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 ** The functionality of the undocumented _AC_COMPUTE_INT is now provided
7 by a public and documented macro, AC_COMPUTE_INT. The parameters to the
8 two macros are different, so autoupdate will not change the old private name
9 to the new one. _AC_COMPUTE_INT may be removed in a future release.
11 ** AC_TYPE_LONG_LONG_INT and AC_TYPE_UNSIGNED_LONG_LONG_INT now require
12 that long long types be at least 64 bits wide, as C99 and tradition
13 requires. Formerly, they accepted implementations of any width.
16 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.60
18 Released 2006-06-23, by Ralf Wildenhues.
20 ** Autoconf no longer depends on whether m4wrap is FIFO (as Posix requires)
21 or LIFO (as in GNU M4 1.4.x). GNU M4 2.0 is expected to conform to Posix
22 here, so m4wrap/m4_wrap users should no longer depend on LIFO behavior.
24 ** Provide a way to turn off warnings about the changed directory variables.
26 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.59d
28 Released 2006-06-05, by Ralf Wildenhues.
30 ** GNU make now recommended for VPATH builds
31 INSTALL now suggests VPATH builds (e.g., "sh ../srcdir/configure")
32 only if you use GNU make. In practice, other 'make' implementations
33 have too many subtle incompatibilities in their support for VPATH.
34 Many packages (including Autoconf itself) are portable to other
35 'make' implementations, but some packages are not, and recommending
36 GNU make keeps the installation instructions simpler.
38 ** Even more safety checks for the new Directory variables:
39 Warn about suspicious `${datarootdir}' found in config files output.
41 ** AC_TRY_COMMAND, AC_TRY_EVAL, ac_config_guess, ac_config_sub, ac_configure
42 These never-documented macros and variables have been marked with
43 comments saying that they may be removed in a future release,
44 because their use can lead to unintended code being executed.
45 If you need functionality that only these macros or variables
46 currently supply, please write bug-autoconf@gnu.org.
48 ** AC_SUBST, AC_DEFINE
49 Literal arguments to these are passed to m4_pattern_allow now.
52 Passing 'ac_cv_prog_cc_stdc=no' to 'configure' now sets ac_cv_prog_cc_c99
53 and ac_cv_prog_cc_c89 to 'no' as well, for backward compatibility with
54 obsolete K&R tests in the Automake test suite.
63 Now more robust with special characters in file names, or when
64 multiple processes create the same directory at the same time.
67 The documentation now says that the following macros are obsolescent:
68 they test for problems that are so old that they are no longer of
69 practical importance on current systems.
71 AC_C_BACKSLASH_A AC_FUNC_MEMCMP AC_HEADER_DIRENT
72 AC_C_CONST AC_FUNC_SELECT_ARGTYPES AC_HEADER_STAT
73 AC_C_PROTOTYPES AC_FUNC_SETPGRP AC_HEADER_STDC
74 AC_C_STRINGIZE AC_FUNC_SETVBUF_REVERSED AC_HEADER_SYS_WAIT
75 AC_C_VOLATILE AC_FUNC_STAT AC_HEADER_TIME
76 AC_FUNC_CLOSEDIR_VOID AC_FUNC_STRFTIME AC_ISC_POSIX
77 AC_FUNC_GETPGRP AC_FUNC_UTIME_NULL AC_PROG_GCC_TRADITIONAL
78 AC_FUNC_LSTAT AC_FUNC_VPRINTF AC_STRUCT_TM
80 New programs need not use these macros. We have no current plans to
84 For compatibility with future Libtool 2.0, autoreconf will invoke
85 libtoolize with the option `--ltdl' now, if LT_CONFIG_LTDL_DIR is
88 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.59c
90 Released 2006-04-12, by Ralf Wildenhues.
92 ** The configure command now redirects standard input from /dev/null,
93 to help avoid problems with subsidiary commands that might mistakenly
94 read standard input. AS_ORIGINAL_STDIN_FD points to the original
95 standard input before this redirection, if you really want configure to
96 read from standard input.
98 ** Directory variables adjusted to recent changes in the GNU Coding Standards.
99 The following directory variables are new:
101 datarootdir read-only architecture-independent data root [PREFIX/share]
102 localedir locale-specific message catalogs [DATAROOTDIR/locale]
103 docdir documentation root [DATAROOTDIR/doc/PACKAGE]
104 htmldir html documentation [DOCDIR]
105 dvidir dvi documentation [DOCDIR]
106 pdfdir pdf documentation [DOCDIR]
107 psdir ps documentation [DOCDIR]
109 The following variables have new default values:
111 datadir read-only architecture-independent data [DATAROOTDIR]
112 infodir info documentation [DATAROOTDIR/info]
113 mandir man documentation [DATAROOTDIR/man]
115 This means that if you use any of `@datadir@', `@infodir@', or
116 `@mandir@' in a file, you will have to ensure `${datarootdir}' is
117 defined in this file. As a temporary measure, if any of those are
118 found but no mention of `datarootdir', the substitutions will be
119 replaced with values that do not contain `${datarootdir}', and a
120 warning will be issued.
122 ** @top_builddir@ is now a dir name: it is always nonempty and doesn't have
123 a trailing slash. Similar change will be made to ac_top_builddir in a
124 future release; the old style value, which matches (../)*, is (and will
125 continue to be) available as ac_top_build_prefix.
128 New macro to check for support of 'typeof' syntax a la GNU C.
130 ** AC_CHECK_DECLS_ONCE, AC_CHECK_FUNCS_ONCE, AC_CHECK_HEADERS_ONCE
131 New "once-only" variants of commonly-used macros, to make 'configure'
132 smaller and faster in common cases.
135 New macro to check for strtold with C99 semantics.
138 New macro that lets builder disable assertions at 'configure'-time.
141 Now checks for X11/Xlib.h and XrmInitialize (X proper) rather than
142 X11/Intrinsic.h and XtMalloc (Xt).
144 ** AC_PRESERVE_HELP_ORDER
145 New macro that causes `configure' to display help strings for AC_ARG_ENABLE
146 and AC_ARG_WITH arguments in one region, in the order defined. The default
147 behavior is to group options of each classes separately.
149 ** AC_PROG_CC, AC_PROG_CXX
150 No longer automatically arrange to declare the 'exit' function of C,
151 when a C++ compiler is used. Standard Autoconf macros no longer use
152 'exit', so this is no longer an issue for them. If you use C++, and
153 want to call 'exit', you'll have to arrange for its declaration
154 yourself. But we now suggest you return from 'main' instead.
156 ** AC_PROG_CC_C89, AC_PROG_CC_C99
157 New macros for ISO C99 support. AC_PROG_CC_C89 and AC_PROG_CC_C99
158 check for ANSI C89 and ISO C99 support respectively.
