1 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.60b (2006-10-22)
4 Autoconf-generated shell scripts no longer export BIN_SH, due to
5 configuration hassles with this. Installers who need BIN_SH in
6 their environment should set it before invoking 'configure' and
7 'make'. As far as we know, this affects only Unixware installations.
10 The documentation now says that the following macros are obsolescent,
11 as they are superseded by Gnulib:
13 AC_FUNC_FNMATCH AC_FUNC_FNMATCH_GNU AC_FUNC_GETLOADVG AC_REPLACE_FNMATCH
15 New programs should use the Gnulib counterparts of these macros.
16 We have no current plans to remove them from Autoconf.
18 ** AC_COMPUTE_INT no longer caches or reports results.
20 ** AC_CHECK_DECL now also works with aggregate objects.
22 ** AC_USE_SYSTEM_EXTENSIONS now defines _TANDEM_SOURCE for NonStop platforms.
24 ** GNU M4 1.4.7 or later is now recommended.
27 New M4sugar macro, which is more secure than the POSIX M4 maketemp.
30 Now an alias for m4_mkstemp.
32 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.60a (2006-08-25)
34 ** GNU M4 1.4.6 or later is now recommended. At least one "make check"
35 test fails with earlier versions of M4.
37 ** The check for C99 now tests for varargs macros, as documented.
38 It also tests that the preprocessor supports 64-bit integers.
40 ** Autoconf now uses constructs like "#ifdef HAVE_STDLIB_H" rather than
41 "#if HAVE_STDLIB_H", so that it now works with "gcc -Wundef -Werror".
43 ** The functionality of the undocumented _AC_COMPUTE_INT is now provided
44 by a public and documented macro, AC_COMPUTE_INT. The parameters to the
45 two macros are different, so autoupdate will not change the old private name
46 to the new one. _AC_COMPUTE_INT may be removed in a future release.
48 ** AC_TYPE_LONG_LONG_INT and AC_TYPE_UNSIGNED_LONG_LONG_INT now require
49 that long long types be at least 64 bits wide, as C99 and tradition
50 requires. Formerly, they accepted implementations of any width.
53 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.60
55 Released 2006-06-23, by Ralf Wildenhues.
57 ** Autoconf no longer depends on whether m4wrap is FIFO (as Posix requires)
58 or LIFO (as in GNU M4 1.4.x). GNU M4 2.0 is expected to conform to Posix
59 here, so m4wrap/m4_wrap users should no longer depend on LIFO behavior.
61 ** Provide a way to turn off warnings about the changed directory variables.
63 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.59d
65 Released 2006-06-05, by Ralf Wildenhues.
67 ** GNU make now recommended for VPATH builds
68 INSTALL now suggests VPATH builds (e.g., "sh ../srcdir/configure")
69 only if you use GNU make. In practice, other 'make' implementations
70 have too many subtle incompatibilities in their support for VPATH.
71 Many packages (including Autoconf itself) are portable to other
72 'make' implementations, but some packages are not, and recommending
73 GNU make keeps the installation instructions simpler.
75 ** Even more safety checks for the new Directory variables:
76 Warn about suspicious `${datarootdir}' found in config files output.
78 ** AC_TRY_COMMAND, AC_TRY_EVAL, ac_config_guess, ac_config_sub, ac_configure
79 These never-documented macros and variables have been marked with
80 comments saying that they may be removed in a future release,
81 because their use can lead to unintended code being executed.
82 If you need functionality that only these macros or variables
83 currently supply, please write bug-autoconf@gnu.org.
85 ** AC_SUBST, AC_DEFINE
86 Literal arguments to these are passed to m4_pattern_allow now.
89 Passing 'ac_cv_prog_cc_stdc=no' to 'configure' now sets ac_cv_prog_cc_c99
90 and ac_cv_prog_cc_c89 to 'no' as well, for backward compatibility with
91 obsolete K&R tests in the Automake test suite.
100 Now more robust with special characters in file names, or when
101 multiple processes create the same directory at the same time.
103 ** Obsolescent macros
104 The documentation now says that the following macros are obsolescent:
105 they test for problems that are so old that they are no longer of
106 practical importance on current systems.
108 AC_C_BACKSLASH_A AC_FUNC_MEMCMP AC_HEADER_DIRENT
109 AC_C_CONST AC_FUNC_SELECT_ARGTYPES AC_HEADER_STAT
110 AC_C_PROTOTYPES AC_FUNC_SETPGRP AC_HEADER_STDC
111 AC_C_STRINGIZE AC_FUNC_SETVBUF_REVERSED AC_HEADER_SYS_WAIT
112 AC_C_VOLATILE AC_FUNC_STAT AC_HEADER_TIME
113 AC_FUNC_CLOSEDIR_VOID AC_FUNC_STRFTIME AC_ISC_POSIX
114 AC_FUNC_GETPGRP AC_FUNC_UTIME_NULL AC_PROG_GCC_TRADITIONAL
115 AC_FUNC_LSTAT AC_FUNC_VPRINTF AC_STRUCT_TM
117 New programs need not use these macros. We have no current plans to
121 For compatibility with future Libtool 2.0, autoreconf will invoke
122 libtoolize with the option `--ltdl' now, if LT_CONFIG_LTDL_DIR is
125 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.59c
127 Released 2006-04-12, by Ralf Wildenhues.
129 ** The configure command now redirects standard input from /dev/null,
130 to help avoid problems with subsidiary commands that might mistakenly
131 read standard input. AS_ORIGINAL_STDIN_FD points to the original
132 standard input before this redirection, if you really want configure to
133 read from standard input.
135 ** Directory variables adjusted to recent changes in the GNU Coding Standards.
136 The following directory variables are new:
138 datarootdir read-only architecture-independent data root [PREFIX/share]
139 localedir locale-specific message catalogs [DATAROOTDIR/locale]
140 docdir documentation root [DATAROOTDIR/doc/PACKAGE]
141 htmldir html documentation [DOCDIR]
142 dvidir dvi documentation [DOCDIR]
143 pdfdir pdf documentation [DOCDIR]
144 psdir ps documentation [DOCDIR]
146 The following variables have new default values:
148 datadir read-only architecture-independent data [DATAROOTDIR]
149 infodir info documentation [DATAROOTDIR/info]
150 mandir man documentation [DATAROOTDIR/man]
152 This means that if you use any of `@datadir@', `@infodir@', or
153 `@mandir@' in a file, you will have to ensure `${datarootdir}' is
154 defined in this file. As a temporary measure, if any of those are
155 found but no mention of `datarootdir', the substitutions will be
156 replaced with values that do not contain `${datarootdir}', and a
157 warning will be issued.
159 ** @top_builddir@ is now a dir name: it is always nonempty and doesn't have
160 a trailing slash. Similar change will be made to ac_top_builddir in a
161 future release; the old style value, which matches (../)*, is (and will
162 continue to be) available as ac_top_build_prefix.
165 New macro to check for support of 'typeof' syntax a la GNU C.
167 ** AC_CHECK_DECLS_ONCE, AC_CHECK_FUNCS_ONCE, AC_CHECK_HEADERS_ONCE
168 New "once-only" variants of commonly-used macros, to make 'configure'
169 smaller and faster in common cases.
