
1148 Major changes in Autoconf 2.5:
1150 Released November 17th, 1995, by Roland McGrath
1152 * New configure options --bindir, --libdir, --datadir, etc., with
1153 corresponding output variables.
1154 * New macro: AC_CACHE_CHECK, to make using the cache easier.
1155 * config.log contains the command being run as well as any output from it.
1156 * AC_CHECK_LIB can check for libraries with "." or "/" or "+" in their name.
1157 * AC_PROG_INSTALL doesn't cache a name for install-sh, for sharing caches.
1158 * AC_CHECK_PROG, AC_PATH_PROG, AC_CHECK_PROGS, AC_PATH_PROGS, and
1159 AC_CHECK_TOOL can search a path other than $PATH.
1160 * AC_CHECK_SIZEOF takes an optional size to use when cross-compiling.
1162 Major changes in Autoconf 2.4:
1164 Released June 14th, 1995, by David J. MacKenzie
1166 * Fix a few bugs found by Emacs testers.
1168 Major changes in Autoconf 2.3:
1170 Released March 27th, 1995, by David J. MacKenzie
1172 * Fix the cleanup trap in several ways.
1173 * Handle C compilers that are picky about option placement.
1174 * ifnames gets the version number from the right directory.
1176 Major changes in Autoconf 2.2:
1178 Released March 8th, 1995, by David J. MacKenzie
1180 * The ifnames utility is much faster but requires a "new awk" interpreter.
1181 * AC_CHECK_LIB and AC_HAVE_LIBRARY check and add the new
1182 library before existing libs, not after, in case it uses them.
1183 * New macros: AC_FUNC_GETPGRP, AC_CHECK_TOOL.
1184 * Lots of bug fixes.
1185 * Many additions to the TODO file :-)
1187 Major changes in Autoconf 2.1:
1189 Released November 4th, 1994, by David J. MacKenzie
1192 * More explanations in the manual.
1193 * Fix a spurious failure in the testsuite.
1194 * Clarify some warning messages.
1195 * autoreconf by default only rebuilds configure and config.h.in files
1196 that are older than any of their particular input files; there is a
1197 --force option to use after installing a new version of Autoconf.
1199 Thanks to everybody who's submitted changes and additions to Autoconf!
1200 I've incorporated many of them, and am still considering others for
1201 future releases -- but I didn't want to postpone this release indefinitely.
1203 Caution: don't indiscriminately rebuild configure scripts with
1204 Autoconf version 2. Some configure.in files need minor adjustments to
1205 work with it; the documentation has a chapter on upgrading. A few
1206 configure.in files, including those for GNU Emacs and the GNU C
1207 Library, need major changes because they relied on undocumented
1208 internals of version 1. Future releases of those packages will have
1209 updated configure.in files.
1211 It's best to use GNU M4 1.3 (or later) with Autoconf version 2.
1212 Autoconf now makes heavy use of M4 diversions, which were implemented
1213 inefficiently in GNU M4 releases before 1.3.
1215 Major changes in Autoconf 2.0:
1217 Released October 26th, 1994, by David J. MacKenzie
1219 ** New copyright terms:
1220 * There are no restrictions on distribution or use of configure scripts.
1223 * Autoconf manual is reorganized to make information easier to find
1224 and has several new indexes.
1225 * INSTALL is reorganized and clearer and is now made from Texinfo source.
1228 * autoscan to generate a preliminary configure.in for a package by
1229 scanning its source code for commonly used nonportable functions,
1230 programs, and header files.
1231 * ifnames to list the symbols used in #if and #ifdef directives in a
1233 * autoupdate to update a configure.in to use the version 2 macro names.
1234 * autoreconf to recursively remake configure and configuration header
1235 files in a source tree.
1237 ** Changed utilities:
1238 * autoheader can take pieces of acconfig.h to replace config.h.{top,bot}.
1239 * autoconf and autoheader can look for package-local definition files
1240 in an alternate directory.
1243 * AC_CACHE_VAL to share results of tests between configure runs.
