1 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.60a
3 ** GNU M4 1.4.5 or later is now recommended. At least one "make check"
4 test fails with earlier versions of M4.
6 ** Autoconf now uses constructs like "#ifdef HAVE_STDLIB_H" rather than
7 "#if HAVE_STDLIB_H", so that it now works with "gcc -Wundef -Werror".
9 ** The functionality of the undocumented _AC_COMPUTE_INT is now provided
10 by a public and documented macro, AC_COMPUTE_INT. The parameters to the
11 two macros are different, so autoupdate will not change the old private name
12 to the new one. _AC_COMPUTE_INT may be removed in a future release.
14 ** AC_TYPE_LONG_LONG_INT and AC_TYPE_UNSIGNED_LONG_LONG_INT now require
15 that long long types be at least 64 bits wide, as C99 and tradition
16 requires. Formerly, they accepted implementations of any width.
19 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.60
21 Released 2006-06-23, by Ralf Wildenhues.
23 ** Autoconf no longer depends on whether m4wrap is FIFO (as Posix requires)
24 or LIFO (as in GNU M4 1.4.x). GNU M4 2.0 is expected to conform to Posix
25 here, so m4wrap/m4_wrap users should no longer depend on LIFO behavior.
27 ** Provide a way to turn off warnings about the changed directory variables.
29 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.59d
31 Released 2006-06-05, by Ralf Wildenhues.
33 ** GNU make now recommended for VPATH builds
34 INSTALL now suggests VPATH builds (e.g., "sh ../srcdir/configure")
35 only if you use GNU make. In practice, other 'make' implementations
36 have too many subtle incompatibilities in their support for VPATH.
37 Many packages (including Autoconf itself) are portable to other
38 'make' implementations, but some packages are not, and recommending
39 GNU make keeps the installation instructions simpler.
41 ** Even more safety checks for the new Directory variables:
42 Warn about suspicious `${datarootdir}' found in config files output.
44 ** AC_TRY_COMMAND, AC_TRY_EVAL, ac_config_guess, ac_config_sub, ac_configure
45 These never-documented macros and variables have been marked with
46 comments saying that they may be removed in a future release,
47 because their use can lead to unintended code being executed.
48 If you need functionality that only these macros or variables
49 currently supply, please write bug-autoconf@gnu.org.
51 ** AC_SUBST, AC_DEFINE
52 Literal arguments to these are passed to m4_pattern_allow now.
55 Passing 'ac_cv_prog_cc_stdc=no' to 'configure' now sets ac_cv_prog_cc_c99
56 and ac_cv_prog_cc_c89 to 'no' as well, for backward compatibility with
57 obsolete K&R tests in the Automake test suite.
66 Now more robust with special characters in file names, or when
67 multiple processes create the same directory at the same time.
70 The documentation now says that the following macros are obsolescent:
71 they test for problems that are so old that they are no longer of
72 practical importance on current systems.
74 AC_C_BACKSLASH_A AC_FUNC_MEMCMP AC_HEADER_DIRENT
75 AC_C_CONST AC_FUNC_SELECT_ARGTYPES AC_HEADER_STAT
76 AC_C_PROTOTYPES AC_FUNC_SETPGRP AC_HEADER_STDC
77 AC_C_STRINGIZE AC_FUNC_SETVBUF_REVERSED AC_HEADER_SYS_WAIT
78 AC_C_VOLATILE AC_FUNC_STAT AC_HEADER_TIME
79 AC_FUNC_CLOSEDIR_VOID AC_FUNC_STRFTIME AC_ISC_POSIX
80 AC_FUNC_GETPGRP AC_FUNC_UTIME_NULL AC_PROG_GCC_TRADITIONAL
81 AC_FUNC_LSTAT AC_FUNC_VPRINTF AC_STRUCT_TM
83 New programs need not use these macros. We have no current plans to
87 For compatibility with future Libtool 2.0, autoreconf will invoke
88 libtoolize with the option `--ltdl' now, if LT_CONFIG_LTDL_DIR is
91 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.59c
93 Released 2006-04-12, by Ralf Wildenhues.
95 ** The configure command now redirects standard input from /dev/null,
96 to help avoid problems with subsidiary commands that might mistakenly
97 read standard input. AS_ORIGINAL_STDIN_FD points to the original
98 standard input before this redirection, if you really want configure to
99 read from standard input.
101 ** Directory variables adjusted to recent changes in the GNU Coding Standards.
102 The following directory variables are new:
104 datarootdir read-only architecture-independent data root [PREFIX/share]
105 localedir locale-specific message catalogs [DATAROOTDIR/locale]
106 docdir documentation root [DATAROOTDIR/doc/PACKAGE]
107 htmldir html documentation [DOCDIR]
108 dvidir dvi documentation [DOCDIR]
109 pdfdir pdf documentation [DOCDIR]
110 psdir ps documentation [DOCDIR]
112 The following variables have new default values:
114 datadir read-only architecture-independent data [DATAROOTDIR]
115 infodir info documentation [DATAROOTDIR/info]
116 mandir man documentation [DATAROOTDIR/man]
118 This means that if you use any of `@datadir@', `@infodir@', or
119 `@mandir@' in a file, you will have to ensure `${datarootdir}' is
120 defined in this file. As a temporary measure, if any of those are
121 found but no mention of `datarootdir', the substitutions will be
122 replaced with values that do not contain `${datarootdir}', and a
123 warning will be issued.
125 ** @top_builddir@ is now a dir name: it is always nonempty and doesn't have
126 a trailing slash. Similar change will be made to ac_top_builddir in a
127 future release; the old style value, which matches (../)*, is (and will
128 continue to be) available as ac_top_build_prefix.
131 New macro to check for support of 'typeof' syntax a la GNU C.
133 ** AC_CHECK_DECLS_ONCE, AC_CHECK_FUNCS_ONCE, AC_CHECK_HEADERS_ONCE
134 New "once-only" variants of commonly-used macros, to make 'configure'
135 smaller and faster in common cases.
138 New macro to check for strtold with C99 semantics.
141 New macro that lets builder disable assertions at 'configure'-time.
144 Now checks for X11/Xlib.h and XrmInitialize (X proper) rather than
145 X11/Intrinsic.h and XtMalloc (Xt).
147 ** AC_PRESERVE_HELP_ORDER
148 New macro that causes `configure' to display help strings for AC_ARG_ENABLE
149 and AC_ARG_WITH arguments in one region, in the order defined. The default
150 behavior is to group options of each classes separately.
152 ** AC_PROG_CC, AC_PROG_CXX
153 No longer automatically arrange to declare the 'exit' function of C,
154 when a C++ compiler is used. Standard Autoconf macros no longer use
155 'exit', so this is no longer an issue for them. If you use C++, and
156 want to call 'exit', you'll have to arrange for its declaration
157 yourself. But we now suggest you return from 'main' instead.