161 Has been unobsoleted, and will check if the compiler supports ISO
162 C99, falling back to ANSI C89 if not. ac_cv_prog_cc_stdc is
163 retained for backwards compatibility, assuming the value of
164 ac_cv_prog_cc_c99 or ac_cv_prog_cc_c89 (whichever is valid, in
167 ** AC_STRUCT_DIRENT_D_INO, AC_STRUCT_DIRENT_D_TYPE
168 New macros for checking commonly-used members of struct dirent.
171 The substituted value can now contain newlines.
174 The substitution now occurs only when @variable@ is on a line by itself,
175 optionally surrounded by spaces and tabs. The whole line is replaced.
177 ** AC_TYPE_LONG_DOUBLE, AC_TYPE_LONG_DOUBLE_WIDER
178 New macros to check for long double, and whether it is wider than double.
179 The old macro AC_C_TYPE_LONG_DOUBLE has been marked as obsolete;
180 applications should switch to the new macro.
182 ** AC_TYPE_INT8_T, AC_TYPE_INT16_T, AC_TYPE_INT32_T, AC_TYPE_INT64_T,
183 AC_TYPE_INTMAX_T, AC_TYPE_INTPTR_T, AC_TYPE_LONG_LONG_INT, AC_TYPE_SSIZE_T,
184 AC_TYPE_UINT8_T, AC_TYPE_UINT16_T, AC_TYPE_UINT32_T, AC_TYPE_UINT64_T,
185 AC_TYPE_UINTMAX_T, AC_TYPE_UINTPTR_T, AC_TYPE_UNSIGNED_LONG_LONG_INT
186 New macros to check for C99 and POSIX types.
188 ** AC_USE_SYSTEM_EXTENSIONS
189 New macro to enable extensions to Posix.
192 New macro which is defined to the name of the first declared config header
193 or undefined if no config headers have been declared yet.
196 The macro correctly handles quadrigraphs now.
198 ** AS_BOURNE_COMPATIBLE, AS_SHELL_SANITIZE, AS_CASE
199 These macros are new or published now.
202 New macro for copyright notices in testsuite files.
204 ** ALLOCA, LIBOBJS, LTLIBOBJS
205 Object names added to these variables are now prefixed with `${LIBOBJDIR}',
206 as in `${LIBOBJDIR}alloca.o'. LIBOBJDIR is meant to be defined from
207 `Makefile.in' in case the object files lie in a different directory.
208 The LIBOBJDIR feature is experimental.
211 Supports --no-recursive now.
213 ** New macros to support Erlang/OTP.
214 New macros for configuring paths to Erlang tools and libraries:
215 AC_ERLANG_PATH_ERLC, AC_ERLANG_NEED_ERLC, AC_ERLANG_PATH_ERL,
216 AC_ERLANG_NEED_ERL, AC_ERLANG_CHECK_LIB, AC_ERLANG_SUBST_ROOT_DIR,
217 AC_ERLANG_SUBST_LIB_DIR.
219 New macros for configuring installation of Erlang libraries:
220 AC_ERLANG_SUBST_INSTALL_LIB_DIR, AC_ERLANG_SUBST_INSTALL_LIB_SUBDIR.
222 ** The manual now mentions Gnulib more prominently.
224 ** New macros to support Objective C.
225 AC_PROG_OBJC, AC_PROG_OBJCPP.
227 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.59b
229 Released 2004-08-20, by Paul Eggert.
232 New macro that computes the default alignment of a type.
234 ** AC_CHECK_TOOL, AC_PATH_TOOL, AC_CHECK_TOOLS
235 When cross-compiling, these macros will give a warning if the tool
236 is not prefixed. In the future, unprefixed cross tools will not
237 be detected; please consult the info documentation for information
238 about the reason of this change.
240 ** AC_CHECK_TARGET_TOOL, AC_PATH_TARGET_TOOL, AC_CHECK_TARGET_TOOLS
241 New macros that detect programs whose name is prefixed with the
242 target type, if the build type and target type are different.
244 ** AC_REQUIRE_AUX_FILE
245 New trace macro that declares expected auxiliary files.
248 New macro that tests for a grep program that accepts as a long a line
251 ** AC_PROG_EGREP, AC_PROG_FGREP
252 These macros now require AC_PROG_GREP, and try EGREP="$GREP -E" and
253 FGREP="$GREP -F" respectively if possible, or else run a path search for
254 a program that accepts as long a line as possible.
257 New macro that tests for a sed program that truncates as few characters
260 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.59
262 Released 2003-11-04, by Akim Demaille
264 ** ac_abs_builddir etc.
265 Absolute file names were actually relative in 2.58.
267 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.58
269 Released 2003-11-04, by Akim Demaille
272 core.* files are no longer removed, as they may be valid user files.
274 ** autoreconf and auxiliary directory
275 Autoreconf creates the auxiliary directory if needed. This is
276 especially useful for initial "bootstrapping" of fresh CVS checkouts.
278 ** AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR
279 Use this macro to declare the directory for local M4 macros for aclocal.
282 No longer includes twice the same file in LIBOBJS if invoked
285 ** AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS
286 The directory for its first argument is automatically created. For
289 AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS([src/modules.hh], [...])
291 $top_builddir/src/ is created if needed.
293 ** Autotest and local.at
294 The optional file local.at is always included in Autotest test suites.
297 The warnings are always issued, including with cached runs.
298 This became a significant problem since aclocal and automake can
299 run autoconf behind the scene.
301 ** autoheader warnings
302 The warnings of autoheader can be turned off, using --warning.
303 For instance, -Wno-obsolete disables the complaints about acconfig.h
304 and other deprecated constructs.
307 AC_C_RESTRICT, AC_INCLUDES_DEFAULT, AC_LANG_ASSERT, AC_LANG_WERROR,
310 ** AC_DECL_SYS_SIGLIST
314 Now checks that mktime is the inverse of localtime.
316 ** Improve DJGPP portability
317 The Autoconf tools and configure behave better under DJGPP.
319 ** Present But Cannot Be Compiled
320 New FAQ section dedicated to the mystic
322 configure: WARNING: pi.h: present but cannot be compiled
323 configure: WARNING: pi.h: check for missing prerequisite headers?
324 configure: WARNING: pi.h: proceeding with the preprocessor's result
327 ** Concurrent executions of autom4te
328 autom4te now locks its internal files, which enables concurrent
329 executions of autom4te, likely to happen if automake, autoconf,
330 autoheader etc. are run simultaneously.
333 Use of Libtool 1.5 and higher is encouraged. Compatibility with
334 Libtool pre-1.4 is not checked.
337 Testsuites no longer rerun failed tests in verbose mode; instead,
338 failures are logged while the test is run.
340 In addition, expected failures can be marked as such.
342 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.57
344 Released 2002-12-03 by Paul Eggert.
346 Bug fixes for problems with AIX linker, with freestanding C compilers,
347 with GNU M4 limitations, and with obsolete copies of GNU documents.