172 New macro to check for strtold with C99 semantics.
175 New macro that lets builder disable assertions at 'configure'-time.
178 Now checks for X11/Xlib.h and XrmInitialize (X proper) rather than
179 X11/Intrinsic.h and XtMalloc (Xt).
181 ** AC_PRESERVE_HELP_ORDER
182 New macro that causes `configure' to display help strings for AC_ARG_ENABLE
183 and AC_ARG_WITH arguments in one region, in the order defined. The default
184 behavior is to group options of each classes separately.
186 ** AC_PROG_CC, AC_PROG_CXX
187 No longer automatically arrange to declare the 'exit' function of C,
188 when a C++ compiler is used. Standard Autoconf macros no longer use
189 'exit', so this is no longer an issue for them. If you use C++, and
190 want to call 'exit', you'll have to arrange for its declaration
191 yourself. But we now suggest you return from 'main' instead.
193 ** AC_PROG_CC_C89, AC_PROG_CC_C99
194 New macros for ISO C99 support. AC_PROG_CC_C89 and AC_PROG_CC_C99
195 check for ANSI C89 and ISO C99 support respectively.
198 Has been unobsoleted, and will check if the compiler supports ISO
199 C99, falling back to ANSI C89 if not. ac_cv_prog_cc_stdc is
200 retained for backwards compatibility, assuming the value of
201 ac_cv_prog_cc_c99 or ac_cv_prog_cc_c89 (whichever is valid, in
204 ** AC_STRUCT_DIRENT_D_INO, AC_STRUCT_DIRENT_D_TYPE
205 New macros for checking commonly-used members of struct dirent.
208 The substituted value can now contain newlines.
211 The substitution now occurs only when @variable@ is on a line by itself,
212 optionally surrounded by spaces and tabs. The whole line is replaced.
214 ** AC_TYPE_LONG_DOUBLE, AC_TYPE_LONG_DOUBLE_WIDER
215 New macros to check for long double, and whether it is wider than double.
216 The old macro AC_C_TYPE_LONG_DOUBLE has been marked as obsolete;
217 applications should switch to the new macro.
219 ** AC_TYPE_INT8_T, AC_TYPE_INT16_T, AC_TYPE_INT32_T, AC_TYPE_INT64_T,
220 AC_TYPE_INTMAX_T, AC_TYPE_INTPTR_T, AC_TYPE_LONG_LONG_INT, AC_TYPE_SSIZE_T,
221 AC_TYPE_UINT8_T, AC_TYPE_UINT16_T, AC_TYPE_UINT32_T, AC_TYPE_UINT64_T,
222 AC_TYPE_UINTMAX_T, AC_TYPE_UINTPTR_T, AC_TYPE_UNSIGNED_LONG_LONG_INT
223 New macros to check for C99 and POSIX types.
225 ** AC_USE_SYSTEM_EXTENSIONS
226 New macro to enable extensions to Posix.
229 New macro which is defined to the name of the first declared config header
230 or undefined if no config headers have been declared yet.
233 The macro correctly handles quadrigraphs now.
235 ** AS_BOURNE_COMPATIBLE, AS_SHELL_SANITIZE, AS_CASE
236 These macros are new or published now.
239 New macro for copyright notices in testsuite files.
241 ** ALLOCA, LIBOBJS, LTLIBOBJS
242 Object names added to these variables are now prefixed with `${LIBOBJDIR}',
243 as in `${LIBOBJDIR}alloca.o'. LIBOBJDIR is meant to be defined from
244 `Makefile.in' in case the object files lie in a different directory.
245 The LIBOBJDIR feature is experimental.
248 Supports --no-recursive now.
250 ** New macros to support Erlang/OTP.
251 New macros for configuring paths to Erlang tools and libraries:
252 AC_ERLANG_PATH_ERLC, AC_ERLANG_NEED_ERLC, AC_ERLANG_PATH_ERL,
253 AC_ERLANG_NEED_ERL, AC_ERLANG_CHECK_LIB, AC_ERLANG_SUBST_ROOT_DIR,
254 AC_ERLANG_SUBST_LIB_DIR.
256 New macros for configuring installation of Erlang libraries:
257 AC_ERLANG_SUBST_INSTALL_LIB_DIR, AC_ERLANG_SUBST_INSTALL_LIB_SUBDIR.
259 ** The manual now mentions Gnulib more prominently.
261 ** New macros to support Objective C.
262 AC_PROG_OBJC, AC_PROG_OBJCPP.
264 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.59b
266 Released 2004-08-20, by Paul Eggert.
269 New macro that computes the default alignment of a type.
271 ** AC_CHECK_TOOL, AC_PATH_TOOL, AC_CHECK_TOOLS
272 When cross-compiling, these macros will give a warning if the tool
273 is not prefixed. In the future, unprefixed cross tools will not
274 be detected; please consult the info documentation for information
275 about the reason of this change.
277 ** AC_CHECK_TARGET_TOOL, AC_PATH_TARGET_TOOL, AC_CHECK_TARGET_TOOLS
278 New macros that detect programs whose name is prefixed with the
279 target type, if the build type and target type are different.
281 ** AC_REQUIRE_AUX_FILE
282 New trace macro that declares expected auxiliary files.
285 New macro that tests for a grep program that accepts as a long a line
288 ** AC_PROG_EGREP, AC_PROG_FGREP
289 These macros now require AC_PROG_GREP, and try EGREP="$GREP -E" and
290 FGREP="$GREP -F" respectively if possible, or else run a path search for
291 a program that accepts as long a line as possible.
294 New macro that tests for a sed program that truncates as few characters
297 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.59
299 Released 2003-11-04, by Akim Demaille
301 ** ac_abs_builddir etc.
302 Absolute file names were actually relative in 2.58.
304 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.58
306 Released 2003-11-04, by Akim Demaille
309 core.* files are no longer removed, as they may be valid user files.
311 ** autoreconf and auxiliary directory
312 Autoreconf creates the auxiliary directory if needed. This is
313 especially useful for initial "bootstrapping" of fresh CVS checkouts.
315 ** AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR
316 Use this macro to declare the directory for local M4 macros for aclocal.
319 No longer includes twice the same file in LIBOBJS if invoked
322 ** AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS
323 The directory for its first argument is automatically created. For
326 AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS([src/modules.hh], [...])
328 $top_builddir/src/ is created if needed.
330 ** Autotest and local.at
331 The optional file local.at is always included in Autotest test suites.
334 The warnings are always issued, including with cached runs.
335 This became a significant problem since aclocal and automake can
336 run autoconf behind the scene.
338 ** autoheader warnings
339 The warnings of autoheader can be turned off, using --warning.
340 For instance, -Wno-obsolete disables the complaints about acconfig.h
341 and other deprecated constructs.