159 ** AC_PROG_CC_C89, AC_PROG_CC_C99
160 New macros for ISO C99 support. AC_PROG_CC_C89 and AC_PROG_CC_C99
161 check for ANSI C89 and ISO C99 support respectively.
164 Has been unobsoleted, and will check if the compiler supports ISO
165 C99, falling back to ANSI C89 if not. ac_cv_prog_cc_stdc is
166 retained for backwards compatibility, assuming the value of
167 ac_cv_prog_cc_c99 or ac_cv_prog_cc_c89 (whichever is valid, in
170 ** AC_STRUCT_DIRENT_D_INO, AC_STRUCT_DIRENT_D_TYPE
171 New macros for checking commonly-used members of struct dirent.
174 The substituted value can now contain newlines.
177 The substitution now occurs only when @variable@ is on a line by itself,
178 optionally surrounded by spaces and tabs. The whole line is replaced.
180 ** AC_TYPE_LONG_DOUBLE, AC_TYPE_LONG_DOUBLE_WIDER
181 New macros to check for long double, and whether it is wider than double.
182 The old macro AC_C_TYPE_LONG_DOUBLE has been marked as obsolete;
183 applications should switch to the new macro.
185 ** AC_TYPE_INT8_T, AC_TYPE_INT16_T, AC_TYPE_INT32_T, AC_TYPE_INT64_T,
186 AC_TYPE_INTMAX_T, AC_TYPE_INTPTR_T, AC_TYPE_LONG_LONG_INT, AC_TYPE_SSIZE_T,
187 AC_TYPE_UINT8_T, AC_TYPE_UINT16_T, AC_TYPE_UINT32_T, AC_TYPE_UINT64_T,
188 AC_TYPE_UINTMAX_T, AC_TYPE_UINTPTR_T, AC_TYPE_UNSIGNED_LONG_LONG_INT
189 New macros to check for C99 and POSIX types.
191 ** AC_USE_SYSTEM_EXTENSIONS
192 New macro to enable extensions to Posix.
195 New macro which is defined to the name of the first declared config header
196 or undefined if no config headers have been declared yet.
199 The macro correctly handles quadrigraphs now.
201 ** AS_BOURNE_COMPATIBLE, AS_SHELL_SANITIZE, AS_CASE
202 These macros are new or published now.
205 New macro for copyright notices in testsuite files.
207 ** ALLOCA, LIBOBJS, LTLIBOBJS
208 Object names added to these variables are now prefixed with `${LIBOBJDIR}',
209 as in `${LIBOBJDIR}alloca.o'. LIBOBJDIR is meant to be defined from
210 `Makefile.in' in case the object files lie in a different directory.
211 The LIBOBJDIR feature is experimental.
214 Supports --no-recursive now.
216 ** New macros to support Erlang/OTP.
217 New macros for configuring paths to Erlang tools and libraries:
218 AC_ERLANG_PATH_ERLC, AC_ERLANG_NEED_ERLC, AC_ERLANG_PATH_ERL,
219 AC_ERLANG_NEED_ERL, AC_ERLANG_CHECK_LIB, AC_ERLANG_SUBST_ROOT_DIR,
220 AC_ERLANG_SUBST_LIB_DIR.
222 New macros for configuring installation of Erlang libraries:
223 AC_ERLANG_SUBST_INSTALL_LIB_DIR, AC_ERLANG_SUBST_INSTALL_LIB_SUBDIR.
225 ** The manual now mentions Gnulib more prominently.
227 ** New macros to support Objective C.
228 AC_PROG_OBJC, AC_PROG_OBJCPP.
230 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.59b
232 Released 2004-08-20, by Paul Eggert.
235 New macro that computes the default alignment of a type.
237 ** AC_CHECK_TOOL, AC_PATH_TOOL, AC_CHECK_TOOLS
238 When cross-compiling, these macros will give a warning if the tool
239 is not prefixed. In the future, unprefixed cross tools will not
240 be detected; please consult the info documentation for information
241 about the reason of this change.
243 ** AC_CHECK_TARGET_TOOL, AC_PATH_TARGET_TOOL, AC_CHECK_TARGET_TOOLS
244 New macros that detect programs whose name is prefixed with the
245 target type, if the build type and target type are different.
247 ** AC_REQUIRE_AUX_FILE
248 New trace macro that declares expected auxiliary files.
251 New macro that tests for a grep program that accepts as a long a line
254 ** AC_PROG_EGREP, AC_PROG_FGREP
255 These macros now require AC_PROG_GREP, and try EGREP="$GREP -E" and
256 FGREP="$GREP -F" respectively if possible, or else run a path search for
257 a program that accepts as long a line as possible.
260 New macro that tests for a sed program that truncates as few characters
263 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.59
265 Released 2003-11-04, by Akim Demaille
267 ** ac_abs_builddir etc.
268 Absolute file names were actually relative in 2.58.
270 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.58
272 Released 2003-11-04, by Akim Demaille
275 core.* files are no longer removed, as they may be valid user files.
277 ** autoreconf and auxiliary directory
278 Autoreconf creates the auxiliary directory if needed. This is
279 especially useful for initial "bootstrapping" of fresh CVS checkouts.
281 ** AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR
282 Use this macro to declare the directory for local M4 macros for aclocal.
285 No longer includes twice the same file in LIBOBJS if invoked
288 ** AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS
289 The directory for its first argument is automatically created. For
292 AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS([src/modules.hh], [...])
294 $top_builddir/src/ is created if needed.
296 ** Autotest and local.at
297 The optional file local.at is always included in Autotest test suites.
300 The warnings are always issued, including with cached runs.
301 This became a significant problem since aclocal and automake can
302 run autoconf behind the scene.
304 ** autoheader warnings
305 The warnings of autoheader can be turned off, using --warning.
306 For instance, -Wno-obsolete disables the complaints about acconfig.h
307 and other deprecated constructs.
310 AC_C_RESTRICT, AC_INCLUDES_DEFAULT, AC_LANG_ASSERT, AC_LANG_WERROR,
313 ** AC_DECL_SYS_SIGLIST
317 Now checks that mktime is the inverse of localtime.
319 ** Improve DJGPP portability
320 The Autoconf tools and configure behave better under DJGPP.
322 ** Present But Cannot Be Compiled
323 New FAQ section dedicated to the mystic
325 configure: WARNING: pi.h: present but cannot be compiled
326 configure: WARNING: pi.h: check for missing prerequisite headers?
327 configure: WARNING: pi.h: proceeding with the preprocessor's result
330 ** Concurrent executions of autom4te
331 autom4te now locks its internal files, which enables concurrent
332 executions of autom4te, likely to happen if automake, autoconf,
333 autoheader etc. are run simultaneously.
336 Use of Libtool 1.5 and higher is encouraged. Compatibility with
337 Libtool pre-1.4 is not checked.
340 Testsuites no longer rerun failed tests in verbose mode; instead,
341 failures are logged while the test is run.