1244 * AC_DEFUN to define macros, automatically AC_PROVIDE them, and ensure
1245 that macros invoked with AC_REQUIRE don't interrupt other macros.
1246 * AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR, AC_CANONICAL_SYSTEM, AC_CANONICAL_HOST, AC_LINK_FILES to
1247 support deciding unguessable features based on the host and target types.
1248 * AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS to recursively configure a source tree.
1249 * AC_ARG_PROGRAM to use the options --program-prefix,
1250 --program-suffix, and --program-transform-name to change the names
1251 of programs being installed.
1252 * AC_PREFIX_DEFAULT to change the default installation prefix.
1253 * AC_TRY_COMPILE to compile a test program without linking it.
1254 * AC_CHECK_TYPE to check whether sys/types.h or stdlib.h defines a given type.
1255 * AC_CHECK_LIB to check for a particular function and library.
1256 * AC_MSG_CHECKING and AC_MSG_RESULT to print test results, on a single line,
1257 whether or not the test succeeds. They obsolete AC_CHECKING and AC_VERBOSE.
1258 * AC_SUBST_FILE to insert one file into another.
1259 * AC_FUNC_MEMCMP to check whether memcmp is 8-bit clean.
1260 * AC_FUNC_STRFTIME to find strftime even if it's in -lintl.
1261 * AC_FUNC_GETMNTENT to find getmntent even if it's in -lsun or -lseq.
1262 * AC_HEADER_SYS_WAIT to check whether sys/wait.h is POSIX.1 compatible.
1265 * Many macros renamed systematically, but old names are accepted for
1266 backward compatibility.
1267 * AC_OUTPUT adds the "automatically generated" comment to
1268 non-Makefiles where it finds @configure_input@ in an input file, to
1269 support files with various comment syntaxes.
1270 * AC_OUTPUT does not replace "prefix" and "exec_prefix" in generated
1271 files when they are not enclosed in @ signs.
1272 * AC_OUTPUT allows the optional environment variable CONFIG_STATUS to
1273 override the file name "config.status".
1274 * AC_OUTPUT takes an optional argument for passing variables from
1275 configure to config.status.
1276 * AC_OUTPUT and AC_CONFIG_HEADER allow you to override the input-file names.
1277 * AC_OUTPUT automatically substitutes the values of CFLAGS, CXXFLAGS,
1278 CPPFLAGS, and LDFLAGS from the environment.
1279 * AC_PROG_CC and AC_PROG_CXX now set CFLAGS and CXXFLAGS, respectively.
1280 * AC_PROG_INSTALL looks for install-sh or install.sh in the directory
1281 specified by AC_CONFIG_AUXDIR, or srcdir or srcdir/.. or
1282 srcdir/../.. by default.
1283 * AC_DEFINE, AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED, and AC_SUBST are more robust and smaller.
1284 * AC_DEFINE no longer prints anything, because of the new result reporting
1285 mechanism (AC_MSG_CHECKING and AC_MSG_RESULT).
1286 * AC_VERBOSE pays attention to --quiet/--silent, not --verbose.
1287 * AC_ARG_ENABLE and AC_ARG_WITH support whitespace in the arguments to
1288 --enable- and --with- options.
1289 * AC_CHECK_FUNCS and AC_CHECK_HEADERS take optional shell commands to
1290 execute on success or failure.
1291 * Checking for C functions in C++ works.
1294 * AC_REMOTE_TAPE and AC_RSH removed; too specific to tar and cpio, and
1295 better maintained with them.
1296 * AC_ARG_ARRAY removed because no one was likely using it.
1297 * AC_HAVE_POUNDBANG replaced with AC_SYS_INTERPRETER, which doesn't
1298 take arguments, for consistency with all of the other specific checks.
1301 * Comes with config.sub and config.guess, and uses them optionally.
1302 * Uses config.cache to cache test results. An alternate cache file
1303 can be selected with the --cache-file=FILE option.
1304 * Uses optional shell scripts $prefix/share/config.site and
1305 $prefix/etc/config.site to perform site or system specific initializations.
