1 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.61b (????-??-??)
3 ** AC_C_BIGENDIAN now supports universal binaries a la Mac OS X.
5 ** Autoconf now requires GNU M4 1.4.5 or later. Earlier versions of M4 have
6 a bug in macro tracing that interferes with the interaction between
7 Autoconf and Automake. GNU M4 1.4.8 or later is recommended.
9 ** Warnings are now generated by default when an installer invokes
10 'configure' with an unknown --enable-* or --with-* option.
11 These warnings can be disabled with the new AC_DISABLE_OPTION_CHECKING
12 macro, or by invoking 'configure' with --disable-option-checking.
14 ** For portability with the eventual M4 2.0, macros should no longer use
15 anything larger than $9 to refer to arguments.
17 ** AC_C_LONG_DOUBLE is obsolescent.
18 The documentation now says that AC_C_LONG_DOUBLE is obsolescent: it
19 tests for problems that are so old that it is no longer of practical
20 importance on current systems. New programs need not use
21 AC_C_LONG_DOUBLE. We have no current plans to remove it.
24 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.61a (2006-12-11)
26 ** AC_FUNC_FSEEKO was broken in 2.61; it didn't make fseeko and ftello visible
27 on many platforms. This has been fixed.
29 ** AC_FUNC_SETVBUF_REVERSED is now obsolete. It is still defined for backward
30 compatibility but it does nothing. The macro was already
31 obsolescent, as the last systems to have the problem were those
32 based on SVR2, which became obsolete in 1987. The macro had bugs
33 on some modern systems and could no longer be maintained reliably
34 due to lack of ancient systems to test it on.
36 ** config.status now uses awk instead of sed for most substitutions, for speed.
38 - As a side effect multi-line values of substituted variables no
39 longer have a small limit in total size, though for portability
40 each line should not exceed the POSIX length limit for text lines.
42 - It is now documented that Makefile.in should not contain
43 overlapping variable occurrences, e.g., @VAR1@VAR2@.
44 Autoconf's behavior was always iffy in such cases, and the
45 awk implementation has changed the behavior.
47 ** Many uses of 'echo' have been rewritten so that Autoconf-generated
48 scripts have fewer problems with strings or file names containing
49 embedded special characters such as backslash or leading "-". This
50 was implemented by using `printf '%s\n' "$foo"' instead of `echo
51 "$foo"' when printf works. Due to the implementation technique
52 used, Autoconf-generated scripts now run considerably more slowly
53 on ancient implementations lacking printf. However, this should
54 not be a problem, since Autoconf-generated scripts in practice
55 invariably find a more-modern shell these days.
57 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.61 (2006-11-17)
59 ** New macros AC_C_FLEXIBLE_ARRAY_MEMBER, AC_C_VARARRAYS.
61 ** AC_ARG_ENABLE and AC_ARG_WITH now allow '.' in feature and package names.
63 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.60b (2006-10-22)
66 Autoconf-generated shell scripts no longer export BIN_SH, due to
67 configuration hassles with this. Installers who need BIN_SH in
68 their environment should set it before invoking 'configure' and
69 'make'. As far as we know, this affects only Unixware installations.
72 The documentation now says that the following macros are obsolescent,
73 as they are superseded by Gnulib:
75 AC_FUNC_FNMATCH AC_FUNC_FNMATCH_GNU AC_FUNC_GETLOADVG AC_REPLACE_FNMATCH
77 New programs should use the Gnulib counterparts of these macros.
78 We have no current plans to remove them from Autoconf.
80 ** AC_COMPUTE_INT no longer caches or reports results.
82 ** AC_CHECK_DECL now also works with aggregate objects.
84 ** AC_USE_SYSTEM_EXTENSIONS now defines _TANDEM_SOURCE for NonStop platforms.
86 ** GNU M4 1.4.7 or later is now recommended.
89 New M4sugar macro, which is more secure than the POSIX M4 maketemp.
92 Now an alias for m4_mkstemp.
94 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.60a (2006-08-25)
96 ** GNU M4 1.4.6 or later is now recommended.
98 ** The check for C99 now tests for varargs macros, as documented.
99 It also tests that the preprocessor supports 64-bit integers.
101 ** Autoconf now uses constructs like "#ifdef HAVE_STDLIB_H" rather than
102 "#if HAVE_STDLIB_H", so that it now works with "gcc -Wundef -Werror".