349 The Free Documentation License has been upgraded from 1.1 to 1.2.
351 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.56
353 Released 2002-11-15 by Akim Demaille.
355 One packaging problem fixed (config/install-sh was not executable).
357 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.55
359 Released 2002-11-14 by Akim Demaille.
363 Have your configure.ac checked by autoscan ("autoscan").
364 Try the warning options ("autoreconf -fv -Wall").
368 - AC_CHECK_HEADER, AC_CHECK_HEADERS
369 More information on proper use.
371 - Writing Test Programs
373 This sections explains how to write good test sources to use with
374 AC_COMPILE_IFELSE etc. It documents AC_LANG_PROGRAM and so forth.
376 - AC_FOO_IFELSE vs. AC_TRY_FOO
378 Explains why Autoconf moves from AC_TRY_COMPILE etc. to
379 AC_COMPILE_IFELSE and AC_LANG_PROGRAM etc.
383 - Is more robust to different Gettext installations.
385 - Produces messages (when --verbose) to be understood by Emacs'
388 - Supports -W/--warnings.
391 Once the GNU Build System reinstalled, run `./config.status
392 --recheck && ./config.status && make' if possible.
396 - Supports --cache, and --no-cache.
398 - ~/.autom4te.cfg makes it possible to disable the caching mechanism
399 (autom4te.cache). See `Customizing autom4te' in the documentation.
406 Support for the obsoleted options -m, --macrodir, -l, --localdir is
407 dropped in favor of the safer --include/--prepend-include scheme.
412 AC_COMPILER_IFELSE, AC_FUNC_MBRTOWC, AC_HEADER_STDBOOL,
413 AC_LANG_CONFTEST, AC_LANG_SOURCE, AC_LANG_PROGRAM, AC_LANG_CALL,
414 AC_LANG_FUNC_TRY_LINK, AC_MSG_FAILURE, AC_PREPROC_IFELSE.
417 Obsoleted macros are kept for Autoconf backward compatibility, but
418 should be avoided in configure.ac. Running autoupdate is advised.
421 - AC_DEFINE/AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED
423 We have to stop using the old compatibility scheme --that tried to
424 avoid useless backslashes-- because Libtool 1.4.3 contains a
426 AC_DEFINE([error_t], [int],
427 [Define to a type to use for \`error_t' if it is not
428 otherwise available.])
430 We have to quote the single quotes and backslashes with \. The old
431 compatibility scheme saw that ` was backslashed, and therefore did
432 not quote the single quote... Failure. Hence, Autoconf 2.54 is not
433 compatible with Libtool. Autoconf 2.55 is, but in some cases might
434 produce more \ than wanted.
436 Please, note that in the future the same problem will happen with
437 AC_MSG_*: use `autoreconf -f -Wall'.
441 - Portability of the Autoconf package to Solaris.
443 - Spurious warnings caused by config.status.
444 This bug is benign, but painful: on some systems (typically
445 FreeBSD), warnings such as:
447 config.status: creating Makefile
448 mv: Makefile: set owner/group (was: 1357/0): Operation not permitted
450 could be issued. This is fixed.
453 Simultaneous executions of config.status are possible again.
455 - Precious variables accumulation
457 config.status could stack several copies of the precious variables
461 ** Plans for later versions
465 The compatibility hooks with the old scheme will be completely
466 removed. Please, advice/use `--build', `--host', and `--target'
469 - AC_CHECK_HEADER, AC_CHECK_HEADERS
471 The tests will be stricter, please make sure your invocations are
476 Shell functions will gradually be introduced, probably starting with
477 Autotest. If you know machines which are in use that you suspect
478 *not* to support shell functions, please run the test suite of
479 Autoconf 2.55 on it, and report the results to
480 bug-autoconf@gnu.org.
484 Special characters in AC_MSG_* need not be quoted. Currently,
485 Autoconf has heuristics to decide when a string is escaped, or has
486 to be escaped. This scheme is fragile, and will be removed; the
487 only risk is uglified messages. Please, run `autoreconf -f -Wall'
488 to find occurrences that will be affected.
490 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.54
492 Released 2002-09-13 by Akim Demaille.
496 - autoreconf no longer changes the version of the gettext/po/intl
497 support files. It now adds the files the correspond to the
498 AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION declared in configure.ac.
500 Warning: It now relies on the 'autopoint' program, which is part
501 of GNU gettext 0.11.4 and newer.
503 Please note that you need to have a GNU gettext version that
504 corresponds at least to the AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION declared
505 in configure.ac. You can upgrade to newer GNU gettext versions,
506 though, without needing to change configure.ac.
508 - The -I DIR or --include=DIR option now appends DIR to the include path
509 instead of prepending; this is for consistency with other GNU tools.
510 The new -B DIR or --prepend-include=DIR option has the old behavior.
515 Now handles all the gory details about LIBOBJS and LTLIBOBJS.
516 Please, remove lines such as
518 # This is necessary so that .o files in LIBOBJS are also
519 # built via the ANSI2KNR-filtering rules.
520 LIBOBJS=`echo $LIBOBJS|sed 's/\.o /\$U.o /g;s/\.o$/\$U.o/'`
522 and read the `AC_LIBOBJ vs LIBOBJS' section. Do not define U in
523 your Makefiles either.
525 - AC_CONFIG_LINKS now makes copies if it can't make links.
527 - AC_FUNC_FNMATCH now tests only for POSIX compatibility, reverting to
528 Autoconf 2.13 behavior. The new macro AC_FUNC_FNMATCH_GNU also
529 tests for GNU extensions to fnmatch, and replaces fnmatch if needed.
531 - AC_FUNC_SETVBUF_REVERSED no longer fails when cross-compiling.
533 - AC_PROG_CC_STDC is integrated into AC_PROG_CC.
535 - AC_PROG_F77 default search no longer includes cf77 and cfg77.
539 AC_C_BACKSLASH_A, AC_CONFIG_LIBOBJ_DIR, AC_GNU_SOURCE,
540 AC_PROG_EGREP, AC_PROG_FGREP, AC_REPLACE_FNMATCH,
541 AC_FUNC_FNMATCH_GNU, AC_FUNC_REALLOC, AC_TYPE_MBSTATE_T.
544 looks for getloadavg.c in the CONFIG_LIBOBJ_DIR.
547 Now defines HAVE_MALLOC to 0 if `malloc' does not work, and asks
548 for an AC_LIBOBJ replacement.
552 - Spurious complaints from `m4_bmatch' about invalid regular
553 expressions are suppressed.
555 - Empty top_builddirs are properly handled.
557 - AC_CHECK_MEMBER works correctly when the member is an aggregate.
560 Now colon in the optional path arguments are properly handled.
562 ** Improved portability
564 - Both Autoconf the package, and the scripts it produces, should run
565 more reliably with Zsh. Bear in mind it is the default Bourne shell
568 - Autoconf and the scripts it produces no longer assume the existence of
569 the obsolescent commands egrep and fgrep.