344 AC_C_RESTRICT, AC_INCLUDES_DEFAULT, AC_LANG_ASSERT, AC_LANG_WERROR,
347 ** AC_DECL_SYS_SIGLIST
351 Now checks that mktime is the inverse of localtime.
353 ** Improve DJGPP portability
354 The Autoconf tools and configure behave better under DJGPP.
356 ** Present But Cannot Be Compiled
357 New FAQ section dedicated to the mystic
359 configure: WARNING: pi.h: present but cannot be compiled
360 configure: WARNING: pi.h: check for missing prerequisite headers?
361 configure: WARNING: pi.h: proceeding with the preprocessor's result
364 ** Concurrent executions of autom4te
365 autom4te now locks its internal files, which enables concurrent
366 executions of autom4te, likely to happen if automake, autoconf,
367 autoheader etc. are run simultaneously.
370 Use of Libtool 1.5 and higher is encouraged. Compatibility with
371 Libtool pre-1.4 is not checked.
374 Testsuites no longer rerun failed tests in verbose mode; instead,
375 failures are logged while the test is run.
377 In addition, expected failures can be marked as such.
379 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.57
381 Released 2002-12-03 by Paul Eggert.
383 Bug fixes for problems with AIX linker, with freestanding C compilers,
384 with GNU M4 limitations, and with obsolete copies of GNU documents.
386 The Free Documentation License has been upgraded from 1.1 to 1.2.
388 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.56
390 Released 2002-11-15 by Akim Demaille.
392 One packaging problem fixed (config/install-sh was not executable).
394 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.55
396 Released 2002-11-14 by Akim Demaille.
400 Have your configure.ac checked by autoscan ("autoscan").
401 Try the warning options ("autoreconf -fv -Wall").
405 - AC_CHECK_HEADER, AC_CHECK_HEADERS
406 More information on proper use.
408 - Writing Test Programs
410 This sections explains how to write good test sources to use with
411 AC_COMPILE_IFELSE etc. It documents AC_LANG_PROGRAM and so forth.
413 - AC_FOO_IFELSE vs. AC_TRY_FOO
415 Explains why Autoconf moves from AC_TRY_COMPILE etc. to
416 AC_COMPILE_IFELSE and AC_LANG_PROGRAM etc.
420 - Is more robust to different Gettext installations.
422 - Produces messages (when --verbose) to be understood by Emacs'
425 - Supports -W/--warnings.
428 Once the GNU Build System reinstalled, run `./config.status
429 --recheck && ./config.status && make' if possible.
433 - Supports --cache, and --no-cache.
435 - ~/.autom4te.cfg makes it possible to disable the caching mechanism
436 (autom4te.cache). See `Customizing autom4te' in the documentation.
443 Support for the obsoleted options -m, --macrodir, -l, --localdir is
444 dropped in favor of the safer --include/--prepend-include scheme.
449 AC_COMPILER_IFELSE, AC_FUNC_MBRTOWC, AC_HEADER_STDBOOL,
450 AC_LANG_CONFTEST, AC_LANG_SOURCE, AC_LANG_PROGRAM, AC_LANG_CALL,
451 AC_LANG_FUNC_TRY_LINK, AC_MSG_FAILURE, AC_PREPROC_IFELSE.
454 Obsoleted macros are kept for Autoconf backward compatibility, but
455 should be avoided in configure.ac. Running autoupdate is advised.
458 - AC_DEFINE/AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED
460 We have to stop using the old compatibility scheme --that tried to
461 avoid useless backslashes-- because Libtool 1.4.3 contains a
463 AC_DEFINE([error_t], [int],
464 [Define to a type to use for \`error_t' if it is not
465 otherwise available.])
467 We have to quote the single quotes and backslashes with \. The old
468 compatibility scheme saw that ` was backslashed, and therefore did
469 not quote the single quote... Failure. Hence, Autoconf 2.54 is not
470 compatible with Libtool. Autoconf 2.55 is, but in some cases might
471 produce more \ than wanted.
473 Please, note that in the future the same problem will happen with
474 AC_MSG_*: use `autoreconf -f -Wall'.
478 - Portability of the Autoconf package to Solaris.
480 - Spurious warnings caused by config.status.
481 This bug is benign, but painful: on some systems (typically
482 FreeBSD), warnings such as:
484 config.status: creating Makefile
485 mv: Makefile: set owner/group (was: 1357/0): Operation not permitted
487 could be issued. This is fixed.
490 Simultaneous executions of config.status are possible again.
492 - Precious variables accumulation
494 config.status could stack several copies of the precious variables
498 ** Plans for later versions
502 The compatibility hooks with the old scheme will be completely
503 removed. Please, advice/use `--build', `--host', and `--target'
506 - AC_CHECK_HEADER, AC_CHECK_HEADERS
508 The tests will be stricter, please make sure your invocations are
513 Shell functions will gradually be introduced, probably starting with
514 Autotest. If you know machines which are in use that you suspect
515 *not* to support shell functions, please run the test suite of
516 Autoconf 2.55 on it, and report the results to
517 bug-autoconf@gnu.org.
521 Special characters in AC_MSG_* need not be quoted. Currently,
522 Autoconf has heuristics to decide when a string is escaped, or has
523 to be escaped. This scheme is fragile, and will be removed; the
524 only risk is uglified messages. Please, run `autoreconf -f -Wall'
525 to find occurrences that will be affected.
527 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.54
529 Released 2002-09-13 by Akim Demaille.
533 - autoreconf no longer changes the version of the gettext/po/intl
534 support files. It now adds the files the correspond to the
535 AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION declared in configure.ac.
537 Warning: It now relies on the 'autopoint' program, which is part
538 of GNU gettext 0.11.4 and newer.
540 Please note that you need to have a GNU gettext version that
541 corresponds at least to the AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION declared
542 in configure.ac. You can upgrade to newer GNU gettext versions,
543 though, without needing to change configure.ac.
545 - The -I DIR or --include=DIR option now appends DIR to the include path
546 instead of prepending; this is for consistency with other GNU tools.
547 The new -B DIR or --prepend-include=DIR option has the old behavior.
552 Now handles all the gory details about LIBOBJS and LTLIBOBJS.
553 Please, remove lines such as
555 # This is necessary so that .o files in LIBOBJS are also
556 # built via the ANSI2KNR-filtering rules.
557 LIBOBJS=`echo $LIBOBJS|sed 's/\.o /\$U.o /g;s/\.o$/\$U.o/'`
559 and read the `AC_LIBOBJ vs LIBOBJS' section. Do not define U in
560 your Makefiles either.
562 - AC_CONFIG_LINKS now makes copies if it can't make links.
564 - AC_FUNC_FNMATCH now tests only for POSIX compatibility, reverting to
565 Autoconf 2.13 behavior. The new macro AC_FUNC_FNMATCH_GNU also
566 tests for GNU extensions to fnmatch, and replaces fnmatch if needed.
568 - AC_FUNC_SETVBUF_REVERSED no longer fails when cross-compiling.
570 - AC_PROG_CC_STDC is integrated into AC_PROG_CC.
572 - AC_PROG_F77 default search no longer includes cf77 and cfg77.