343 In addition, expected failures can be marked as such.
345 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.57
347 Released 2002-12-03 by Paul Eggert.
349 Bug fixes for problems with AIX linker, with freestanding C compilers,
350 with GNU M4 limitations, and with obsolete copies of GNU documents.
352 The Free Documentation License has been upgraded from 1.1 to 1.2.
354 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.56
356 Released 2002-11-15 by Akim Demaille.
358 One packaging problem fixed (config/install-sh was not executable).
360 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.55
362 Released 2002-11-14 by Akim Demaille.
366 Have your configure.ac checked by autoscan ("autoscan").
367 Try the warning options ("autoreconf -fv -Wall").
371 - AC_CHECK_HEADER, AC_CHECK_HEADERS
372 More information on proper use.
374 - Writing Test Programs
376 This sections explains how to write good test sources to use with
377 AC_COMPILE_IFELSE etc. It documents AC_LANG_PROGRAM and so forth.
379 - AC_FOO_IFELSE vs. AC_TRY_FOO
381 Explains why Autoconf moves from AC_TRY_COMPILE etc. to
382 AC_COMPILE_IFELSE and AC_LANG_PROGRAM etc.
386 - Is more robust to different Gettext installations.
388 - Produces messages (when --verbose) to be understood by Emacs'
391 - Supports -W/--warnings.
394 Once the GNU Build System reinstalled, run `./config.status
395 --recheck && ./config.status && make' if possible.
399 - Supports --cache, and --no-cache.
401 - ~/.autom4te.cfg makes it possible to disable the caching mechanism
402 (autom4te.cache). See `Customizing autom4te' in the documentation.
409 Support for the obsoleted options -m, --macrodir, -l, --localdir is
410 dropped in favor of the safer --include/--prepend-include scheme.
415 AC_COMPILER_IFELSE, AC_FUNC_MBRTOWC, AC_HEADER_STDBOOL,
416 AC_LANG_CONFTEST, AC_LANG_SOURCE, AC_LANG_PROGRAM, AC_LANG_CALL,
417 AC_LANG_FUNC_TRY_LINK, AC_MSG_FAILURE, AC_PREPROC_IFELSE.
420 Obsoleted macros are kept for Autoconf backward compatibility, but
421 should be avoided in configure.ac. Running autoupdate is advised.
424 - AC_DEFINE/AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED
426 We have to stop using the old compatibility scheme --that tried to
427 avoid useless backslashes-- because Libtool 1.4.3 contains a
429 AC_DEFINE([error_t], [int],
430 [Define to a type to use for \`error_t' if it is not
431 otherwise available.])
433 We have to quote the single quotes and backslashes with \. The old
434 compatibility scheme saw that ` was backslashed, and therefore did
435 not quote the single quote... Failure. Hence, Autoconf 2.54 is not
436 compatible with Libtool. Autoconf 2.55 is, but in some cases might
437 produce more \ than wanted.
439 Please, note that in the future the same problem will happen with
440 AC_MSG_*: use `autoreconf -f -Wall'.
444 - Portability of the Autoconf package to Solaris.
446 - Spurious warnings caused by config.status.
447 This bug is benign, but painful: on some systems (typically
448 FreeBSD), warnings such as:
450 config.status: creating Makefile
451 mv: Makefile: set owner/group (was: 1357/0): Operation not permitted
453 could be issued. This is fixed.
456 Simultaneous executions of config.status are possible again.
458 - Precious variables accumulation
460 config.status could stack several copies of the precious variables
464 ** Plans for later versions
468 The compatibility hooks with the old scheme will be completely
469 removed. Please, advice/use `--build', `--host', and `--target'
472 - AC_CHECK_HEADER, AC_CHECK_HEADERS
474 The tests will be stricter, please make sure your invocations are
479 Shell functions will gradually be introduced, probably starting with
480 Autotest. If you know machines which are in use that you suspect
481 *not* to support shell functions, please run the test suite of
482 Autoconf 2.55 on it, and report the results to
483 bug-autoconf@gnu.org.
487 Special characters in AC_MSG_* need not be quoted. Currently,
488 Autoconf has heuristics to decide when a string is escaped, or has
489 to be escaped. This scheme is fragile, and will be removed; the
490 only risk is uglified messages. Please, run `autoreconf -f -Wall'
491 to find occurrences that will be affected.
493 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.54
495 Released 2002-09-13 by Akim Demaille.
499 - autoreconf no longer changes the version of the gettext/po/intl
500 support files. It now adds the files the correspond to the
501 AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION declared in configure.ac.
503 Warning: It now relies on the 'autopoint' program, which is part
504 of GNU gettext 0.11.4 and newer.
506 Please note that you need to have a GNU gettext version that
507 corresponds at least to the AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION declared
508 in configure.ac. You can upgrade to newer GNU gettext versions,
509 though, without needing to change configure.ac.
511 - The -I DIR or --include=DIR option now appends DIR to the include path
512 instead of prepending; this is for consistency with other GNU tools.
513 The new -B DIR or --prepend-include=DIR option has the old behavior.
518 Now handles all the gory details about LIBOBJS and LTLIBOBJS.
519 Please, remove lines such as
521 # This is necessary so that .o files in LIBOBJS are also
522 # built via the ANSI2KNR-filtering rules.
523 LIBOBJS=`echo $LIBOBJS|sed 's/\.o /\$U.o /g;s/\.o$/\$U.o/'`
525 and read the `AC_LIBOBJ vs LIBOBJS' section. Do not define U in
526 your Makefiles either.
528 - AC_CONFIG_LINKS now makes copies if it can't make links.
530 - AC_FUNC_FNMATCH now tests only for POSIX compatibility, reverting to
531 Autoconf 2.13 behavior. The new macro AC_FUNC_FNMATCH_GNU also
532 tests for GNU extensions to fnmatch, and replaces fnmatch if needed.
534 - AC_FUNC_SETVBUF_REVERSED no longer fails when cross-compiling.
536 - AC_PROG_CC_STDC is integrated into AC_PROG_CC.
538 - AC_PROG_F77 default search no longer includes cf77 and cfg77.
542 AC_C_BACKSLASH_A, AC_CONFIG_LIBOBJ_DIR, AC_GNU_SOURCE,
543 AC_PROG_EGREP, AC_PROG_FGREP, AC_REPLACE_FNMATCH,
544 AC_FUNC_FNMATCH_GNU, AC_FUNC_REALLOC, AC_TYPE_MBSTATE_T.
547 looks for getloadavg.c in the CONFIG_LIBOBJ_DIR.
550 Now defines HAVE_MALLOC to 0 if `malloc' does not work, and asks
551 for an AC_LIBOBJ replacement.
555 - Spurious complaints from `m4_bmatch' about invalid regular
556 expressions are suppressed.
558 - Empty top_builddirs are properly handled.
560 - AC_CHECK_MEMBER works correctly when the member is an aggregate.