573 - Limitations of Make
577 The GNATS base moved to
578 http://bugs.gnu.org/cgi-bin/gnatsweb.pl?database=autoconf
579 (It is no longer available, though.)
584 Now contains the list of ouput variables and files (AC_SUBST,
587 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.53
589 Released 2002-03-08 by Akim Demaille.
593 Perl 5.005_03 or later is required: autom4te is written in Perl and is
594 needed by autoconf. autoheader, autoreconf, ifnames, and autoscan are
600 Argument requirements, output variables, defined macros.
601 - M4sugar, M4sh, Autotest
603 - Double quoting macros
604 AC_TRY_CPP, AC_TRY_COMPILE, AC_TRY_LINK and AC_TRY_RUN.
606 The Autoconf manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
607 - Section `Hosts and Cross-Compilation'
608 Explains the rationale for the 2.5x changes in the cross-compilation
609 chain, and in the relationships between build, host, and target
611 Emphasizes that `cross-compilation' == `--host is given'.
612 If you are working on compilers etc., be sure to read this section.
613 - Section `AC_LIBOBJ vs. LIBOBJS'
614 Explains why assigning LIBOBJS directly is now an error.
615 Details how to update the code.
620 Now used instead of hard coded line numbers.
621 This eases the comparison of `configure's, and diminishes the
622 pressure over control version archives.
623 Automatic replacement for shells that don't support this feature.
624 - New output variables
625 @builddir@, @top_builddir@, @abs_srcdir@, @abs_top_srcdir@, @abs_builddir@,
630 Autoconf and Autotest modes are provided.
635 New, used by the Autoconf suite to cache and speed up most processing.
637 Supported by autom4te, autoconf and autoheader.
639 Replaces --autoconf-dir and --localdir in autoconf, autoheader,
640 autoupdate, and autoreconf.
642 No longer passes --cygnus, --foreign, --gnits, --gnu, --include-deps:
643 automake options are to be given via AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS.
645 Runs gettextize and libtoolize when appropriate.
647 --m4dir is no longer supported.
649 Now runs only in the specified directories, defaulting to `.',
650 but understands AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS for dependent directories.
651 Before, it used to run on all the `configure.ac' found in the
653 Independent packages are properly updated.
657 - The top level $prefix is propagated to the AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS configures.
659 Under the user pressure, $? is finally available. Probably a mistake.
660 - AC_F77_LIBRARY_LDFLAGS now supports the HP/UX f90 compiler.
661 - Precious variables accumulation
662 config.status could stack several copies of the precious variables
664 - AC_PATH_PROG and family.
665 Works properly when given a literal path.
667 Somewhere since 2.13, the result had been reversed.
671 - AC_C_BIGENDIAN supports the cross-compiling case.
672 - AC_C_BIGENDIAN accepts ACTION-IF-TRUE, ACTION-IF-FALSE, and
673 ACTION-IF-UNKNOWN arguments. All are facultative, and the default
674 for ACTION-IF-TRUE is to define WORDS_BIGENDIAN like AC_C_BIGENDIAN
676 - AC_C_LONG_DOUBLE now succeeds only if `long double' has more range or
677 precision than `double'.
682 It now defines the preprocessor symbols PACKAGE_NAME,
683 PACKAGE_TARNAME, PACKAGE_VERSION, PACKAGE_STRING, and
687 Admits a fourth optional parameter: the tar name.
689 - AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS, HEADERS, FILES, LINKS.
690 Provide the user with srcdir, ac_srcdir, ac_top_srcdir, ac_builddir,
691 ac_top_builddir, ac_abs_srcdir, ac_abs_top_srcdir, ac_abs_builddir,
694 - AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS, HEADERS, FILES, LINKS and AC_OUTPUT.
695 Are much less expensive when using long lists of files.
698 Works with shell variables, and non alphanumeric names.
702 - AC_FUNC_STRERROR_R now sets STRERROR_R_CHAR_P, not HAVE_WORKING_STRERROR_R,
703 because POSIX 1003.1-200x draft 7 says strerror_r returns int, not char *.
705 - AC_FUNC_STRTOD substitutes POW_LIB.
710 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.52
712 Released 2001-07-18 by Akim Demaille.
717 This feature was present in autoconf 2.50 but was not documented.
718 For example, `@<:@' is translated to `[' just before output. This
719 is useful when writing strings that contain unbalanced quotes, or
720 other hard-to-quote constructs.
721 - m4_pattern_forbid, m4_pattern_allow
722 - Tips for upgrading from 2.13.
723 - Using autoscan to maintain a configure.ac.
726 - Now include stdint.h.
727 - sys/types.h and sys/stat.h are guarded.
728 - strings.h is included if available, and not conflicting with string.h.
731 - The test suite is more robust and presents less false failures.
732 - Invocation of GNU M4 now robust to POSIXLY_CORRECT.
733 - configure accepts --prefix='' again.
734 - AC_CHECK_LIB works properly when its first argument is not a
736 - HAVE_INTTYPES_H is defined only if not conflicting with sys/types.h.
737 - build_, host_, and target_alias are AC_SUBST as in 2.13.
738 - AC_ARG_VAR properly propagates precious variables inherited from the
739 environment to ./config.status.
740 - Using --program-suffix/--program-prefix is portable.
741 - Failures to detect the default compiler's output extension are less
743 - `config.status foo' works properly when `foo' depends on variables
744 set in an AC_CONFIG_THING INIT-CMD.
745 - autoheader is more robust to broken input.
746 - Fixed Fortran name-mangling and link tests on a number of systems,
747 e.g. NetBSD; see AC_F77_DUMMY_MAIN, below.
750 - AC_CHECK_HEADER and AC_CHECK_HEADERS support a fourth argument to
751 specify pre-includes. In this case, the headers are compiled with
752 cc, not merely preprocessed by cpp. Therefore it is the _usability_
753 of a header which is checked for, not just its availability.
754 - AC_ARG_VAR refuses to run configure when precious variables have
756 - Versions of compilers are dumped in the logs.
757 - AC_CHECK_TYPE recognizes use of `foo_t' as a replacement type.
760 - AC_PATH_XTRA only adds -ldnet to $LIBS if it's needed to link.
761 - AC_FUNC_WAIT3 and AC_SYS_RESTARTABLE_SYSCALLS are obsoleted.
762 - AM_FUNC_ERROR_AT_LINE, AM_FUNC_FNMATCH, AM_FUNC_MKTIME,
763 AM_FUNC_OBSTACK, and AM_FUNC_STRTOD are now activated.
764 Be sure to read `Upgrading from Version 2.13' to understand why
765 running `autoupdate' is needed.
766 - AC_F77_DUMMY_MAIN, AC_F77_MAIN: new macros to detect whether
767 a main-like routine is required/possible when linking C/C++ with
768 Fortran. Users of e.g. AC_F77_WRAPPERS should be aware of these.
769 - AC_FUNC_GETPGRG behaves better when cross-compiling.