576 AC_C_BACKSLASH_A, AC_CONFIG_LIBOBJ_DIR, AC_GNU_SOURCE,
577 AC_PROG_EGREP, AC_PROG_FGREP, AC_REPLACE_FNMATCH,
578 AC_FUNC_FNMATCH_GNU, AC_FUNC_REALLOC, AC_TYPE_MBSTATE_T.
581 looks for getloadavg.c in the CONFIG_LIBOBJ_DIR.
584 Now defines HAVE_MALLOC to 0 if `malloc' does not work, and asks
585 for an AC_LIBOBJ replacement.
589 - Spurious complaints from `m4_bmatch' about invalid regular
590 expressions are suppressed.
592 - Empty top_builddirs are properly handled.
594 - AC_CHECK_MEMBER works correctly when the member is an aggregate.
597 Now colon in the optional path arguments are properly handled.
599 ** Improved portability
601 - Both Autoconf the package, and the scripts it produces, should run
602 more reliably with Zsh. Bear in mind it is the default Bourne shell
605 - Autoconf and the scripts it produces no longer assume the existence of
606 the obsolescent commands egrep and fgrep.
610 - Limitations of Make
614 The GNATS base moved to
615 http://bugs.gnu.org/cgi-bin/gnatsweb.pl?database=autoconf
616 (It is no longer available, though.)
621 Now contains the list of ouput variables and files (AC_SUBST,
624 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.53
626 Released 2002-03-08 by Akim Demaille.
630 Perl 5.005_03 or later is required: autom4te is written in Perl and is
631 needed by autoconf. autoheader, autoreconf, ifnames, and autoscan are
637 Argument requirements, output variables, defined macros.
638 - M4sugar, M4sh, Autotest
640 - Double quoting macros
641 AC_TRY_CPP, AC_TRY_COMPILE, AC_TRY_LINK and AC_TRY_RUN.
643 The Autoconf manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
644 - Section `Hosts and Cross-Compilation'
645 Explains the rationale for the 2.5x changes in the cross-compilation
646 chain, and in the relationships between build, host, and target
648 Emphasizes that `cross-compilation' == `--host is given'.
649 If you are working on compilers etc., be sure to read this section.
650 - Section `AC_LIBOBJ vs. LIBOBJS'
651 Explains why assigning LIBOBJS directly is now an error.
652 Details how to update the code.
657 Now used instead of hard coded line numbers.
658 This eases the comparison of `configure's, and diminishes the
659 pressure over control version archives.
660 Automatic replacement for shells that don't support this feature.
661 - New output variables
662 @builddir@, @top_builddir@, @abs_srcdir@, @abs_top_srcdir@, @abs_builddir@,
667 Autoconf and Autotest modes are provided.
672 New, used by the Autoconf suite to cache and speed up most processing.
674 Supported by autom4te, autoconf and autoheader.
676 Replaces --autoconf-dir and --localdir in autoconf, autoheader,
677 autoupdate, and autoreconf.
679 No longer passes --cygnus, --foreign, --gnits, --gnu, --include-deps:
680 automake options are to be given via AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS.
682 Runs gettextize and libtoolize when appropriate.
684 --m4dir is no longer supported.
686 Now runs only in the specified directories, defaulting to `.',
687 but understands AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS for dependent directories.
688 Before, it used to run on all the `configure.ac' found in the
690 Independent packages are properly updated.
694 - The top level $prefix is propagated to the AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS configures.
696 Under the user pressure, $? is finally available. Probably a mistake.
697 - AC_F77_LIBRARY_LDFLAGS now supports the HP/UX f90 compiler.
698 - Precious variables accumulation
699 config.status could stack several copies of the precious variables
701 - AC_PATH_PROG and family.
702 Works properly when given a literal path.
704 Somewhere since 2.13, the result had been reversed.
708 - AC_C_BIGENDIAN supports the cross-compiling case.
709 - AC_C_BIGENDIAN accepts ACTION-IF-TRUE, ACTION-IF-FALSE, and
710 ACTION-IF-UNKNOWN arguments. All are facultative, and the default
711 for ACTION-IF-TRUE is to define WORDS_BIGENDIAN like AC_C_BIGENDIAN
713 - AC_C_LONG_DOUBLE now succeeds only if `long double' has more range or
714 precision than `double'.
719 It now defines the preprocessor symbols PACKAGE_NAME,
720 PACKAGE_TARNAME, PACKAGE_VERSION, PACKAGE_STRING, and
724 Admits a fourth optional parameter: the tar name.
726 - AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS, HEADERS, FILES, LINKS.
727 Provide the user with srcdir, ac_srcdir, ac_top_srcdir, ac_builddir,
728 ac_top_builddir, ac_abs_srcdir, ac_abs_top_srcdir, ac_abs_builddir,
731 - AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS, HEADERS, FILES, LINKS and AC_OUTPUT.
732 Are much less expensive when using long lists of files.
735 Works with shell variables, and non alphanumeric names.
739 - AC_FUNC_STRERROR_R now sets STRERROR_R_CHAR_P, not HAVE_WORKING_STRERROR_R,
740 because POSIX 1003.1-200x draft 7 says strerror_r returns int, not char *.
742 - AC_FUNC_STRTOD substitutes POW_LIB.
747 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.52
749 Released 2001-07-18 by Akim Demaille.
754 This feature was present in autoconf 2.50 but was not documented.
755 For example, `@<:@' is translated to `[' just before output. This
756 is useful when writing strings that contain unbalanced quotes, or
757 other hard-to-quote constructs.
758 - m4_pattern_forbid, m4_pattern_allow
759 - Tips for upgrading from 2.13.
760 - Using autoscan to maintain a configure.ac.
763 - Now include stdint.h.
764 - sys/types.h and sys/stat.h are guarded.
765 - strings.h is included if available, and not conflicting with string.h.
768 - The test suite is more robust and presents less false failures.
769 - Invocation of GNU M4 now robust to POSIXLY_CORRECT.
770 - configure accepts --prefix='' again.
771 - AC_CHECK_LIB works properly when its first argument is not a
773 - HAVE_INTTYPES_H is defined only if not conflicting with sys/types.h.
774 - build_, host_, and target_alias are AC_SUBST as in 2.13.
775 - AC_ARG_VAR properly propagates precious variables inherited from the
776 environment to ./config.status.
777 - Using --program-suffix/--program-prefix is portable.
778 - Failures to detect the default compiler's output extension are less
780 - `config.status foo' works properly when `foo' depends on variables
781 set in an AC_CONFIG_THING INIT-CMD.
782 - autoheader is more robust to broken input.
783 - Fixed Fortran name-mangling and link tests on a number of systems,
784 e.g. NetBSD; see AC_F77_DUMMY_MAIN, below.
787 - AC_CHECK_HEADER and AC_CHECK_HEADERS support a fourth argument to
788 specify pre-includes. In this case, the headers are compiled with
789 cc, not merely preprocessed by cpp. Therefore it is the _usability_
790 of a header which is checked for, not just its availability.
791 - AC_ARG_VAR refuses to run configure when precious variables have
793 - Versions of compilers are dumped in the logs.
794 - AC_CHECK_TYPE recognizes use of `foo_t' as a replacement type.
797 - AC_PATH_XTRA only adds -ldnet to $LIBS if it's needed to link.