563 Now colon in the optional path arguments are properly handled.
565 ** Improved portability
567 - Both Autoconf the package, and the scripts it produces, should run
568 more reliably with Zsh. Bear in mind it is the default Bourne shell
571 - Autoconf and the scripts it produces no longer assume the existence of
572 the obsolescent commands egrep and fgrep.
576 - Limitations of Make
580 The GNATS base moved to
581 http://bugs.gnu.org/cgi-bin/gnatsweb.pl?database=autoconf
582 (It is no longer available, though.)
587 Now contains the list of ouput variables and files (AC_SUBST,
590 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.53
592 Released 2002-03-08 by Akim Demaille.
596 Perl 5.005_03 or later is required: autom4te is written in Perl and is
597 needed by autoconf. autoheader, autoreconf, ifnames, and autoscan are
603 Argument requirements, output variables, defined macros.
604 - M4sugar, M4sh, Autotest
606 - Double quoting macros
607 AC_TRY_CPP, AC_TRY_COMPILE, AC_TRY_LINK and AC_TRY_RUN.
609 The Autoconf manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
610 - Section `Hosts and Cross-Compilation'
611 Explains the rationale for the 2.5x changes in the cross-compilation
612 chain, and in the relationships between build, host, and target
614 Emphasizes that `cross-compilation' == `--host is given'.
615 If you are working on compilers etc., be sure to read this section.
616 - Section `AC_LIBOBJ vs. LIBOBJS'
617 Explains why assigning LIBOBJS directly is now an error.
618 Details how to update the code.
623 Now used instead of hard coded line numbers.
624 This eases the comparison of `configure's, and diminishes the
625 pressure over control version archives.
626 Automatic replacement for shells that don't support this feature.
627 - New output variables
628 @builddir@, @top_builddir@, @abs_srcdir@, @abs_top_srcdir@, @abs_builddir@,
633 Autoconf and Autotest modes are provided.
638 New, used by the Autoconf suite to cache and speed up most processing.
640 Supported by autom4te, autoconf and autoheader.
642 Replaces --autoconf-dir and --localdir in autoconf, autoheader,
643 autoupdate, and autoreconf.
645 No longer passes --cygnus, --foreign, --gnits, --gnu, --include-deps:
646 automake options are to be given via AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS.
648 Runs gettextize and libtoolize when appropriate.
650 --m4dir is no longer supported.
652 Now runs only in the specified directories, defaulting to `.',
653 but understands AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS for dependent directories.
654 Before, it used to run on all the `configure.ac' found in the
656 Independent packages are properly updated.
660 - The top level $prefix is propagated to the AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS configures.
662 Under the user pressure, $? is finally available. Probably a mistake.
663 - AC_F77_LIBRARY_LDFLAGS now supports the HP/UX f90 compiler.
664 - Precious variables accumulation
665 config.status could stack several copies of the precious variables
667 - AC_PATH_PROG and family.
668 Works properly when given a literal path.
670 Somewhere since 2.13, the result had been reversed.
674 - AC_C_BIGENDIAN supports the cross-compiling case.
675 - AC_C_BIGENDIAN accepts ACTION-IF-TRUE, ACTION-IF-FALSE, and
676 ACTION-IF-UNKNOWN arguments. All are facultative, and the default
677 for ACTION-IF-TRUE is to define WORDS_BIGENDIAN like AC_C_BIGENDIAN
679 - AC_C_LONG_DOUBLE now succeeds only if `long double' has more range or
680 precision than `double'.
685 It now defines the preprocessor symbols PACKAGE_NAME,
686 PACKAGE_TARNAME, PACKAGE_VERSION, PACKAGE_STRING, and
690 Admits a fourth optional parameter: the tar name.
692 - AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS, HEADERS, FILES, LINKS.
693 Provide the user with srcdir, ac_srcdir, ac_top_srcdir, ac_builddir,
694 ac_top_builddir, ac_abs_srcdir, ac_abs_top_srcdir, ac_abs_builddir,
697 - AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS, HEADERS, FILES, LINKS and AC_OUTPUT.
698 Are much less expensive when using long lists of files.
701 Works with shell variables, and non alphanumeric names.
705 - AC_FUNC_STRERROR_R now sets STRERROR_R_CHAR_P, not HAVE_WORKING_STRERROR_R,
706 because POSIX 1003.1-200x draft 7 says strerror_r returns int, not char *.
708 - AC_FUNC_STRTOD substitutes POW_LIB.
713 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.52
715 Released 2001-07-18 by Akim Demaille.
720 This feature was present in autoconf 2.50 but was not documented.
721 For example, `@<:@' is translated to `[' just before output. This
722 is useful when writing strings that contain unbalanced quotes, or
723 other hard-to-quote constructs.
724 - m4_pattern_forbid, m4_pattern_allow
725 - Tips for upgrading from 2.13.
726 - Using autoscan to maintain a configure.ac.
729 - Now include stdint.h.
730 - sys/types.h and sys/stat.h are guarded.
731 - strings.h is included if available, and not conflicting with string.h.
734 - The test suite is more robust and presents less false failures.
735 - Invocation of GNU M4 now robust to POSIXLY_CORRECT.
736 - configure accepts --prefix='' again.
737 - AC_CHECK_LIB works properly when its first argument is not a
739 - HAVE_INTTYPES_H is defined only if not conflicting with sys/types.h.
740 - build_, host_, and target_alias are AC_SUBST as in 2.13.
741 - AC_ARG_VAR properly propagates precious variables inherited from the
742 environment to ./config.status.
743 - Using --program-suffix/--program-prefix is portable.
744 - Failures to detect the default compiler's output extension are less
746 - `config.status foo' works properly when `foo' depends on variables
747 set in an AC_CONFIG_THING INIT-CMD.
748 - autoheader is more robust to broken input.
749 - Fixed Fortran name-mangling and link tests on a number of systems,
750 e.g. NetBSD; see AC_F77_DUMMY_MAIN, below.
753 - AC_CHECK_HEADER and AC_CHECK_HEADERS support a fourth argument to
754 specify pre-includes. In this case, the headers are compiled with
755 cc, not merely preprocessed by cpp. Therefore it is the _usability_
756 of a header which is checked for, not just its availability.
757 - AC_ARG_VAR refuses to run configure when precious variables have
759 - Versions of compilers are dumped in the logs.
760 - AC_CHECK_TYPE recognizes use of `foo_t' as a replacement type.
763 - AC_PATH_XTRA only adds -ldnet to $LIBS if it's needed to link.
764 - AC_FUNC_WAIT3 and AC_SYS_RESTARTABLE_SYSCALLS are obsoleted.
765 - AM_FUNC_ERROR_AT_LINE, AM_FUNC_FNMATCH, AM_FUNC_MKTIME,
766 AM_FUNC_OBSTACK, and AM_FUNC_STRTOD are now activated.
767 Be sure to read `Upgrading from Version 2.13' to understand why
768 running `autoupdate' is needed.