104 ** The functionality of the undocumented _AC_COMPUTE_INT is now provided
105 by a public and documented macro, AC_COMPUTE_INT. The parameters to the
106 two macros are different, so autoupdate will not change the old private name
107 to the new one. _AC_COMPUTE_INT may be removed in a future release.
109 ** AC_TYPE_LONG_LONG_INT and AC_TYPE_UNSIGNED_LONG_LONG_INT now require
110 that long long types be at least 64 bits wide, as C99 and tradition
111 requires. Formerly, they accepted implementations of any width.
114 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.60
116 Released 2006-06-23, by Ralf Wildenhues.
118 ** Autoconf no longer depends on whether m4wrap is FIFO (as Posix requires)
119 or LIFO (as in GNU M4 1.4.x). GNU M4 2.0 is expected to conform to Posix
120 here, so m4wrap/m4_wrap users should no longer depend on LIFO behavior.
122 ** Provide a way to turn off warnings about the changed directory variables.
124 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.59d
126 Released 2006-06-05, by Ralf Wildenhues.
128 ** GNU make now recommended for VPATH builds
129 INSTALL now suggests VPATH builds (e.g., "sh ../srcdir/configure")
130 only if you use GNU make. In practice, other 'make' implementations
131 have too many subtle incompatibilities in their support for VPATH.
132 Many packages (including Autoconf itself) are portable to other
133 'make' implementations, but some packages are not, and recommending
134 GNU make keeps the installation instructions simpler.
136 ** Even more safety checks for the new Directory variables:
137 Warn about suspicious `${datarootdir}' found in config files output.
139 ** AC_TRY_COMMAND, AC_TRY_EVAL, ac_config_guess, ac_config_sub, ac_configure
140 These never-documented macros and variables have been marked with
141 comments saying that they may be removed in a future release,
142 because their use can lead to unintended code being executed.
143 If you need functionality that only these macros or variables
144 currently supply, please write bug-autoconf@gnu.org.
146 ** AC_SUBST, AC_DEFINE
147 Literal arguments to these are passed to m4_pattern_allow now.
150 Passing 'ac_cv_prog_cc_stdc=no' to 'configure' now sets ac_cv_prog_cc_c99
151 and ac_cv_prog_cc_c89 to 'no' as well, for backward compatibility with
152 obsolete K&R tests in the Automake test suite.
161 Now more robust with special characters in file names, or when
162 multiple processes create the same directory at the same time.
164 ** Obsolescent macros
165 The documentation now says that the following macros are obsolescent:
166 they test for problems that are so old that they are no longer of
167 practical importance on current systems.
169 AC_C_BACKSLASH_A AC_FUNC_MEMCMP AC_HEADER_DIRENT
170 AC_C_CONST AC_FUNC_SELECT_ARGTYPES AC_HEADER_STAT
171 AC_C_PROTOTYPES AC_FUNC_SETPGRP AC_HEADER_STDC
172 AC_C_STRINGIZE AC_FUNC_SETVBUF_REVERSED AC_HEADER_SYS_WAIT
173 AC_C_VOLATILE AC_FUNC_STAT AC_HEADER_TIME
174 AC_FUNC_CLOSEDIR_VOID AC_FUNC_STRFTIME AC_ISC_POSIX
175 AC_FUNC_GETPGRP AC_FUNC_UTIME_NULL AC_PROG_GCC_TRADITIONAL
176 AC_FUNC_LSTAT AC_FUNC_VPRINTF AC_STRUCT_TM
178 New programs need not use these macros. We have no current plans to
182 For compatibility with future Libtool 2.0, autoreconf will invoke
183 libtoolize with the option `--ltdl' now, if LT_CONFIG_LTDL_DIR is
186 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.59c
188 Released 2006-04-12, by Ralf Wildenhues.
190 ** The configure command now redirects standard input from /dev/null,
191 to help avoid problems with subsidiary commands that might mistakenly
192 read standard input. AS_ORIGINAL_STDIN_FD points to the original
193 standard input before this redirection, if you really want configure to
194 read from standard input.
196 ** Directory variables adjusted to recent changes in the GNU Coding Standards.