798 - AC_FUNC_WAIT3 and AC_SYS_RESTARTABLE_SYSCALLS are obsoleted.
799 - AM_FUNC_ERROR_AT_LINE, AM_FUNC_FNMATCH, AM_FUNC_MKTIME,
800 AM_FUNC_OBSTACK, and AM_FUNC_STRTOD are now activated.
801 Be sure to read `Upgrading from Version 2.13' to understand why
802 running `autoupdate' is needed.
803 - AC_F77_DUMMY_MAIN, AC_F77_MAIN: new macros to detect whether
804 a main-like routine is required/possible when linking C/C++ with
805 Fortran. Users of e.g. AC_F77_WRAPPERS should be aware of these.
806 - AC_FUNC_GETPGRG behaves better when cross-compiling.
808 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.51
809 There was no release of Autoconf 2.51 since some packagers had used
810 this version number without permission to ship intermediary versions
811 of 2.50. The version was skipped to avoid confusion.
813 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.50
815 Released 2001-05-21 by Akim Demaille.
818 There have been far too many to enumerate them here. Check out
819 ChangeLog if you really want to know more.
821 ** Improved documentation
822 In particular, portability issues are better covered.
825 All the standard GNU Makefile targets are supported. The layout has
826 changed: m4/ holds the M4 extensions Autoconf needs for its
827 configuration, doc/ contains the documentation, and tests/ contains
830 ** Man pages are provided
831 For autoconf, autoreconf, autoupdate, autoheader, autoscan, ifnames,
832 config.guess, config.sub.
836 Provides a safe and powerful means to trace the macro uses. This
837 provide the parsing layer for tools which need to `study'
841 Specify what category of warnings should be enabled.
843 - When recursing into subdirectories, try for configure.gnu before
844 configure to adapt for packages not using autoconf on case-insensitive
848 More errors are now caught (circular AC_REQUIRE dependencies,
849 AC_DEFINE in the action part of an AC_CACHE_CHECK, too many pops
850 etc.). In addition, their location and call stack are given.
853 autoupdate is much more powerful, and is able to provide the glue code
854 which might be needed to move from an old macro to its newer
857 You are strongly encouraged to use it to modernize both your
858 `configure.in' and your .m4 extension files.
861 The internal machinery of autoheader has completely changed. As a
862 result, using `acconfig.h' should be considered to be obsoleted, and
863 you are encouraged to get rid of it using the AH macros.
868 ** Fortran 77 compilers
869 Globally, the support for Fortran 77 is considerably improved.
871 Support for automatically determining a Fortran 77 compiler's
872 name-mangling scheme. New CPP macros F77_FUNC and F77_FUNC_ are
873 provided to wrap C/C++ identifiers, thus making it easier and more
874 transparent for C/C++ to call Fortran 77 routines, and Fortran 77 to
875 call C/C++ routines. See the Texinfo documentation for details.
878 The test suite no longer uses DejaGNU. It should be easy to submit
879 test cases in this new framework.
882 - --help, --help=long, -hl
883 no longer dumps useless items.
885 lists only specific options.
886 - --help=recursive, -hr
887 displays the help of all the embedded packages.
888 - Remembers environment variables when reconfiguring.
889 The previous scheme to set envvar before running configure was
891 what prevented configure from remembering the environment in which
892 it was run, therefore --recheck was run in an inconsistent
893 environment. Now, one should run
895 and then --recheck will work properly. Variables declared with
896 AC_ARG_VAR are also preserved.
898 $build defaults to `config.guess`, $host to $build, and then $target
900 Cross-compilation is a global status of the package, it no longer
901 depends upon the current language.
902 Cross compilation is enabled iff the user specified `--host'.
903 `configure' now fails if it can't run the executables it compiles,
904 unless cross-compilation is enabled.
906 The cache file is disabled by default. The new options
907 `--config-cache', `-C' set the cache to `config.cache'.
911 Much faster on most architectures.
912 - concurrent executions
913 It is safe to use `make -j' with config.status.
914 - human interface improved
915 It is possible to invoke
916 ./config.status foobar
917 instead of the former form (still valid)
918 CONFIG_COMMANDS= CONFIG_HEADERS= CONFIG_LINKS= \
919 CONFIG_FILES=foobar:foo.in:bar.in \
921 The same holds for configuration headers and links.
922 You can instantiate unknown files and headers:
923 ./config.status --header foo.h:foo.h.in --file bar:baz
924 - has a useful --help
925 - accepts special file name "-" for stdin/stdout
930 Specify additional copyright information.
933 Now expects the identity of the package as argument.
937 Most macros, if not all, now strictly follow the `one quotation
938 level' rule. This results in a more predictable expansion.
941 A sly bug in the AC_REQUIRE machinery, which could produce incorrect
942 configure scripts, was fixed by Axel Thimm.
946 Document and ask for the registration of an envvar.
949 Specifies the file which `configure' should look for when trying to
950 find the source tree (used to be handled by AC_INIT).
953 To add new actions to config.status. Should be used instead of
957 Replaces AC_LINK_FILES.
959 - AC_CONFIG_HEADERS, AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS, AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS,
960 AC_CONFIG_LINKS, and AC_CONFIG_FILES
961 They now obey sh: you should no longer use shell variables as
964 test "$package_foo_enabled" = yes && $my_subdirs="$my_subdirs foo"
965 AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS($my_subdirs)
969 if test "$package_foo_enabled" = yes; then
970 AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS(foo)
974 To format an Autoconf macro's help string so that it looks pretty
975 when the user executes `configure --help'.
978 ** Generic Test Macros
980 The interface of the AC_CHECK families of macros (decl, header,
981 type, member, func) is now uniform. They support the same set of
984 - AC_CHECK_DECL, AC_CHECK_DECLS
985 To check whether a symbol is declared.
987 - AC_CHECK_SIZEOF, AC_C_CHAR_UNSIGNED.
988 No longer need a cross-compilation default.
991 The test it performs is much more robust than previously, and makes
992 it possible to test builtin types in addition to typedefs.
993 It is now schizophrenic:
994 - AC_CHECK_TYPE(TYPE, REPLACEMENT)
995 remains for backward compatibility, but its use is discouraged.
996 - AC_CHECK_TYPE(TYPE, IF-FOUND, IF-NOT-FOUND, INCLUDES)
997 behaves exactly like the other AC_CHECK macros.
1000 Checks whether given types are supported by the system.
1002 - AC_CHECK_MEMBER, AC_CHECK_MEMBERS
1003 Check for given members in aggregates (e.g., pw_gecos in struct
1007 Checks if the compiler supports ISO C, included when needs special
1011 Checking whether the preprocessor indicates missing includes by the
1012 error code. stderr is checked by AC_TRY_CPP only as a fallback.