769 - AC_F77_DUMMY_MAIN, AC_F77_MAIN: new macros to detect whether
770 a main-like routine is required/possible when linking C/C++ with
771 Fortran. Users of e.g. AC_F77_WRAPPERS should be aware of these.
772 - AC_FUNC_GETPGRG behaves better when cross-compiling.
774 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.51
775 There was no release of Autoconf 2.51 since some packagers had used
776 this version number without permission to ship intermediary versions
777 of 2.50. The version was skipped to avoid confusion.
779 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.50
781 Released 2001-05-21 by Akim Demaille.
784 There have been far too many to enumerate them here. Check out
785 ChangeLog if you really want to know more.
787 ** Improved documentation
788 In particular, portability issues are better covered.
791 All the standard GNU Makefile targets are supported. The layout has
792 changed: m4/ holds the M4 extensions Autoconf needs for its
793 configuration, doc/ contains the documentation, and tests/ contains
796 ** Man pages are provided
797 For autoconf, autoreconf, autoupdate, autoheader, autoscan, ifnames,
798 config.guess, config.sub.
802 Provides a safe and powerful means to trace the macro uses. This
803 provide the parsing layer for tools which need to `study'
807 Specify what category of warnings should be enabled.
809 - When recursing into subdirectories, try for configure.gnu before
810 configure to adapt for packages not using autoconf on case-insensitive
814 More errors are now caught (circular AC_REQUIRE dependencies,
815 AC_DEFINE in the action part of an AC_CACHE_CHECK, too many pops
816 etc.). In addition, their location and call stack are given.
819 autoupdate is much more powerful, and is able to provide the glue code
820 which might be needed to move from an old macro to its newer
823 You are strongly encouraged to use it to modernize both your
824 `configure.in' and your .m4 extension files.
827 The internal machinery of autoheader has completely changed. As a
828 result, using `acconfig.h' should be considered to be obsoleted, and
829 you are encouraged to get rid of it using the AH macros.
834 ** Fortran 77 compilers
835 Globally, the support for Fortran 77 is considerably improved.
837 Support for automatically determining a Fortran 77 compiler's
838 name-mangling scheme. New CPP macros F77_FUNC and F77_FUNC_ are
839 provided to wrap C/C++ identifiers, thus making it easier and more
840 transparent for C/C++ to call Fortran 77 routines, and Fortran 77 to
841 call C/C++ routines. See the Texinfo documentation for details.
844 The test suite no longer uses DejaGNU. It should be easy to submit
845 test cases in this new framework.
848 - --help, --help=long, -hl
849 no longer dumps useless items.
851 lists only specific options.
852 - --help=recursive, -hr
853 displays the help of all the embedded packages.
854 - Remembers environment variables when reconfiguring.
855 The previous scheme to set envvar before running configure was
857 what prevented configure from remembering the environment in which
858 it was run, therefore --recheck was run in an inconsistent
859 environment. Now, one should run
861 and then --recheck will work properly. Variables declared with
862 AC_ARG_VAR are also preserved.
864 $build defaults to `config.guess`, $host to $build, and then $target
866 Cross-compilation is a global status of the package, it no longer
867 depends upon the current language.
868 Cross compilation is enabled iff the user specified `--host'.
869 `configure' now fails if it can't run the executables it compiles,
870 unless cross-compilation is enabled.
872 The cache file is disabled by default. The new options
873 `--config-cache', `-C' set the cache to `config.cache'.
877 Much faster on most architectures.
878 - concurrent executions
879 It is safe to use `make -j' with config.status.
880 - human interface improved
881 It is possible to invoke
882 ./config.status foobar
883 instead of the former form (still valid)
884 CONFIG_COMMANDS= CONFIG_HEADERS= CONFIG_LINKS= \
885 CONFIG_FILES=foobar:foo.in:bar.in \
887 The same holds for configuration headers and links.
888 You can instantiate unknown files and headers:
889 ./config.status --header foo.h:foo.h.in --file bar:baz
890 - has a useful --help
891 - accepts special file name "-" for stdin/stdout
896 Specify additional copyright information.
899 Now expects the identity of the package as argument.
903 Most macros, if not all, now strictly follow the `one quotation
904 level' rule. This results in a more predictable expansion.
907 A sly bug in the AC_REQUIRE machinery, which could produce incorrect
908 configure scripts, was fixed by Axel Thimm.
912 Document and ask for the registration of an envvar.
915 Specifies the file which `configure' should look for when trying to
916 find the source tree (used to be handled by AC_INIT).
919 To add new actions to config.status. Should be used instead of
923 Replaces AC_LINK_FILES.
925 - AC_CONFIG_HEADERS, AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS, AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS,
926 AC_CONFIG_LINKS, and AC_CONFIG_FILES
927 They now obey sh: you should no longer use shell variables as
930 test "$package_foo_enabled" = yes && $my_subdirs="$my_subdirs foo"
931 AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS($my_subdirs)
935 if test "$package_foo_enabled" = yes; then
936 AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS(foo)
940 To format an Autoconf macro's help string so that it looks pretty
941 when the user executes `configure --help'.
944 ** Generic Test Macros
946 The interface of the AC_CHECK families of macros (decl, header,
947 type, member, func) is now uniform. They support the same set of
950 - AC_CHECK_DECL, AC_CHECK_DECLS
951 To check whether a symbol is declared.
953 - AC_CHECK_SIZEOF, AC_C_CHAR_UNSIGNED.
954 No longer need a cross-compilation default.
957 The test it performs is much more robust than previously, and makes
958 it possible to test builtin types in addition to typedefs.
959 It is now schizophrenic:
960 - AC_CHECK_TYPE(TYPE, REPLACEMENT)
961 remains for backward compatibility, but its use is discouraged.
962 - AC_CHECK_TYPE(TYPE, IF-FOUND, IF-NOT-FOUND, INCLUDES)
963 behaves exactly like the other AC_CHECK macros.
966 Checks whether given types are supported by the system.
968 - AC_CHECK_MEMBER, AC_CHECK_MEMBERS
969 Check for given members in aggregates (e.g., pw_gecos in struct
973 Checks if the compiler supports ISO C, included when needs special
977 Checking whether the preprocessor indicates missing includes by the
978 error code. stderr is checked by AC_TRY_CPP only as a fallback.
981 Takes a language as argument and replaces AC_LANG_C,
982 AC_LANG_CPLUSPLUS and AC_LANG_FORTRAN77.
984 - AC_LANG_PUSH, AC_LANG_POP
985 Are preferred to AC_LANG_SAVE, AC_LANG_RESTORE.
988 - AC_FUNC_CHOWN, AC_FUNC_MALLOC, AC_FUNC_STRERROR_R,
989 AC_FUNC_LSTAT_FOLLOWS_SLASHED_SYMLINK, AC_FUNC_STAT, AC_FUNC_LSTAT,
990 AC_FUNC_ERROR_AT_LINE, AC_FUNC_OBSTACK, AC_FUNC_STRTOD, AC_FUNC_FSEEKO.
997 Defines `HAVE_STRUCT_NLIST_N_UN_N_NAME' instead of `NLIST_NAME_UNION'.
1000 Now integrates `AC_DECL_YYTEXT' which is obsoleted.
1003 Arrange for large-file support.
1005 - AC_EXEEXT, AC_OBJEXT
1006 You are no longer expected to use them: their computation is
1007 performed by default.