197 The following directory variables are new:
199 datarootdir read-only architecture-independent data root [PREFIX/share]
200 localedir locale-specific message catalogs [DATAROOTDIR/locale]
201 docdir documentation root [DATAROOTDIR/doc/PACKAGE]
202 htmldir html documentation [DOCDIR]
203 dvidir dvi documentation [DOCDIR]
204 pdfdir pdf documentation [DOCDIR]
205 psdir ps documentation [DOCDIR]
207 The following variables have new default values:
209 datadir read-only architecture-independent data [DATAROOTDIR]
210 infodir info documentation [DATAROOTDIR/info]
211 mandir man documentation [DATAROOTDIR/man]
213 This means that if you use any of `@datadir@', `@infodir@', or
214 `@mandir@' in a file, you will have to ensure `${datarootdir}' is
215 defined in this file. As a temporary measure, if any of those are
216 found but no mention of `datarootdir', the substitutions will be
217 replaced with values that do not contain `${datarootdir}', and a
218 warning will be issued.
220 ** @top_builddir@ is now a dir name: it is always nonempty and doesn't have
221 a trailing slash. Similar change will be made to ac_top_builddir in a
222 future release; the old style value, which matches (../)*, is (and will
223 continue to be) available as ac_top_build_prefix.
226 New macro to check for support of 'typeof' syntax a la GNU C.
228 ** AC_CHECK_DECLS_ONCE, AC_CHECK_FUNCS_ONCE, AC_CHECK_HEADERS_ONCE
229 New "once-only" variants of commonly-used macros, to make 'configure'
230 smaller and faster in common cases.
233 New macro to check for strtold with C99 semantics.
236 New macro that lets builder disable assertions at 'configure'-time.
239 Now checks for X11/Xlib.h and XrmInitialize (X proper) rather than
240 X11/Intrinsic.h and XtMalloc (Xt).
242 ** AC_PRESERVE_HELP_ORDER
243 New macro that causes `configure' to display help strings for AC_ARG_ENABLE
244 and AC_ARG_WITH arguments in one region, in the order defined. The default
245 behavior is to group options of each classes separately.
247 ** AC_PROG_CC, AC_PROG_CXX
248 No longer automatically arrange to declare the 'exit' function of C,
249 when a C++ compiler is used. Standard Autoconf macros no longer use
250 'exit', so this is no longer an issue for them. If you use C++, and
251 want to call 'exit', you'll have to arrange for its declaration
252 yourself. But we now suggest you return from 'main' instead.
254 ** AC_PROG_CC_C89, AC_PROG_CC_C99
255 New macros for ISO C99 support. AC_PROG_CC_C89 and AC_PROG_CC_C99
256 check for ANSI C89 and ISO C99 support respectively.
259 Has been unobsoleted, and will check if the compiler supports ISO
260 C99, falling back to ANSI C89 if not. ac_cv_prog_cc_stdc is
261 retained for backwards compatibility, assuming the value of
262 ac_cv_prog_cc_c99 or ac_cv_prog_cc_c89 (whichever is valid, in
265 ** AC_STRUCT_DIRENT_D_INO, AC_STRUCT_DIRENT_D_TYPE
266 New macros for checking commonly-used members of struct dirent.
269 The substituted value can now contain newlines.
272 The substitution now occurs only when @variable@ is on a line by itself,
273 optionally surrounded by spaces and tabs. The whole line is replaced.
275 ** AC_TYPE_LONG_DOUBLE, AC_TYPE_LONG_DOUBLE_WIDER
276 New macros to check for long double, and whether it is wider than double.
277 The old macro AC_C_TYPE_LONG_DOUBLE has been marked as obsolete;
278 applications should switch to the new macro.
280 ** AC_TYPE_INT8_T, AC_TYPE_INT16_T, AC_TYPE_INT32_T, AC_TYPE_INT64_T,
281 AC_TYPE_INTMAX_T, AC_TYPE_INTPTR_T, AC_TYPE_LONG_LONG_INT, AC_TYPE_SSIZE_T,
282 AC_TYPE_UINT8_T, AC_TYPE_UINT16_T, AC_TYPE_UINT32_T, AC_TYPE_UINT64_T,
283 AC_TYPE_UINTMAX_T, AC_TYPE_UINTPTR_T, AC_TYPE_UNSIGNED_LONG_LONG_INT
284 New macros to check for C99 and POSIX types.
286 ** AC_USE_SYSTEM_EXTENSIONS
287 New macro to enable extensions to Posix.
290 New macro which is defined to the name of the first declared config header
291 or undefined if no config headers have been declared yet.