1015 Takes a language as argument and replaces AC_LANG_C,
1016 AC_LANG_CPLUSPLUS and AC_LANG_FORTRAN77.
1018 - AC_LANG_PUSH, AC_LANG_POP
1019 Are preferred to AC_LANG_SAVE, AC_LANG_RESTORE.
1022 - AC_FUNC_CHOWN, AC_FUNC_MALLOC, AC_FUNC_STRERROR_R,
1023 AC_FUNC_LSTAT_FOLLOWS_SLASHED_SYMLINK, AC_FUNC_STAT, AC_FUNC_LSTAT,
1024 AC_FUNC_ERROR_AT_LINE, AC_FUNC_OBSTACK, AC_FUNC_STRTOD, AC_FUNC_FSEEKO.
1028 Sets GETGROUPS_LIBS.
1030 - AC_FUNC_GETLOADAVG
1031 Defines `HAVE_STRUCT_NLIST_N_UN_N_NAME' instead of `NLIST_NAME_UNION'.
1034 Now integrates `AC_DECL_YYTEXT' which is obsoleted.
1037 Arrange for large-file support.
1039 - AC_EXEEXT, AC_OBJEXT
1040 You are no longer expected to use them: their computation is
1041 performed by default.
1043 ** C++ compatibility
1044 Every macro has been revisited in order to support at best CC=c++.
1046 Major changes in Autoconf 2.14:
1047 There was no release of GNU Autoconf 2.14.
1049 Major changes in Autoconf 2.13:
1051 Released 1999-05-01 by Ben Elliston.
1053 * Support for building on Win32 systems where the only available C or
1054 C++ compiler is the Microsoft Visual C++ command line compiler
1055 (`cl'). Additional support for building on Win32 systems which are
1056 using the Cygwin or Mingw32 environments.
1057 * Support for alternative object file and executable file extensions.
1058 On Win32, for example, these are .obj and .exe. These are discovered
1059 using AC_OBJEXT and AC_EXEEXT, which substitute @OBJEXT@ and
1060 @EXEEXT@ in the output, respectively.
1061 * New macros: AC_CACHE_LOAD, AC_CACHE_SAVE, AC_FUNC_SELECT_ARGTYPES,
1062 AC_VALIDATE_CACHED_SYSTEM_TUPLE, AC_SEARCH_LIBS, AC_TRY_LINK_FUNC,
1063 AC_C_STRINGIZE, AC_CHECK_FILE(S), AC_PROG_F77 (and friends).
1064 * AC_DEFINE now has an optional third argument for a description to be
1065 placed in the config header input file (e.g. config.h.in).
1066 * The C++ code fragment compiled for the C++ compiler test had to be
1067 improved to include an explicit return type for main(). This was
1068 causing failures on systems using recent versions of the EGCS C++
1070 * Fixed an important bug in AC_CHECK_TYPE that would cause a configure
1071 script to report that `sometype_t' was present when only `type_t'
1073 * Merge of the FSF version of config.guess and config.sub to modernize
1074 these scripts. Add support for a few new hosts in config.guess.
1075 Incorporate latest versions of install-sh, mkinstalldirs and
1076 texinfo.tex from the FSF.
1077 * autoreconf is capable of running automake if necessary (and
1079 * Support for Fortran 77. See the Texinfo documentation for details.
1080 * Bug fixes and workarounds for quirky bugs in vendor utilities.
1082 Major changes in Autoconf 2.12:
1084 Released 1996-11-26 by David J. MacKenzie
1086 * AC_OUTPUT and AC_CONFIG_HEADER can create output files by
1087 concatenating multiple input files separated by colons, like so:
1088 AC_CONFIG_HEADER(config.h:conf.pre:config.h.in:conf.post)
1089 AC_OUTPUT(Makefile:Makefile.in:Makefile.rules)
1090 The arguments may be shell variables, to compute the lists on the fly.
1091 * AC_LINK_FILES and AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS may be called multiple times.
1092 * New macro AC_OUTPUT_COMMANDS adds more commands to run in config.status.
1095 Major changes in Autoconf 2.11:
1097 Released November 18th, 1996, by David J. MacKenzie
1099 * AC_PROG_CC and AC_PROG_CXX check whether the compiler works.
1100 They also default CFLAGS/CXXFLAGS to "-g -O2" for gcc, instead of "-g -O".
1101 * AC_REPLACE_FUNCS defines HAVE_foo if the system has the function `foo'.
1102 * AC_CONFIG_HEADER expands shell variables in its argument.
1103 * New macros: AC_FUNC_FNMATCH, AC_FUNC_SETPGRP.
1104 * The "checking..." messages and the source code for test programs that
1105 fail are saved in config.log.
1106 * Another workaround has been added for seds with small command length limits.
1107 * config.sub and config.guess recognize more system types.
1110 Major changes in Autoconf 2.10:
1112 Released May 7th, 1996, by Roland McGrath
1115 * The cache variable names used by `AC_CHECK_LIB(LIB, FUNC, ...)' has
1116 changed: now $ac_cv_lib_LIB_FUNC, previously $ac_cv_lib_LIB.
1118 Major changes in Autoconf 2.9:
1120 Released March 16th, 1996, by Roland McGrath
1124 Major changes in Autoconf 2.8:
1126 Released March 8th, 1996, by Roland McGrath
1130 Major changes in Autoconf 2.7:
1132 Released November 22nd, 1995, by David J. MacKenzie
1136 Major changes in Autoconf 2.6:
1138 Released November 20th, 1995, by David J. MacKenzie
1142 Major changes in Autoconf 2.5:
1144 Released November 17th, 1995, by Roland McGrath
1146 * New configure options --bindir, --libdir, --datadir, etc., with
1147 corresponding output variables.
1148 * New macro: AC_CACHE_CHECK, to make using the cache easier.
1149 * config.log contains the command being run as well as any output from it.
1150 * AC_CHECK_LIB can check for libraries with "." or "/" or "+" in their name.
1151 * AC_PROG_INSTALL doesn't cache a name for install-sh, for sharing caches.
1152 * AC_CHECK_PROG, AC_PATH_PROG, AC_CHECK_PROGS, AC_PATH_PROGS, and
1153 AC_CHECK_TOOL can search a path other than $PATH.
1154 * AC_CHECK_SIZEOF takes an optional size to use when cross-compiling.
1156 Major changes in Autoconf 2.4:
1158 Released June 14th, 1995, by David J. MacKenzie
1160 * Fix a few bugs found by Emacs testers.
1162 Major changes in Autoconf 2.3:
1164 Released March 27th, 1995, by David J. MacKenzie
1166 * Fix the cleanup trap in several ways.
1167 * Handle C compilers that are picky about option placement.
1168 * ifnames gets the version number from the right directory.
1170 Major changes in Autoconf 2.2:
1172 Released March 8th, 1995, by David J. MacKenzie
1174 * The ifnames utility is much faster but requires a "new awk" interpreter.
1175 * AC_CHECK_LIB and AC_HAVE_LIBRARY check and add the new
1176 library before existing libs, not after, in case it uses them.
1177 * New macros: AC_FUNC_GETPGRP, AC_CHECK_TOOL.
1178 * Lots of bug fixes.
1179 * Many additions to the TODO file :-)
1181 Major changes in Autoconf 2.1:
1183 Released November 4th, 1994, by David J. MacKenzie
1186 * More explanations in the manual.
1187 * Fix a spurious failure in the testsuite.