771 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.51
772 There was no release of Autoconf 2.51 since some packagers had used
773 this version number without permission to ship intermediary versions
774 of 2.50. The version was skipped to avoid confusion.
776 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.50
778 Released 2001-05-21 by Akim Demaille.
781 There have been far too many to enumerate them here. Check out
782 ChangeLog if you really want to know more.
784 ** Improved documentation
785 In particular, portability issues are better covered.
788 All the standard GNU Makefile targets are supported. The layout has
789 changed: m4/ holds the M4 extensions Autoconf needs for its
790 configuration, doc/ contains the documentation, and tests/ contains
793 ** Man pages are provided
794 For autoconf, autoreconf, autoupdate, autoheader, autoscan, ifnames,
795 config.guess, config.sub.
799 Provides a safe and powerful means to trace the macro uses. This
800 provide the parsing layer for tools which need to `study'
804 Specify what category of warnings should be enabled.
806 - When recursing into subdirectories, try for configure.gnu before
807 configure to adapt for packages not using autoconf on case-insensitive
811 More errors are now caught (circular AC_REQUIRE dependencies,
812 AC_DEFINE in the action part of an AC_CACHE_CHECK, too many pops
813 etc.). In addition, their location and call stack are given.
816 autoupdate is much more powerful, and is able to provide the glue code
817 which might be needed to move from an old macro to its newer
820 You are strongly encouraged to use it to modernize both your
821 `configure.in' and your .m4 extension files.
824 The internal machinery of autoheader has completely changed. As a
825 result, using `acconfig.h' should be considered to be obsoleted, and
826 you are encouraged to get rid of it using the AH macros.
831 ** Fortran 77 compilers
832 Globally, the support for Fortran 77 is considerably improved.
834 Support for automatically determining a Fortran 77 compiler's
835 name-mangling scheme. New CPP macros F77_FUNC and F77_FUNC_ are
836 provided to wrap C/C++ identifiers, thus making it easier and more
837 transparent for C/C++ to call Fortran 77 routines, and Fortran 77 to
838 call C/C++ routines. See the Texinfo documentation for details.
841 The test suite no longer uses DejaGNU. It should be easy to submit
842 test cases in this new framework.
845 - --help, --help=long, -hl
846 no longer dumps useless items.
848 lists only specific options.
849 - --help=recursive, -hr
850 displays the help of all the embedded packages.
851 - Remembers environment variables when reconfiguring.
852 The previous scheme to set envvar before running configure was
854 what prevented configure from remembering the environment in which
855 it was run, therefore --recheck was run in an inconsistent
856 environment. Now, one should run
858 and then --recheck will work properly. Variables declared with
859 AC_ARG_VAR are also preserved.
861 $build defaults to `config.guess`, $host to $build, and then $target
863 Cross-compilation is a global status of the package, it no longer
864 depends upon the current language.
865 Cross compilation is enabled iff the user specified `--host'.
866 `configure' now fails if it can't run the executables it compiles,
867 unless cross-compilation is enabled.
869 The cache file is disabled by default. The new options
870 `--config-cache', `-C' set the cache to `config.cache'.
874 Much faster on most architectures.
875 - concurrent executions
876 It is safe to use `make -j' with config.status.
877 - human interface improved
878 It is possible to invoke
879 ./config.status foobar
880 instead of the former form (still valid)
881 CONFIG_COMMANDS= CONFIG_HEADERS= CONFIG_LINKS= \
882 CONFIG_FILES=foobar:foo.in:bar.in \
884 The same holds for configuration headers and links.
885 You can instantiate unknown files and headers:
886 ./config.status --header foo.h:foo.h.in --file bar:baz
887 - has a useful --help
888 - accepts special file name "-" for stdin/stdout
893 Specify additional copyright information.
896 Now expects the identity of the package as argument.
900 Most macros, if not all, now strictly follow the `one quotation
901 level' rule. This results in a more predictable expansion.
904 A sly bug in the AC_REQUIRE machinery, which could produce incorrect
905 configure scripts, was fixed by Axel Thimm.
909 Document and ask for the registration of an envvar.
912 Specifies the file which `configure' should look for when trying to
913 find the source tree (used to be handled by AC_INIT).
916 To add new actions to config.status. Should be used instead of
920 Replaces AC_LINK_FILES.
922 - AC_CONFIG_HEADERS, AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS, AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS,
923 AC_CONFIG_LINKS, and AC_CONFIG_FILES
924 They now obey sh: you should no longer use shell variables as
927 test "$package_foo_enabled" = yes && $my_subdirs="$my_subdirs foo"
928 AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS($my_subdirs)
932 if test "$package_foo_enabled" = yes; then
933 AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS(foo)
937 To format an Autoconf macro's help string so that it looks pretty
938 when the user executes `configure --help'.
941 ** Generic Test Macros
943 The interface of the AC_CHECK families of macros (decl, header,
944 type, member, func) is now uniform. They support the same set of
947 - AC_CHECK_DECL, AC_CHECK_DECLS
948 To check whether a symbol is declared.
950 - AC_CHECK_SIZEOF, AC_C_CHAR_UNSIGNED.
951 No longer need a cross-compilation default.
954 The test it performs is much more robust than previously, and makes
955 it possible to test builtin types in addition to typedefs.
956 It is now schizophrenic:
957 - AC_CHECK_TYPE(TYPE, REPLACEMENT)
958 remains for backward compatibility, but its use is discouraged.
959 - AC_CHECK_TYPE(TYPE, IF-FOUND, IF-NOT-FOUND, INCLUDES)
960 behaves exactly like the other AC_CHECK macros.
963 Checks whether given types are supported by the system.
965 - AC_CHECK_MEMBER, AC_CHECK_MEMBERS
966 Check for given members in aggregates (e.g., pw_gecos in struct
970 Checks if the compiler supports ISO C, included when needs special
974 Checking whether the preprocessor indicates missing includes by the
975 error code. stderr is checked by AC_TRY_CPP only as a fallback.
978 Takes a language as argument and replaces AC_LANG_C,
979 AC_LANG_CPLUSPLUS and AC_LANG_FORTRAN77.
981 - AC_LANG_PUSH, AC_LANG_POP
982 Are preferred to AC_LANG_SAVE, AC_LANG_RESTORE.
985 - AC_FUNC_CHOWN, AC_FUNC_MALLOC, AC_FUNC_STRERROR_R,
986 AC_FUNC_LSTAT_FOLLOWS_SLASHED_SYMLINK, AC_FUNC_STAT, AC_FUNC_LSTAT,
987 AC_FUNC_ERROR_AT_LINE, AC_FUNC_OBSTACK, AC_FUNC_STRTOD, AC_FUNC_FSEEKO.
994 Defines `HAVE_STRUCT_NLIST_N_UN_N_NAME' instead of `NLIST_NAME_UNION'.
997 Now integrates `AC_DECL_YYTEXT' which is obsoleted.
1000 Arrange for large-file support.
1002 - AC_EXEEXT, AC_OBJEXT
1003 You are no longer expected to use them: their computation is
1004 performed by default.