294 The macro correctly handles quadrigraphs now.
296 ** AS_BOURNE_COMPATIBLE, AS_SHELL_SANITIZE, AS_CASE
297 These macros are new or published now.
300 New macro for copyright notices in testsuite files.
302 ** ALLOCA, LIBOBJS, LTLIBOBJS
303 Object names added to these variables are now prefixed with `${LIBOBJDIR}',
304 as in `${LIBOBJDIR}alloca.o'. LIBOBJDIR is meant to be defined from
305 `Makefile.in' in case the object files lie in a different directory.
306 The LIBOBJDIR feature is experimental.
309 Supports --no-recursive now.
311 ** New macros to support Erlang/OTP.
312 New macros for configuring paths to Erlang tools and libraries:
313 AC_ERLANG_PATH_ERLC, AC_ERLANG_NEED_ERLC, AC_ERLANG_PATH_ERL,
314 AC_ERLANG_NEED_ERL, AC_ERLANG_CHECK_LIB, AC_ERLANG_SUBST_ROOT_DIR,
315 AC_ERLANG_SUBST_LIB_DIR.
317 New macros for configuring installation of Erlang libraries:
318 AC_ERLANG_SUBST_INSTALL_LIB_DIR, AC_ERLANG_SUBST_INSTALL_LIB_SUBDIR.
320 ** The manual now mentions Gnulib more prominently.
322 ** New macros to support Objective C.
323 AC_PROG_OBJC, AC_PROG_OBJCPP.
325 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.59b
327 Released 2004-08-20, by Paul Eggert.
330 New macro that computes the default alignment of a type.
332 ** AC_CHECK_TOOL, AC_PATH_TOOL, AC_CHECK_TOOLS
333 When cross-compiling, these macros will give a warning if the tool
334 is not prefixed. In the future, unprefixed cross tools will not
335 be detected; please consult the info documentation for information
336 about the reason of this change.
338 ** AC_CHECK_TARGET_TOOL, AC_PATH_TARGET_TOOL, AC_CHECK_TARGET_TOOLS
339 New macros that detect programs whose name is prefixed with the
340 target type, if the build type and target type are different.
342 ** AC_REQUIRE_AUX_FILE
343 New trace macro that declares expected auxiliary files.
346 New macro that tests for a grep program that accepts as a long a line
349 ** AC_PROG_EGREP, AC_PROG_FGREP
350 These macros now require AC_PROG_GREP, and try EGREP="$GREP -E" and
351 FGREP="$GREP -F" respectively if possible, or else run a path search for
352 a program that accepts as long a line as possible.
355 New macro that tests for a sed program that truncates as few characters
358 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.59
360 Released 2003-11-04, by Akim Demaille
362 ** ac_abs_builddir etc.
363 Absolute file names were actually relative in 2.58.
365 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.58
367 Released 2003-11-04, by Akim Demaille
370 core.* files are no longer removed, as they may be valid user files.
372 ** autoreconf and auxiliary directory
373 Autoreconf creates the auxiliary directory if needed. This is
374 especially useful for initial "bootstrapping" of fresh CVS checkouts.
376 ** AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR
377 Use this macro to declare the directory for local M4 macros for aclocal.
380 No longer includes twice the same file in LIBOBJS if invoked
383 ** AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS
384 The directory for its first argument is automatically created. For
387 AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS([src/modules.hh], [...])
389 $top_builddir/src/ is created if needed.
391 ** Autotest and local.at
392 The optional file local.at is always included in Autotest test suites.
395 The warnings are always issued, including with cached runs.
396 This became a significant problem since aclocal and automake can
397 run autoconf behind the scene.
399 ** autoheader warnings
400 The warnings of autoheader can be turned off, using --warning.
401 For instance, -Wno-obsolete disables the complaints about acconfig.h
402 and other deprecated constructs.