1188 * Clarify some warning messages.
1189 * autoreconf by default only rebuilds configure and config.h.in files
1190 that are older than any of their particular input files; there is a
1191 --force option to use after installing a new version of Autoconf.
1193 Thanks to everybody who's submitted changes and additions to Autoconf!
1194 I've incorporated many of them, and am still considering others for
1195 future releases -- but I didn't want to postpone this release indefinitely.
1197 Caution: don't indiscriminately rebuild configure scripts with
1198 Autoconf version 2. Some configure.in files need minor adjustments to
1199 work with it; the documentation has a chapter on upgrading. A few
1200 configure.in files, including those for GNU Emacs and the GNU C
1201 Library, need major changes because they relied on undocumented
1202 internals of version 1. Future releases of those packages will have
1203 updated configure.in files.
1205 It's best to use GNU M4 1.3 (or later) with Autoconf version 2.
1206 Autoconf now makes heavy use of M4 diversions, which were implemented
1207 inefficiently in GNU M4 releases before 1.3.
1209 Major changes in Autoconf 2.0:
1211 Released October 26th, 1994, by David J. MacKenzie
1213 ** New copyright terms:
1214 * There are no restrictions on distribution or use of configure scripts.
1217 * Autoconf manual is reorganized to make information easier to find
1218 and has several new indexes.
1219 * INSTALL is reorganized and clearer and is now made from Texinfo source.
1222 * autoscan to generate a preliminary configure.in for a package by
1223 scanning its source code for commonly used nonportable functions,
1224 programs, and header files.
1225 * ifnames to list the symbols used in #if and #ifdef directives in a
1227 * autoupdate to update a configure.in to use the version 2 macro names.
1228 * autoreconf to recursively remake configure and configuration header
1229 files in a source tree.
1231 ** Changed utilities:
1232 * autoheader can take pieces of acconfig.h to replace config.h.{top,bot}.
1233 * autoconf and autoheader can look for package-local definition files
1234 in an alternate directory.
1237 * AC_CACHE_VAL to share results of tests between configure runs.
1238 * AC_DEFUN to define macros, automatically AC_PROVIDE them, and ensure
1239 that macros invoked with AC_REQUIRE don't interrupt other macros.
1240 * AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR, AC_CANONICAL_SYSTEM, AC_CANONICAL_HOST, AC_LINK_FILES to
1241 support deciding unguessable features based on the host and target types.
1242 * AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS to recursively configure a source tree.
1243 * AC_ARG_PROGRAM to use the options --program-prefix,
1244 --program-suffix, and --program-transform-name to change the names
1245 of programs being installed.
1246 * AC_PREFIX_DEFAULT to change the default installation prefix.
1247 * AC_TRY_COMPILE to compile a test program without linking it.
1248 * AC_CHECK_TYPE to check whether sys/types.h or stdlib.h defines a given type.
1249 * AC_CHECK_LIB to check for a particular function and library.
1250 * AC_MSG_CHECKING and AC_MSG_RESULT to print test results, on a single line,
1251 whether or not the test succeeds. They obsolete AC_CHECKING and AC_VERBOSE.
1252 * AC_SUBST_FILE to insert one file into another.
1253 * AC_FUNC_MEMCMP to check whether memcmp is 8-bit clean.
1254 * AC_FUNC_STRFTIME to find strftime even if it's in -lintl.
1255 * AC_FUNC_GETMNTENT to find getmntent even if it's in -lsun or -lseq.
1256 * AC_HEADER_SYS_WAIT to check whether sys/wait.h is POSIX.1 compatible.
1259 * Many macros renamed systematically, but old names are accepted for
1260 backward compatibility.
1261 * AC_OUTPUT adds the "automatically generated" comment to
1262 non-Makefiles where it finds @configure_input@ in an input file, to
1263 support files with various comment syntaxes.
1264 * AC_OUTPUT does not replace "prefix" and "exec_prefix" in generated
1265 files when they are not enclosed in @ signs.
1266 * AC_OUTPUT allows the optional environment variable CONFIG_STATUS to
1267 override the file name "config.status".
1268 * AC_OUTPUT takes an optional argument for passing variables from
1269 configure to config.status.
1270 * AC_OUTPUT and AC_CONFIG_HEADER allow you to override the input-file names.
1271 * AC_OUTPUT automatically substitutes the values of CFLAGS, CXXFLAGS,
1272 CPPFLAGS, and LDFLAGS from the environment.
1273 * AC_PROG_CC and AC_PROG_CXX now set CFLAGS and CXXFLAGS, respectively.
1274 * AC_PROG_INSTALL looks for install-sh or install.sh in the directory
1275 specified by AC_CONFIG_AUXDIR, or srcdir or srcdir/.. or
1276 srcdir/../.. by default.
1277 * AC_DEFINE, AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED, and AC_SUBST are more robust and smaller.
1278 * AC_DEFINE no longer prints anything, because of the new result reporting
1279 mechanism (AC_MSG_CHECKING and AC_MSG_RESULT).
1280 * AC_VERBOSE pays attention to --quiet/--silent, not --verbose.
1281 * AC_ARG_ENABLE and AC_ARG_WITH support whitespace in the arguments to
1282 --enable- and --with- options.
1283 * AC_CHECK_FUNCS and AC_CHECK_HEADERS take optional shell commands to
1284 execute on success or failure.
1285 * Checking for C functions in C++ works.
1288 * AC_REMOTE_TAPE and AC_RSH removed; too specific to tar and cpio, and
1289 better maintained with them.
1290 * AC_ARG_ARRAY removed because no one was likely using it.
1291 * AC_HAVE_POUNDBANG replaced with AC_SYS_INTERPRETER, which doesn't
1292 take arguments, for consistency with all of the other specific checks.
1295 * Comes with config.sub and config.guess, and uses them optionally.
1296 * Uses config.cache to cache test results. An alternate cache file
1297 can be selected with the --cache-file=FILE option.
1298 * Uses optional shell scripts $prefix/share/config.site and
1299 $prefix/etc/config.site to perform site or system specific initializations.
1300 * configure saves compiler output to ./config.log for debugging.
1301 * New files autoconf.m4 and autoheader.m4 load the other Autoconf macros.
1302 * acsite.m4 is the new name for the system-wide aclocal.m4.
1303 * Has a DejaGnu test suite.
1305 Major changes in Autoconf 1.11:
1307 * AC_PROG_INSTALL calls install.sh with the -c option.
1308 * AC_SET_MAKE cleans up after itself.
1309 * AC_OUTPUT sets prefix and exec_prefix if they weren't set already.
1310 * AC_OUTPUT prevents shells from looking in PATH for config.status.
1312 Plus a few other bug fixes.
1314 Major changes in Autoconf 1.10:
1316 * autoheader uses config.h.bot if present, analogous to config.h.top.
1317 * AC_PROG_INSTALL looks for install.sh in srcdir or srcdir/.. and
1319 * AC_PROG_CXX looks for cxx as a C++ compiler.
1321 Plus several bugs fixed.
1323 Major changes in Autoconf 1.9:
1325 * AC_YYTEXT_POINTER replaces AC_DECLARE_YYTEXT.