1006 ** C++ compatibility
1007 Every macro has been revisited in order to support at best CC=c++.
1009 Major changes in Autoconf 2.14:
1010 There was no release of GNU Autoconf 2.14.
1012 Major changes in Autoconf 2.13:
1014 Released 1999-05-01 by Ben Elliston.
1016 * Support for building on Win32 systems where the only available C or
1017 C++ compiler is the Microsoft Visual C++ command line compiler
1018 (`cl'). Additional support for building on Win32 systems which are
1019 using the Cygwin or Mingw32 environments.
1020 * Support for alternative object file and executable file extensions.
1021 On Win32, for example, these are .obj and .exe. These are discovered
1022 using AC_OBJEXT and AC_EXEEXT, which substitute @OBJEXT@ and
1023 @EXEEXT@ in the output, respectively.
1024 * New macros: AC_CACHE_LOAD, AC_CACHE_SAVE, AC_FUNC_SELECT_ARGTYPES,
1025 AC_VALIDATE_CACHED_SYSTEM_TUPLE, AC_SEARCH_LIBS, AC_TRY_LINK_FUNC,
1026 AC_C_STRINGIZE, AC_CHECK_FILE(S), AC_PROG_F77 (and friends).
1027 * AC_DEFINE now has an optional third argument for a description to be
1028 placed in the config header input file (e.g. config.h.in).
1029 * The C++ code fragment compiled for the C++ compiler test had to be
1030 improved to include an explicit return type for main(). This was
1031 causing failures on systems using recent versions of the EGCS C++
1033 * Fixed an important bug in AC_CHECK_TYPE that would cause a configure
1034 script to report that `sometype_t' was present when only `type_t'
1036 * Merge of the FSF version of config.guess and config.sub to modernize
1037 these scripts. Add support for a few new hosts in config.guess.
1038 Incorporate latest versions of install-sh, mkinstalldirs and
1039 texinfo.tex from the FSF.
1040 * autoreconf is capable of running automake if necessary (and
1042 * Support for Fortran 77. See the Texinfo documentation for details.
1043 * Bug fixes and workarounds for quirky bugs in vendor utilities.
1045 Major changes in Autoconf 2.12:
1047 Released 1996-11-26 by David J. MacKenzie
1049 * AC_OUTPUT and AC_CONFIG_HEADER can create output files by
1050 concatenating multiple input files separated by colons, like so:
1051 AC_CONFIG_HEADER(config.h:conf.pre:config.h.in:conf.post)
1052 AC_OUTPUT(Makefile:Makefile.in:Makefile.rules)
1053 The arguments may be shell variables, to compute the lists on the fly.
1054 * AC_LINK_FILES and AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS may be called multiple times.
1055 * New macro AC_OUTPUT_COMMANDS adds more commands to run in config.status.
1058 Major changes in Autoconf 2.11:
1060 Released November 18th, 1996, by David J. MacKenzie
1062 * AC_PROG_CC and AC_PROG_CXX check whether the compiler works.
1063 They also default CFLAGS/CXXFLAGS to "-g -O2" for gcc, instead of "-g -O".
1064 * AC_REPLACE_FUNCS defines HAVE_foo if the system has the function `foo'.
1065 * AC_CONFIG_HEADER expands shell variables in its argument.
1066 * New macros: AC_FUNC_FNMATCH, AC_FUNC_SETPGRP.
1067 * The "checking..." messages and the source code for test programs that
1068 fail are saved in config.log.
1069 * Another workaround has been added for seds with small command length limits.
1070 * config.sub and config.guess recognize more system types.
1073 Major changes in Autoconf 2.10:
1075 Released May 7th, 1996, by Roland McGrath
1078 * The cache variable names used by `AC_CHECK_LIB(LIB, FUNC, ...)' has
1079 changed: now $ac_cv_lib_LIB_FUNC, previously $ac_cv_lib_LIB.
1081 Major changes in Autoconf 2.9:
1083 Released March 16th, 1996, by Roland McGrath
1087 Major changes in Autoconf 2.8:
1089 Released March 8th, 1996, by Roland McGrath
1093 Major changes in Autoconf 2.7:
1095 Released November 22nd, 1995, by David J. MacKenzie
1099 Major changes in Autoconf 2.6:
1101 Released November 20th, 1995, by David J. MacKenzie
1105 Major changes in Autoconf 2.5:
1107 Released November 17th, 1995, by Roland McGrath
1109 * New configure options --bindir, --libdir, --datadir, etc., with
1110 corresponding output variables.
1111 * New macro: AC_CACHE_CHECK, to make using the cache easier.
1112 * config.log contains the command being run as well as any output from it.
1113 * AC_CHECK_LIB can check for libraries with "." or "/" or "+" in their name.
1114 * AC_PROG_INSTALL doesn't cache a name for install-sh, for sharing caches.
1115 * AC_CHECK_PROG, AC_PATH_PROG, AC_CHECK_PROGS, AC_PATH_PROGS, and
1116 AC_CHECK_TOOL can search a path other than $PATH.
1117 * AC_CHECK_SIZEOF takes an optional size to use when cross-compiling.
1119 Major changes in Autoconf 2.4:
1121 Released June 14th, 1995, by David J. MacKenzie
1123 * Fix a few bugs found by Emacs testers.
1125 Major changes in Autoconf 2.3:
1127 Released March 27th, 1995, by David J. MacKenzie
1129 * Fix the cleanup trap in several ways.
1130 * Handle C compilers that are picky about option placement.
1131 * ifnames gets the version number from the right directory.
1133 Major changes in Autoconf 2.2:
1135 Released March 8th, 1995, by David J. MacKenzie
1137 * The ifnames utility is much faster but requires a "new awk" interpreter.
1138 * AC_CHECK_LIB and AC_HAVE_LIBRARY check and add the new
1139 library before existing libs, not after, in case it uses them.
1140 * New macros: AC_FUNC_GETPGRP, AC_CHECK_TOOL.
1141 * Lots of bug fixes.
1142 * Many additions to the TODO file :-)
1144 Major changes in Autoconf 2.1:
1146 Released November 4th, 1994, by David J. MacKenzie
1149 * More explanations in the manual.
1150 * Fix a spurious failure in the testsuite.
1151 * Clarify some warning messages.
1152 * autoreconf by default only rebuilds configure and config.h.in files
1153 that are older than any of their particular input files; there is a
1154 --force option to use after installing a new version of Autoconf.
1156 Thanks to everybody who's submitted changes and additions to Autoconf!
1157 I've incorporated many of them, and am still considering others for
1158 future releases -- but I didn't want to postpone this release indefinitely.