405 AC_C_RESTRICT, AC_INCLUDES_DEFAULT, AC_LANG_ASSERT, AC_LANG_WERROR,
408 ** AC_DECL_SYS_SIGLIST
412 Now checks that mktime is the inverse of localtime.
414 ** Improve DJGPP portability
415 The Autoconf tools and configure behave better under DJGPP.
417 ** Present But Cannot Be Compiled
418 New FAQ section dedicated to the mystic
420 configure: WARNING: pi.h: present but cannot be compiled
421 configure: WARNING: pi.h: check for missing prerequisite headers?
422 configure: WARNING: pi.h: proceeding with the preprocessor's result
425 ** Concurrent executions of autom4te
426 autom4te now locks its internal files, which enables concurrent
427 executions of autom4te, likely to happen if automake, autoconf,
428 autoheader etc. are run simultaneously.
431 Use of Libtool 1.5 and higher is encouraged. Compatibility with
432 Libtool pre-1.4 is not checked.
435 Testsuites no longer rerun failed tests in verbose mode; instead,
436 failures are logged while the test is run.
438 In addition, expected failures can be marked as such.
440 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.57
442 Released 2002-12-03 by Paul Eggert.
444 Bug fixes for problems with AIX linker, with freestanding C compilers,
445 with GNU M4 limitations, and with obsolete copies of GNU documents.
447 The Free Documentation License has been upgraded from 1.1 to 1.2.
449 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.56
451 Released 2002-11-15 by Akim Demaille.
453 One packaging problem fixed (config/install-sh was not executable).
455 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.55
457 Released 2002-11-14 by Akim Demaille.
461 Have your configure.ac checked by autoscan ("autoscan").
462 Try the warning options ("autoreconf -fv -Wall").
466 - AC_CHECK_HEADER, AC_CHECK_HEADERS
467 More information on proper use.
469 - Writing Test Programs
471 This sections explains how to write good test sources to use with
472 AC_COMPILE_IFELSE etc. It documents AC_LANG_PROGRAM and so forth.
474 - AC_FOO_IFELSE vs. AC_TRY_FOO
476 Explains why Autoconf moves from AC_TRY_COMPILE etc. to
477 AC_COMPILE_IFELSE and AC_LANG_PROGRAM etc.
481 - Is more robust to different Gettext installations.
483 - Produces messages (when --verbose) to be understood by Emacs'
486 - Supports -W/--warnings.
489 Once the GNU Build System reinstalled, run `./config.status
490 --recheck && ./config.status && make' if possible.
494 - Supports --cache, and --no-cache.
496 - ~/.autom4te.cfg makes it possible to disable the caching mechanism
497 (autom4te.cache). See `Customizing autom4te' in the documentation.
504 Support for the obsoleted options -m, --macrodir, -l, --localdir is
505 dropped in favor of the safer --include/--prepend-include scheme.
510 AC_COMPILER_IFELSE, AC_FUNC_MBRTOWC, AC_HEADER_STDBOOL,
511 AC_LANG_CONFTEST, AC_LANG_SOURCE, AC_LANG_PROGRAM, AC_LANG_CALL,
512 AC_LANG_FUNC_TRY_LINK, AC_MSG_FAILURE, AC_PREPROC_IFELSE.
515 Obsoleted macros are kept for Autoconf backward compatibility, but
516 should be avoided in configure.ac. Running autoupdate is advised.
519 - AC_DEFINE/AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED
521 We have to stop using the old compatibility scheme --that tried to
522 avoid useless backslashes-- because Libtool 1.4.3 contains a
524 AC_DEFINE([error_t], [int],
525 [Define to a type to use for \`error_t' if it is not
526 otherwise available.])
528 We have to quote the single quotes and backslashes with \. The old
529 compatibility scheme saw that ` was backslashed, and therefore did
530 not quote the single quote... Failure. Hence, Autoconf 2.54 is not
531 compatible with Libtool. Autoconf 2.55 is, but in some cases might
532 produce more \ than wanted.
534 Please, note that in the future the same problem will happen with
535 AC_MSG_*: use `autoreconf -f -Wall'.
539 - Portability of the Autoconf package to Solaris.
541 - Spurious warnings caused by config.status.
542 This bug is benign, but painful: on some systems (typically
543 FreeBSD), warnings such as:
545 config.status: creating Makefile
546 mv: Makefile: set owner/group (was: 1357/0): Operation not permitted
548 could be issued. This is fixed.