1009 ** C++ compatibility
1010 Every macro has been revisited in order to support at best CC=c++.
1012 Major changes in Autoconf 2.14:
1013 There was no release of GNU Autoconf 2.14.
1015 Major changes in Autoconf 2.13:
1017 Released 1999-05-01 by Ben Elliston.
1019 * Support for building on Win32 systems where the only available C or
1020 C++ compiler is the Microsoft Visual C++ command line compiler
1021 (`cl'). Additional support for building on Win32 systems which are
1022 using the Cygwin or Mingw32 environments.
1023 * Support for alternative object file and executable file extensions.
1024 On Win32, for example, these are .obj and .exe. These are discovered
1025 using AC_OBJEXT and AC_EXEEXT, which substitute @OBJEXT@ and
1026 @EXEEXT@ in the output, respectively.
1027 * New macros: AC_CACHE_LOAD, AC_CACHE_SAVE, AC_FUNC_SELECT_ARGTYPES,
1028 AC_VALIDATE_CACHED_SYSTEM_TUPLE, AC_SEARCH_LIBS, AC_TRY_LINK_FUNC,
1029 AC_C_STRINGIZE, AC_CHECK_FILE(S), AC_PROG_F77 (and friends).
1030 * AC_DEFINE now has an optional third argument for a description to be
1031 placed in the config header input file (e.g. config.h.in).
1032 * The C++ code fragment compiled for the C++ compiler test had to be
1033 improved to include an explicit return type for main(). This was
1034 causing failures on systems using recent versions of the EGCS C++
1036 * Fixed an important bug in AC_CHECK_TYPE that would cause a configure
1037 script to report that `sometype_t' was present when only `type_t'
1039 * Merge of the FSF version of config.guess and config.sub to modernize
1040 these scripts. Add support for a few new hosts in config.guess.
1041 Incorporate latest versions of install-sh, mkinstalldirs and
1042 texinfo.tex from the FSF.
1043 * autoreconf is capable of running automake if necessary (and
1045 * Support for Fortran 77. See the Texinfo documentation for details.
1046 * Bug fixes and workarounds for quirky bugs in vendor utilities.
1048 Major changes in Autoconf 2.12:
1050 Released 1996-11-26 by David J. MacKenzie
1052 * AC_OUTPUT and AC_CONFIG_HEADER can create output files by
1053 concatenating multiple input files separated by colons, like so:
1054 AC_CONFIG_HEADER(config.h:conf.pre:config.h.in:conf.post)
1055 AC_OUTPUT(Makefile:Makefile.in:Makefile.rules)
1056 The arguments may be shell variables, to compute the lists on the fly.
1057 * AC_LINK_FILES and AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS may be called multiple times.
1058 * New macro AC_OUTPUT_COMMANDS adds more commands to run in config.status.
1061 Major changes in Autoconf 2.11:
1063 Released November 18th, 1996, by David J. MacKenzie
1065 * AC_PROG_CC and AC_PROG_CXX check whether the compiler works.
1066 They also default CFLAGS/CXXFLAGS to "-g -O2" for gcc, instead of "-g -O".
1067 * AC_REPLACE_FUNCS defines HAVE_foo if the system has the function `foo'.
1068 * AC_CONFIG_HEADER expands shell variables in its argument.
1069 * New macros: AC_FUNC_FNMATCH, AC_FUNC_SETPGRP.
1070 * The "checking..." messages and the source code for test programs that
1071 fail are saved in config.log.
1072 * Another workaround has been added for seds with small command length limits.
1073 * config.sub and config.guess recognize more system types.
1076 Major changes in Autoconf 2.10:
1078 Released May 7th, 1996, by Roland McGrath
1081 * The cache variable names used by `AC_CHECK_LIB(LIB, FUNC, ...)' has
1082 changed: now $ac_cv_lib_LIB_FUNC, previously $ac_cv_lib_LIB.
1084 Major changes in Autoconf 2.9:
1086 Released March 16th, 1996, by Roland McGrath
1090 Major changes in Autoconf 2.8:
1092 Released March 8th, 1996, by Roland McGrath
1096 Major changes in Autoconf 2.7:
1098 Released November 22nd, 1995, by David J. MacKenzie
1102 Major changes in Autoconf 2.6:
1104 Released November 20th, 1995, by David J. MacKenzie
1108 Major changes in Autoconf 2.5:
1110 Released November 17th, 1995, by Roland McGrath
1112 * New configure options --bindir, --libdir, --datadir, etc., with
1113 corresponding output variables.
1114 * New macro: AC_CACHE_CHECK, to make using the cache easier.
1115 * config.log contains the command being run as well as any output from it.
1116 * AC_CHECK_LIB can check for libraries with "." or "/" or "+" in their name.
1117 * AC_PROG_INSTALL doesn't cache a name for install-sh, for sharing caches.
1118 * AC_CHECK_PROG, AC_PATH_PROG, AC_CHECK_PROGS, AC_PATH_PROGS, and
1119 AC_CHECK_TOOL can search a path other than $PATH.
1120 * AC_CHECK_SIZEOF takes an optional size to use when cross-compiling.
1122 Major changes in Autoconf 2.4:
1124 Released June 14th, 1995, by David J. MacKenzie
1126 * Fix a few bugs found by Emacs testers.
1128 Major changes in Autoconf 2.3:
1130 Released March 27th, 1995, by David J. MacKenzie
1132 * Fix the cleanup trap in several ways.
1133 * Handle C compilers that are picky about option placement.
1134 * ifnames gets the version number from the right directory.
1136 Major changes in Autoconf 2.2:
1138 Released March 8th, 1995, by David J. MacKenzie
1140 * The ifnames utility is much faster but requires a "new awk" interpreter.
1141 * AC_CHECK_LIB and AC_HAVE_LIBRARY check and add the new
1142 library before existing libs, not after, in case it uses them.
1143 * New macros: AC_FUNC_GETPGRP, AC_CHECK_TOOL.
1144 * Lots of bug fixes.
1145 * Many additions to the TODO file :-)
1147 Major changes in Autoconf 2.1:
1149 Released November 4th, 1994, by David J. MacKenzie
1152 * More explanations in the manual.
1153 * Fix a spurious failure in the testsuite.
1154 * Clarify some warning messages.
1155 * autoreconf by default only rebuilds configure and config.h.in files
1156 that are older than any of their particular input files; there is a
1157 --force option to use after installing a new version of Autoconf.
1159 Thanks to everybody who's submitted changes and additions to Autoconf!
1160 I've incorporated many of them, and am still considering others for
1161 future releases -- but I didn't want to postpone this release indefinitely.