1160 Caution: don't indiscriminately rebuild configure scripts with
1161 Autoconf version 2. Some configure.in files need minor adjustments to
1162 work with it; the documentation has a chapter on upgrading. A few
1163 configure.in files, including those for GNU Emacs and the GNU C
1164 Library, need major changes because they relied on undocumented
1165 internals of version 1. Future releases of those packages will have
1166 updated configure.in files.
1168 It's best to use GNU M4 1.3 (or later) with Autoconf version 2.
1169 Autoconf now makes heavy use of M4 diversions, which were implemented
1170 inefficiently in GNU M4 releases before 1.3.
1172 Major changes in Autoconf 2.0:
1174 Released October 26th, 1994, by David J. MacKenzie
1176 ** New copyright terms:
1177 * There are no restrictions on distribution or use of configure scripts.
1180 * Autoconf manual is reorganized to make information easier to find
1181 and has several new indexes.
1182 * INSTALL is reorganized and clearer and is now made from Texinfo source.
1185 * autoscan to generate a preliminary configure.in for a package by
1186 scanning its source code for commonly used nonportable functions,
1187 programs, and header files.
1188 * ifnames to list the symbols used in #if and #ifdef directives in a
1190 * autoupdate to update a configure.in to use the version 2 macro names.
1191 * autoreconf to recursively remake configure and configuration header
1192 files in a source tree.
1194 ** Changed utilities:
1195 * autoheader can take pieces of acconfig.h to replace config.h.{top,bot}.
1196 * autoconf and autoheader can look for package-local definition files
1197 in an alternate directory.
1200 * AC_CACHE_VAL to share results of tests between configure runs.
1201 * AC_DEFUN to define macros, automatically AC_PROVIDE them, and ensure
1202 that macros invoked with AC_REQUIRE don't interrupt other macros.
1203 * AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR, AC_CANONICAL_SYSTEM, AC_CANONICAL_HOST, AC_LINK_FILES to
1204 support deciding unguessable features based on the host and target types.
1205 * AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS to recursively configure a source tree.
1206 * AC_ARG_PROGRAM to use the options --program-prefix,
1207 --program-suffix, and --program-transform-name to change the names
1208 of programs being installed.
1209 * AC_PREFIX_DEFAULT to change the default installation prefix.
1210 * AC_TRY_COMPILE to compile a test program without linking it.
1211 * AC_CHECK_TYPE to check whether sys/types.h or stdlib.h defines a given type.
1212 * AC_CHECK_LIB to check for a particular function and library.
1213 * AC_MSG_CHECKING and AC_MSG_RESULT to print test results, on a single line,
1214 whether or not the test succeeds. They obsolete AC_CHECKING and AC_VERBOSE.
1215 * AC_SUBST_FILE to insert one file into another.
1216 * AC_FUNC_MEMCMP to check whether memcmp is 8-bit clean.
1217 * AC_FUNC_STRFTIME to find strftime even if it's in -lintl.
1218 * AC_FUNC_GETMNTENT to find getmntent even if it's in -lsun or -lseq.
1219 * AC_HEADER_SYS_WAIT to check whether sys/wait.h is POSIX.1 compatible.
1222 * Many macros renamed systematically, but old names are accepted for
1223 backward compatibility.
1224 * AC_OUTPUT adds the "automatically generated" comment to
1225 non-Makefiles where it finds @configure_input@ in an input file, to
1226 support files with various comment syntaxes.
1227 * AC_OUTPUT does not replace "prefix" and "exec_prefix" in generated
1228 files when they are not enclosed in @ signs.
1229 * AC_OUTPUT allows the optional environment variable CONFIG_STATUS to
1230 override the file name "config.status".
1231 * AC_OUTPUT takes an optional argument for passing variables from
1232 configure to config.status.
1233 * AC_OUTPUT and AC_CONFIG_HEADER allow you to override the input-file names.
1234 * AC_OUTPUT automatically substitutes the values of CFLAGS, CXXFLAGS,
1235 CPPFLAGS, and LDFLAGS from the environment.
1236 * AC_PROG_CC and AC_PROG_CXX now set CFLAGS and CXXFLAGS, respectively.
1237 * AC_PROG_INSTALL looks for install-sh or install.sh in the directory
1238 specified by AC_CONFIG_AUXDIR, or srcdir or srcdir/.. or
1239 srcdir/../.. by default.
1240 * AC_DEFINE, AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED, and AC_SUBST are more robust and smaller.
1241 * AC_DEFINE no longer prints anything, because of the new result reporting
1242 mechanism (AC_MSG_CHECKING and AC_MSG_RESULT).
1243 * AC_VERBOSE pays attention to --quiet/--silent, not --verbose.
1244 * AC_ARG_ENABLE and AC_ARG_WITH support whitespace in the arguments to
1245 --enable- and --with- options.
1246 * AC_CHECK_FUNCS and AC_CHECK_HEADERS take optional shell commands to
1247 execute on success or failure.
1248 * Checking for C functions in C++ works.
1251 * AC_REMOTE_TAPE and AC_RSH removed; too specific to tar and cpio, and
1252 better maintained with them.
1253 * AC_ARG_ARRAY removed because no one was likely using it.
1254 * AC_HAVE_POUNDBANG replaced with AC_SYS_INTERPRETER, which doesn't
1255 take arguments, for consistency with all of the other specific checks.
1258 * Comes with config.sub and config.guess, and uses them optionally.
1259 * Uses config.cache to cache test results. An alternate cache file
1260 can be selected with the --cache-file=FILE option.
1261 * Uses optional shell scripts $prefix/share/config.site and
1262 $prefix/etc/config.site to perform site or system specific initializations.
1263 * configure saves compiler output to ./config.log for debugging.
1264 * New files autoconf.m4 and autoheader.m4 load the other Autoconf macros.
1265 * acsite.m4 is the new name for the system-wide aclocal.m4.
1266 * Has a DejaGnu test suite.
1268 Major changes in Autoconf 1.11:
1270 * AC_PROG_INSTALL calls install.sh with the -c option.
1271 * AC_SET_MAKE cleans up after itself.
1272 * AC_OUTPUT sets prefix and exec_prefix if they weren't set already.
1273 * AC_OUTPUT prevents shells from looking in PATH for config.status.
1275 Plus a few other bug fixes.
1277 Major changes in Autoconf 1.10:
1279 * autoheader uses config.h.bot if present, analogous to config.h.top.
1280 * AC_PROG_INSTALL looks for install.sh in srcdir or srcdir/.. and
1282 * AC_PROG_CXX looks for cxx as a C++ compiler.
1284 Plus several bugs fixed.
1286 Major changes in Autoconf 1.9:
1288 * AC_YYTEXT_POINTER replaces AC_DECLARE_YYTEXT.
1289 * AC_SIZEOF_TYPE generates the cpp symbol name automatically,
1290 and autoheader generates entries for those names automatically.