1306 * configure saves compiler output to ./config.log for debugging.
1307 * New files autoconf.m4 and autoheader.m4 load the other Autoconf macros.
1308 * acsite.m4 is the new name for the system-wide aclocal.m4.
1309 * Has a DejaGnu test suite.
1311 Major changes in Autoconf 1.11:
1313 * AC_PROG_INSTALL calls install.sh with the -c option.
1314 * AC_SET_MAKE cleans up after itself.
1315 * AC_OUTPUT sets prefix and exec_prefix if they weren't set already.
1316 * AC_OUTPUT prevents shells from looking in PATH for config.status.
1318 Plus a few other bug fixes.
1320 Major changes in Autoconf 1.10:
1322 * autoheader uses config.h.bot if present, analogous to config.h.top.
1323 * AC_PROG_INSTALL looks for install.sh in srcdir or srcdir/.. and
1325 * AC_PROG_CXX looks for cxx as a C++ compiler.
1327 Plus several bugs fixed.
1329 Major changes in Autoconf 1.9:
1331 * AC_YYTEXT_POINTER replaces AC_DECLARE_YYTEXT.
1332 * AC_SIZEOF_TYPE generates the cpp symbol name automatically,
1333 and autoheader generates entries for those names automatically.
1334 * AC_FIND_X gets the result from xmkmf correctly.
1335 * AC_FIND_X assumes no X if --without-x was given.
1336 * AC_FIND_XTRA adds libraries to the variable X_EXTRA_LIBS.
1337 * AC_PROG_INSTALL finds OSF/1 installbsd.
1339 Major changes in Autoconf 1.8:
1342 * New macros AC_LANG_C, AC_LANG_CPLUSPLUS, AC_LANG_SAVE, AC_LANG_RESTORE,
1343 AC_PROG_CXX, AC_PROG_CXXCPP, AC_REQUIRE_CPP
1344 for checking both C++ and C features in one configure script.
1345 * New macros AC_CHECKING, AC_VERBOSE, AC_WARN, AC_ERROR for printing messages.
1346 * New macros AC_FIND_XTRA, AC_MMAP, AC_SIZEOF_TYPE, AC_PREREQ,
1347 AC_SET_MAKE, AC_ENABLE.
1350 * AC_FIND_X looks for X in more places.
1351 * AC_PROG_INSTALL defaults to install.sh instead of cp, if it's in srcdir.
1352 install.sh is distributed with Autoconf.
1353 * AC_DECLARE_YYTEXT has been removed because it can't work, pending
1354 a rewrite of quoting in AC_DEFINE.
1355 * AC_OUTPUT adds its comments in C format when substituting in C files.
1356 * AC_COMPILE_CHECK protects its ECHO-TEXT argument with double quotes.
1358 ** New or changed command line options:
1359 * configure accepts --enable-FEATURE[=ARG] and --disable-FEATURE options.
1360 * configure accepts --without-PACKAGE, which sets withval=no.
1361 * configure accepts --x-includes=DIR and --x-libraries=DIR.
1362 * Giving --with-PACKAGE no argument sets withval=yes instead of withval=1.
1363 * configure accepts --help, --version, --silent/--quiet, --no-create options.
1364 * configure accepts and ignores most other Cygnus configure options, and
1365 warns about unknown options.
1366 * config.status accepts --help, --version options.
1368 ** File names and other changes:
1369 * Relative srcdir values are not made absolute.
1370 * The values of @prefix@ and @exec_prefix@ and @top_srcdir@ get substituted.
1371 * Autoconf library files are installed in ${datadir}/autoconf, not ${datadir}.
1372 * autoheader optionally copies config.h.top to the beginning of config.h.in.
1373 * The example Makefile dependencies for configure et al. work better.
1374 * Namespace cleanup: all shell variables used internally by Autoconf
1375 have names beginning with `ac_'.
1377 More big improvements are in process for future releases, but have not
1378 yet been (variously) finished, integrated, tested, or documented enough
1381 Major changes in Autoconf 1.7:
1383 * New macro AC_OBSOLETE.