1163 Caution: don't indiscriminately rebuild configure scripts with
1164 Autoconf version 2. Some configure.in files need minor adjustments to
1165 work with it; the documentation has a chapter on upgrading. A few
1166 configure.in files, including those for GNU Emacs and the GNU C
1167 Library, need major changes because they relied on undocumented
1168 internals of version 1. Future releases of those packages will have
1169 updated configure.in files.
1171 It's best to use GNU M4 1.3 (or later) with Autoconf version 2.
1172 Autoconf now makes heavy use of M4 diversions, which were implemented
1173 inefficiently in GNU M4 releases before 1.3.
1175 Major changes in Autoconf 2.0:
1177 Released October 26th, 1994, by David J. MacKenzie
1179 ** New copyright terms:
1180 * There are no restrictions on distribution or use of configure scripts.
1183 * Autoconf manual is reorganized to make information easier to find
1184 and has several new indexes.
1185 * INSTALL is reorganized and clearer and is now made from Texinfo source.
1188 * autoscan to generate a preliminary configure.in for a package by
1189 scanning its source code for commonly used nonportable functions,
1190 programs, and header files.
1191 * ifnames to list the symbols used in #if and #ifdef directives in a
1193 * autoupdate to update a configure.in to use the version 2 macro names.
1194 * autoreconf to recursively remake configure and configuration header
1195 files in a source tree.
1197 ** Changed utilities:
1198 * autoheader can take pieces of acconfig.h to replace config.h.{top,bot}.
1199 * autoconf and autoheader can look for package-local definition files
1200 in an alternate directory.
1203 * AC_CACHE_VAL to share results of tests between configure runs.
1204 * AC_DEFUN to define macros, automatically AC_PROVIDE them, and ensure
1205 that macros invoked with AC_REQUIRE don't interrupt other macros.
1206 * AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR, AC_CANONICAL_SYSTEM, AC_CANONICAL_HOST, AC_LINK_FILES to
1207 support deciding unguessable features based on the host and target types.
1208 * AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS to recursively configure a source tree.
1209 * AC_ARG_PROGRAM to use the options --program-prefix,
1210 --program-suffix, and --program-transform-name to change the names
1211 of programs being installed.
1212 * AC_PREFIX_DEFAULT to change the default installation prefix.
1213 * AC_TRY_COMPILE to compile a test program without linking it.
1214 * AC_CHECK_TYPE to check whether sys/types.h or stdlib.h defines a given type.
1215 * AC_CHECK_LIB to check for a particular function and library.
1216 * AC_MSG_CHECKING and AC_MSG_RESULT to print test results, on a single line,
1217 whether or not the test succeeds. They obsolete AC_CHECKING and AC_VERBOSE.
1218 * AC_SUBST_FILE to insert one file into another.
1219 * AC_FUNC_MEMCMP to check whether memcmp is 8-bit clean.
1220 * AC_FUNC_STRFTIME to find strftime even if it's in -lintl.
1221 * AC_FUNC_GETMNTENT to find getmntent even if it's in -lsun or -lseq.
1222 * AC_HEADER_SYS_WAIT to check whether sys/wait.h is POSIX.1 compatible.
1225 * Many macros renamed systematically, but old names are accepted for
1226 backward compatibility.
1227 * AC_OUTPUT adds the "automatically generated" comment to
1228 non-Makefiles where it finds @configure_input@ in an input file, to
1229 support files with various comment syntaxes.
1230 * AC_OUTPUT does not replace "prefix" and "exec_prefix" in generated
1231 files when they are not enclosed in @ signs.
1232 * AC_OUTPUT allows the optional environment variable CONFIG_STATUS to
1233 override the file name "config.status".
1234 * AC_OUTPUT takes an optional argument for passing variables from
1235 configure to config.status.
1236 * AC_OUTPUT and AC_CONFIG_HEADER allow you to override the input-file names.
1237 * AC_OUTPUT automatically substitutes the values of CFLAGS, CXXFLAGS,
1238 CPPFLAGS, and LDFLAGS from the environment.
1239 * AC_PROG_CC and AC_PROG_CXX now set CFLAGS and CXXFLAGS, respectively.
1240 * AC_PROG_INSTALL looks for install-sh or install.sh in the directory
1241 specified by AC_CONFIG_AUXDIR, or srcdir or srcdir/.. or
1242 srcdir/../.. by default.
1243 * AC_DEFINE, AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED, and AC_SUBST are more robust and smaller.
1244 * AC_DEFINE no longer prints anything, because of the new result reporting
1245 mechanism (AC_MSG_CHECKING and AC_MSG_RESULT).
1246 * AC_VERBOSE pays attention to --quiet/--silent, not --verbose.
1247 * AC_ARG_ENABLE and AC_ARG_WITH support whitespace in the arguments to
1248 --enable- and --with- options.
1249 * AC_CHECK_FUNCS and AC_CHECK_HEADERS take optional shell commands to
1250 execute on success or failure.
1251 * Checking for C functions in C++ works.
1254 * AC_REMOTE_TAPE and AC_RSH removed; too specific to tar and cpio, and
1255 better maintained with them.
1256 * AC_ARG_ARRAY removed because no one was likely using it.
1257 * AC_HAVE_POUNDBANG replaced with AC_SYS_INTERPRETER, which doesn't
1258 take arguments, for consistency with all of the other specific checks.
1261 * Comes with config.sub and config.guess, and uses them optionally.
1262 * Uses config.cache to cache test results. An alternate cache file
1263 can be selected with the --cache-file=FILE option.
1264 * Uses optional shell scripts $prefix/share/config.site and
1265 $prefix/etc/config.site to perform site or system specific initializations.
1266 * configure saves compiler output to ./config.log for debugging.
1267 * New files autoconf.m4 and autoheader.m4 load the other Autoconf macros.
1268 * acsite.m4 is the new name for the system-wide aclocal.m4.
1269 * Has a DejaGnu test suite.
1271 Major changes in Autoconf 1.11:
1273 * AC_PROG_INSTALL calls install.sh with the -c option.
1274 * AC_SET_MAKE cleans up after itself.
1275 * AC_OUTPUT sets prefix and exec_prefix if they weren't set already.
1276 * AC_OUTPUT prevents shells from looking in PATH for config.status.
1278 Plus a few other bug fixes.
1280 Major changes in Autoconf 1.10:
1282 * autoheader uses config.h.bot if present, analogous to config.h.top.
1283 * AC_PROG_INSTALL looks for install.sh in srcdir or srcdir/.. and
1285 * AC_PROG_CXX looks for cxx as a C++ compiler.
1287 Plus several bugs fixed.
1289 Major changes in Autoconf 1.9:
1291 * AC_YYTEXT_POINTER replaces AC_DECLARE_YYTEXT.
1292 * AC_SIZEOF_TYPE generates the cpp symbol name automatically,
1293 and autoheader generates entries for those names automatically.