1291 * AC_FIND_X gets the result from xmkmf correctly.
1292 * AC_FIND_X assumes no X if --without-x was given.
1293 * AC_FIND_XTRA adds libraries to the variable X_EXTRA_LIBS.
1294 * AC_PROG_INSTALL finds OSF/1 installbsd.
1296 Major changes in Autoconf 1.8:
1299 * New macros AC_LANG_C, AC_LANG_CPLUSPLUS, AC_LANG_SAVE, AC_LANG_RESTORE,
1300 AC_PROG_CXX, AC_PROG_CXXCPP, AC_REQUIRE_CPP
1301 for checking both C++ and C features in one configure script.
1302 * New macros AC_CHECKING, AC_VERBOSE, AC_WARN, AC_ERROR for printing messages.
1303 * New macros AC_FIND_XTRA, AC_MMAP, AC_SIZEOF_TYPE, AC_PREREQ,
1304 AC_SET_MAKE, AC_ENABLE.
1307 * AC_FIND_X looks for X in more places.
1308 * AC_PROG_INSTALL defaults to install.sh instead of cp, if it's in srcdir.
1309 install.sh is distributed with Autoconf.
1310 * AC_DECLARE_YYTEXT has been removed because it can't work, pending
1311 a rewrite of quoting in AC_DEFINE.
1312 * AC_OUTPUT adds its comments in C format when substituting in C files.
1313 * AC_COMPILE_CHECK protects its ECHO-TEXT argument with double quotes.
1315 ** New or changed command line options:
1316 * configure accepts --enable-FEATURE[=ARG] and --disable-FEATURE options.
1317 * configure accepts --without-PACKAGE, which sets withval=no.
1318 * configure accepts --x-includes=DIR and --x-libraries=DIR.
1319 * Giving --with-PACKAGE no argument sets withval=yes instead of withval=1.
1320 * configure accepts --help, --version, --silent/--quiet, --no-create options.
1321 * configure accepts and ignores most other Cygnus configure options, and
1322 warns about unknown options.
1323 * config.status accepts --help, --version options.
1325 ** File names and other changes:
1326 * Relative srcdir values are not made absolute.
1327 * The values of @prefix@ and @exec_prefix@ and @top_srcdir@ get substituted.
1328 * Autoconf library files are installed in ${datadir}/autoconf, not ${datadir}.
1329 * autoheader optionally copies config.h.top to the beginning of config.h.in.
1330 * The example Makefile dependencies for configure et al. work better.
1331 * Namespace cleanup: all shell variables used internally by Autoconf
1332 have names beginning with `ac_'.
1334 More big improvements are in process for future releases, but have not
1335 yet been (variously) finished, integrated, tested, or documented enough
1338 Major changes in Autoconf 1.7:
1340 * New macro AC_OBSOLETE.
1341 * Bugs in Makefile.in fixed.
1342 * AC_LONG_FILE_NAMES improved.
1344 Major changes in Autoconf 1.6:
1346 * New macro AC_LONG_64_BITS.
1347 * Multiple .h files can be created.
1348 * AC_FIND_X looks for X files directly if it doesn't find xmkmf.
1349 * AC_ALLOCA defines C_ALLOCA if using alloca.c.
1350 * --with-NAME can take a value, e.g., --with-targets=sun4,hp300bsd.
1351 * Unused --no-create option to configure removed.
1352 * autoheader doesn't change the timestamp of its output file if
1353 the file didn't change.
1354 * All macros that look for libraries now use AC_HAVE_LIBRARY.
1355 * config.status checks three optional environment variables to
1356 modify its behavior.
1357 * The usual bug fixes.
1359 Major changes in Autoconf 1.5:
1361 * New macros AC_FIND_X, AC_OFF_T, AC_STAT_MACROS_BROKEN, AC_REVISION.
1362 * autoconf and autoheader scripts have GNU standards conforming
1363 --version and --help options (they print their message and exit).
1366 Major changes in Autoconf 1.4:
1368 * New macros AC_HAVE_POUNDBANG, AC_TIME_WITH_SYS_TIME, AC_LONG_DOUBLE,
1369 AC_GETGROUPS_T, AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED.
1370 * autoconf and autoheader use the M4 environment variable to determine the
1371 name of the M4 program to use.
1372 * The --macrodir option to autoconf and autoheader specifies the directory
1373 in which acspecific.m4, acgeneral.m4, etc. reside if not the default.
1374 * autoconf and autoheader can take `-' as their file names, which means to
1375 read stdin as input.
1376 * Resulting configure scripts can take a --verbose option which causes them
1377 to print the results of their tests.
1378 * AC_DEFINE quotes its second argument in such a way that spaces, magic
1379 shell characters, etc. will be preserved during various stages of
1380 expansion done by the shell. If you don't want this, use
1381 AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED instead.
1382 * Much textual processing done with external calls to tr and sed have been
1383 internalized with builtin M4 `patsubst' and `translit' calls.
1384 * AC_OUTPUT doesn't hardwire the file names it outputs. Instead, you can
1385 set the shell variables `gen_files' and `gen_config' to the list of
1386 file names to output.
1387 * AC_DECLARE_YYTEXT does an AC_SUBST of `LEX_OUTPUT_ROOT', which may be
1388 "lex.yy" or "lexyy", depending on the system.
1389 * AC_PROGRAMS_CHECK takes an optional third arg. If given, it is used as
1391 * If AC_ALLOCA chooses alloca.c, it also defines STACK_DIRECTION.
1392 * AC_CONST works much more reliably on more systems.
1395 Major changes in Autoconf 1.3:
1397 configure no longer requires awk for packages that use a config.h.
1398 Support handling --with-PACKAGE options.
1399 New `autoheader' script to create `config.h.in' from `configure.in'.
1400 Ignore troublesome -lucb and -lPW when searching for alloca.
1401 Rename --exec_prefix to --exec-prefix for GNU standards conformance.
1402 Improve detection of STDC library.
1403 Add AC_HAVE_LIBRARY to check for non-default libraries.
1404 Function checking should work with future GNU libc releases.
1406 Major changes in Autoconf 1.2:
1408 The --srcdir option is now usually unnecessary.
1409 Add a file containing sample comments describing CPP macros.
1410 A comment in config.status tells which host it was configured on.
1411 Substituted variable values can now contain commas.
1412 Fix bugs in various feature checks.
1414 Major changes in Autoconf 1.1:
1416 Added AC_STRCOLL macro.
1417 Made AC_GETLOADAVG check for more things.
1418 AC_OUTPUT argument is now optional.
1423 Copyright (C) 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002,
1424 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1426 This file is part of GNU Autoconf.
1428 GNU Autoconf is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
1429 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
1430 the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
1433 GNU Autoconf is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
1434 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
1435 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
1436 GNU General Public License for more details.
1438 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
1439 along with GNU Autoconf; see the file COPYING. If not, write to
1440 the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor,
1441 Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.