1326 * AC_SIZEOF_TYPE generates the cpp symbol name automatically,
1327 and autoheader generates entries for those names automatically.
1328 * AC_FIND_X gets the result from xmkmf correctly.
1329 * AC_FIND_X assumes no X if --without-x was given.
1330 * AC_FIND_XTRA adds libraries to the variable X_EXTRA_LIBS.
1331 * AC_PROG_INSTALL finds OSF/1 installbsd.
1333 Major changes in Autoconf 1.8:
1336 * New macros AC_LANG_C, AC_LANG_CPLUSPLUS, AC_LANG_SAVE, AC_LANG_RESTORE,
1337 AC_PROG_CXX, AC_PROG_CXXCPP, AC_REQUIRE_CPP
1338 for checking both C++ and C features in one configure script.
1339 * New macros AC_CHECKING, AC_VERBOSE, AC_WARN, AC_ERROR for printing messages.
1340 * New macros AC_FIND_XTRA, AC_MMAP, AC_SIZEOF_TYPE, AC_PREREQ,
1341 AC_SET_MAKE, AC_ENABLE.
1344 * AC_FIND_X looks for X in more places.
1345 * AC_PROG_INSTALL defaults to install.sh instead of cp, if it's in srcdir.
1346 install.sh is distributed with Autoconf.
1347 * AC_DECLARE_YYTEXT has been removed because it can't work, pending
1348 a rewrite of quoting in AC_DEFINE.
1349 * AC_OUTPUT adds its comments in C format when substituting in C files.
1350 * AC_COMPILE_CHECK protects its ECHO-TEXT argument with double quotes.
1352 ** New or changed command line options:
1353 * configure accepts --enable-FEATURE[=ARG] and --disable-FEATURE options.
1354 * configure accepts --without-PACKAGE, which sets withval=no.
1355 * configure accepts --x-includes=DIR and --x-libraries=DIR.
1356 * Giving --with-PACKAGE no argument sets withval=yes instead of withval=1.
1357 * configure accepts --help, --version, --silent/--quiet, --no-create options.
1358 * configure accepts and ignores most other Cygnus configure options, and
1359 warns about unknown options.
1360 * config.status accepts --help, --version options.
1362 ** File names and other changes:
1363 * Relative srcdir values are not made absolute.
1364 * The values of @prefix@ and @exec_prefix@ and @top_srcdir@ get substituted.
1365 * Autoconf library files are installed in ${datadir}/autoconf, not ${datadir}.
1366 * autoheader optionally copies config.h.top to the beginning of config.h.in.
1367 * The example Makefile dependencies for configure et al. work better.
1368 * Namespace cleanup: all shell variables used internally by Autoconf
1369 have names beginning with `ac_'.
1371 More big improvements are in process for future releases, but have not
1372 yet been (variously) finished, integrated, tested, or documented enough
1375 Major changes in Autoconf 1.7:
1377 * New macro AC_OBSOLETE.
1378 * Bugs in Makefile.in fixed.
1379 * AC_LONG_FILE_NAMES improved.
1381 Major changes in Autoconf 1.6:
1383 * New macro AC_LONG_64_BITS.
1384 * Multiple .h files can be created.
1385 * AC_FIND_X looks for X files directly if it doesn't find xmkmf.
1386 * AC_ALLOCA defines C_ALLOCA if using alloca.c.
1387 * --with-NAME can take a value, e.g., --with-targets=sun4,hp300bsd.
1388 * Unused --no-create option to configure removed.
1389 * autoheader doesn't change the timestamp of its output file if
1390 the file didn't change.
1391 * All macros that look for libraries now use AC_HAVE_LIBRARY.
1392 * config.status checks three optional environment variables to
1393 modify its behavior.
1394 * The usual bug fixes.
1396 Major changes in Autoconf 1.5:
1398 * New macros AC_FIND_X, AC_OFF_T, AC_STAT_MACROS_BROKEN, AC_REVISION.
1399 * autoconf and autoheader scripts have GNU standards conforming
1400 --version and --help options (they print their message and exit).
1403 Major changes in Autoconf 1.4:
1405 * New macros AC_HAVE_POUNDBANG, AC_TIME_WITH_SYS_TIME, AC_LONG_DOUBLE,
1406 AC_GETGROUPS_T, AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED.
1407 * autoconf and autoheader use the M4 environment variable to determine the
1408 name of the M4 program to use.
1409 * The --macrodir option to autoconf and autoheader specifies the directory
1410 in which acspecific.m4, acgeneral.m4, etc. reside if not the default.
1411 * autoconf and autoheader can take `-' as their file names, which means to
1412 read stdin as input.
1413 * Resulting configure scripts can take a --verbose option which causes them
1414 to print the results of their tests.
1415 * AC_DEFINE quotes its second argument in such a way that spaces, magic
1416 shell characters, etc. will be preserved during various stages of
1417 expansion done by the shell. If you don't want this, use
1418 AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED instead.
1419 * Much textual processing done with external calls to tr and sed have been
1420 internalized with builtin M4 `patsubst' and `translit' calls.
1421 * AC_OUTPUT doesn't hardwire the file names it outputs. Instead, you can
1422 set the shell variables `gen_files' and `gen_config' to the list of
1423 file names to output.
1424 * AC_DECLARE_YYTEXT does an AC_SUBST of `LEX_OUTPUT_ROOT', which may be
1425 "lex.yy" or "lexyy", depending on the system.
1426 * AC_PROGRAMS_CHECK takes an optional third arg. If given, it is used as
1428 * If AC_ALLOCA chooses alloca.c, it also defines STACK_DIRECTION.
1429 * AC_CONST works much more reliably on more systems.
1432 Major changes in Autoconf 1.3:
1434 configure no longer requires awk for packages that use a config.h.
1435 Support handling --with-PACKAGE options.
1436 New `autoheader' script to create `config.h.in' from `configure.in'.
1437 Ignore troublesome -lucb and -lPW when searching for alloca.
1438 Rename --exec_prefix to --exec-prefix for GNU standards conformance.
1439 Improve detection of STDC library.
1440 Add AC_HAVE_LIBRARY to check for non-default libraries.
1441 Function checking should work with future GNU libc releases.
1443 Major changes in Autoconf 1.2:
1445 The --srcdir option is now usually unnecessary.
1446 Add a file containing sample comments describing CPP macros.
1447 A comment in config.status tells which host it was configured on.
1448 Substituted variable values can now contain commas.
1449 Fix bugs in various feature checks.
1451 Major changes in Autoconf 1.1:
1453 Added AC_STRCOLL macro.
1454 Made AC_GETLOADAVG check for more things.
1455 AC_OUTPUT argument is now optional.
1460 Copyright (C) 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002,
1461 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1463 This file is part of GNU Autoconf.
1465 GNU Autoconf is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
1466 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
1467 the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
1470 GNU Autoconf is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
1471 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
1472 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
1473 GNU General Public License for more details.
1475 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
1476 along with GNU Autoconf; see the file COPYING. If not, write to
1477 the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor,
1478 Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.