1384 * Bugs in Makefile.in fixed.
1385 * AC_LONG_FILE_NAMES improved.
1387 Major changes in Autoconf 1.6:
1389 * New macro AC_LONG_64_BITS.
1390 * Multiple .h files can be created.
1391 * AC_FIND_X looks for X files directly if it doesn't find xmkmf.
1392 * AC_ALLOCA defines C_ALLOCA if using alloca.c.
1393 * --with-NAME can take a value, e.g., --with-targets=sun4,hp300bsd.
1394 * Unused --no-create option to configure removed.
1395 * autoheader doesn't change the timestamp of its output file if
1396 the file didn't change.
1397 * All macros that look for libraries now use AC_HAVE_LIBRARY.
1398 * config.status checks three optional environment variables to
1399 modify its behavior.
1400 * The usual bug fixes.
1402 Major changes in Autoconf 1.5:
1404 * New macros AC_FIND_X, AC_OFF_T, AC_STAT_MACROS_BROKEN, AC_REVISION.
1405 * autoconf and autoheader scripts have GNU standards conforming
1406 --version and --help options (they print their message and exit).
1409 Major changes in Autoconf 1.4:
1411 * New macros AC_HAVE_POUNDBANG, AC_TIME_WITH_SYS_TIME, AC_LONG_DOUBLE,
1412 AC_GETGROUPS_T, AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED.
1413 * autoconf and autoheader use the M4 environment variable to determine the
1414 name of the M4 program to use.
1415 * The --macrodir option to autoconf and autoheader specifies the directory
1416 in which acspecific.m4, acgeneral.m4, etc. reside if not the default.
1417 * autoconf and autoheader can take `-' as their file names, which means to
1418 read stdin as input.
1419 * Resulting configure scripts can take a --verbose option which causes them
1420 to print the results of their tests.
1421 * AC_DEFINE quotes its second argument in such a way that spaces, magic
1422 shell characters, etc. will be preserved during various stages of
1423 expansion done by the shell. If you don't want this, use
1424 AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED instead.
1425 * Much textual processing done with external calls to tr and sed have been
1426 internalized with builtin M4 `patsubst' and `translit' calls.
1427 * AC_OUTPUT doesn't hardwire the file names it outputs. Instead, you can
1428 set the shell variables `gen_files' and `gen_config' to the list of
1429 file names to output.
1430 * AC_DECLARE_YYTEXT does an AC_SUBST of `LEX_OUTPUT_ROOT', which may be
1431 "lex.yy" or "lexyy", depending on the system.
1432 * AC_PROGRAMS_CHECK takes an optional third arg. If given, it is used as
1434 * If AC_ALLOCA chooses alloca.c, it also defines STACK_DIRECTION.
1435 * AC_CONST works much more reliably on more systems.
1438 Major changes in Autoconf 1.3:
1440 configure no longer requires awk for packages that use a config.h.
1441 Support handling --with-PACKAGE options.
1442 New `autoheader' script to create `config.h.in' from `configure.in'.
1443 Ignore troublesome -lucb and -lPW when searching for alloca.
1444 Rename --exec_prefix to --exec-prefix for GNU standards conformance.
1445 Improve detection of STDC library.
1446 Add AC_HAVE_LIBRARY to check for non-default libraries.
1447 Function checking should work with future GNU libc releases.
1449 Major changes in Autoconf 1.2:
1451 The --srcdir option is now usually unnecessary.
1452 Add a file containing sample comments describing CPP macros.
1453 A comment in config.status tells which host it was configured on.
1454 Substituted variable values can now contain commas.
1455 Fix bugs in various feature checks.
1457 Major changes in Autoconf 1.1:
1459 Added AC_STRCOLL macro.
1460 Made AC_GETLOADAVG check for more things.
1461 AC_OUTPUT argument is now optional.
1466 Copyright (C) 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002,
1467 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1469 This file is part of GNU Autoconf.
1471 GNU Autoconf is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
1472 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
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