1294 * AC_FIND_X gets the result from xmkmf correctly.
1295 * AC_FIND_X assumes no X if --without-x was given.
1296 * AC_FIND_XTRA adds libraries to the variable X_EXTRA_LIBS.
1297 * AC_PROG_INSTALL finds OSF/1 installbsd.
1299 Major changes in Autoconf 1.8:
1302 * New macros AC_LANG_C, AC_LANG_CPLUSPLUS, AC_LANG_SAVE, AC_LANG_RESTORE,
1303 AC_PROG_CXX, AC_PROG_CXXCPP, AC_REQUIRE_CPP
1304 for checking both C++ and C features in one configure script.
1305 * New macros AC_CHECKING, AC_VERBOSE, AC_WARN, AC_ERROR for printing messages.
1306 * New macros AC_FIND_XTRA, AC_MMAP, AC_SIZEOF_TYPE, AC_PREREQ,
1307 AC_SET_MAKE, AC_ENABLE.
1310 * AC_FIND_X looks for X in more places.
1311 * AC_PROG_INSTALL defaults to install.sh instead of cp, if it's in srcdir.
1312 install.sh is distributed with Autoconf.
1313 * AC_DECLARE_YYTEXT has been removed because it can't work, pending
1314 a rewrite of quoting in AC_DEFINE.
1315 * AC_OUTPUT adds its comments in C format when substituting in C files.
1316 * AC_COMPILE_CHECK protects its ECHO-TEXT argument with double quotes.
1318 ** New or changed command line options:
1319 * configure accepts --enable-FEATURE[=ARG] and --disable-FEATURE options.
1320 * configure accepts --without-PACKAGE, which sets withval=no.
1321 * configure accepts --x-includes=DIR and --x-libraries=DIR.
1322 * Giving --with-PACKAGE no argument sets withval=yes instead of withval=1.
1323 * configure accepts --help, --version, --silent/--quiet, --no-create options.
1324 * configure accepts and ignores most other Cygnus configure options, and
1325 warns about unknown options.
1326 * config.status accepts --help, --version options.
1328 ** File names and other changes:
1329 * Relative srcdir values are not made absolute.
1330 * The values of @prefix@ and @exec_prefix@ and @top_srcdir@ get substituted.
1331 * Autoconf library files are installed in ${datadir}/autoconf, not ${datadir}.
1332 * autoheader optionally copies config.h.top to the beginning of config.h.in.
1333 * The example Makefile dependencies for configure et al. work better.
1334 * Namespace cleanup: all shell variables used internally by Autoconf
1335 have names beginning with `ac_'.
1337 More big improvements are in process for future releases, but have not
1338 yet been (variously) finished, integrated, tested, or documented enough
1341 Major changes in Autoconf 1.7:
1343 * New macro AC_OBSOLETE.
1344 * Bugs in Makefile.in fixed.
1345 * AC_LONG_FILE_NAMES improved.
1347 Major changes in Autoconf 1.6:
1349 * New macro AC_LONG_64_BITS.
1350 * Multiple .h files can be created.
1351 * AC_FIND_X looks for X files directly if it doesn't find xmkmf.
1352 * AC_ALLOCA defines C_ALLOCA if using alloca.c.
1353 * --with-NAME can take a value, e.g., --with-targets=sun4,hp300bsd.
1354 * Unused --no-create option to configure removed.
1355 * autoheader doesn't change the timestamp of its output file if
1356 the file didn't change.
1357 * All macros that look for libraries now use AC_HAVE_LIBRARY.
1358 * config.status checks three optional environment variables to
1359 modify its behavior.
1360 * The usual bug fixes.
1362 Major changes in Autoconf 1.5:
1364 * New macros AC_FIND_X, AC_OFF_T, AC_STAT_MACROS_BROKEN, AC_REVISION.
1365 * autoconf and autoheader scripts have GNU standards conforming
1366 --version and --help options (they print their message and exit).
1369 Major changes in Autoconf 1.4:
1371 * New macros AC_HAVE_POUNDBANG, AC_TIME_WITH_SYS_TIME, AC_LONG_DOUBLE,
1372 AC_GETGROUPS_T, AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED.
1373 * autoconf and autoheader use the M4 environment variable to determine the
1374 name of the M4 program to use.
1375 * The --macrodir option to autoconf and autoheader specifies the directory
1376 in which acspecific.m4, acgeneral.m4, etc. reside if not the default.
1377 * autoconf and autoheader can take `-' as their file names, which means to
1378 read stdin as input.
1379 * Resulting configure scripts can take a --verbose option which causes them
1380 to print the results of their tests.
1381 * AC_DEFINE quotes its second argument in such a way that spaces, magic
1382 shell characters, etc. will be preserved during various stages of
1383 expansion done by the shell. If you don't want this, use
1384 AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED instead.
1385 * Much textual processing done with external calls to tr and sed have been
1386 internalized with builtin M4 `patsubst' and `translit' calls.
1387 * AC_OUTPUT doesn't hardwire the file names it outputs. Instead, you can
1388 set the shell variables `gen_files' and `gen_config' to the list of
1389 file names to output.
1390 * AC_DECLARE_YYTEXT does an AC_SUBST of `LEX_OUTPUT_ROOT', which may be
1391 "lex.yy" or "lexyy", depending on the system.
1392 * AC_PROGRAMS_CHECK takes an optional third arg. If given, it is used as
1394 * If AC_ALLOCA chooses alloca.c, it also defines STACK_DIRECTION.
1395 * AC_CONST works much more reliably on more systems.
1398 Major changes in Autoconf 1.3:
1400 configure no longer requires awk for packages that use a config.h.
1401 Support handling --with-PACKAGE options.
1402 New `autoheader' script to create `config.h.in' from `configure.in'.
1403 Ignore troublesome -lucb and -lPW when searching for alloca.
1404 Rename --exec_prefix to --exec-prefix for GNU standards conformance.
1405 Improve detection of STDC library.
1406 Add AC_HAVE_LIBRARY to check for non-default libraries.
1407 Function checking should work with future GNU libc releases.
1409 Major changes in Autoconf 1.2:
1411 The --srcdir option is now usually unnecessary.
1412 Add a file containing sample comments describing CPP macros.
1413 A comment in config.status tells which host it was configured on.
1414 Substituted variable values can now contain commas.
1415 Fix bugs in various feature checks.
1417 Major changes in Autoconf 1.1:
1419 Added AC_STRCOLL macro.
1420 Made AC_GETLOADAVG check for more things.
1421 AC_OUTPUT argument is now optional.
1426 Copyright (C) 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002,
1427 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1429 This file is part of GNU Autoconf.
1431 GNU Autoconf is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
1432 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
1433 the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
1436 GNU Autoconf is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
1437 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
1438 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
1439 GNU General Public License for more details.
1441 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
1442 along with GNU Autoconf; see the file COPYING. If not, write to
1443 the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor,
1444 Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.