551 Simultaneous executions of config.status are possible again.
553 - Precious variables accumulation
555 config.status could stack several copies of the precious variables
559 ** Plans for later versions
563 The compatibility hooks with the old scheme will be completely
564 removed. Please, advice/use `--build', `--host', and `--target'
567 - AC_CHECK_HEADER, AC_CHECK_HEADERS
569 The tests will be stricter, please make sure your invocations are
574 Shell functions will gradually be introduced, probably starting with
575 Autotest. If you know machines which are in use that you suspect
576 *not* to support shell functions, please run the test suite of
577 Autoconf 2.55 on it, and report the results to
578 bug-autoconf@gnu.org.
582 Special characters in AC_MSG_* need not be quoted. Currently,
583 Autoconf has heuristics to decide when a string is escaped, or has
584 to be escaped. This scheme is fragile, and will be removed; the
585 only risk is uglified messages. Please, run `autoreconf -f -Wall'
586 to find occurrences that will be affected.
588 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.54
590 Released 2002-09-13 by Akim Demaille.
594 - autoreconf no longer changes the version of the gettext/po/intl
595 support files. It now adds the files the correspond to the
596 AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION declared in configure.ac.
598 Warning: It now relies on the 'autopoint' program, which is part
599 of GNU gettext 0.11.4 and newer.
601 Please note that you need to have a GNU gettext version that
602 corresponds at least to the AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION declared
603 in configure.ac. You can upgrade to newer GNU gettext versions,
604 though, without needing to change configure.ac.
606 - The -I DIR or --include=DIR option now appends DIR to the include path
607 instead of prepending; this is for consistency with other GNU tools.
608 The new -B DIR or --prepend-include=DIR option has the old behavior.
613 Now handles all the gory details about LIBOBJS and LTLIBOBJS.
614 Please, remove lines such as
616 # This is necessary so that .o files in LIBOBJS are also
617 # built via the ANSI2KNR-filtering rules.
618 LIBOBJS=`echo $LIBOBJS|sed 's/\.o /\$U.o /g;s/\.o$/\$U.o/'`
620 and read the `AC_LIBOBJ vs LIBOBJS' section. Do not define U in
621 your Makefiles either.
623 - AC_CONFIG_LINKS now makes copies if it can't make links.
625 - AC_FUNC_FNMATCH now tests only for POSIX compatibility, reverting to
626 Autoconf 2.13 behavior. The new macro AC_FUNC_FNMATCH_GNU also
627 tests for GNU extensions to fnmatch, and replaces fnmatch if needed.
629 - AC_FUNC_SETVBUF_REVERSED no longer fails when cross-compiling.
631 - AC_PROG_CC_STDC is integrated into AC_PROG_CC.
633 - AC_PROG_F77 default search no longer includes cf77 and cfg77.
637 AC_C_BACKSLASH_A, AC_CONFIG_LIBOBJ_DIR, AC_GNU_SOURCE,
638 AC_PROG_EGREP, AC_PROG_FGREP, AC_REPLACE_FNMATCH,
639 AC_FUNC_FNMATCH_GNU, AC_FUNC_REALLOC, AC_TYPE_MBSTATE_T.
642 looks for getloadavg.c in the CONFIG_LIBOBJ_DIR.
645 Now defines HAVE_MALLOC to 0 if `malloc' does not work, and asks
646 for an AC_LIBOBJ replacement.
650 - Spurious complaints from `m4_bmatch' about invalid regular
651 expressions are suppressed.
653 - Empty top_builddirs are properly handled.
655 - AC_CHECK_MEMBER works correctly when the member is an aggregate.
658 Now colon in the optional path arguments are properly handled.
660 ** Improved portability
662 - Both Autoconf the package, and the scripts it produces, should run
663 more reliably with Zsh. Bear in mind it is the default Bourne shell
666 - Autoconf and the scripts it produces no longer assume the existence of
667 the obsolescent commands egrep and fgrep.
671 - Limitations of Make
675 The GNATS base moved to
676 http://bugs.gnu.org/cgi-bin/gnatsweb.pl?database=autoconf
677 (It is no longer available, though.)
682 Now contains the list of ouput variables and files (AC_SUBST,
685 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.53
687 Released 2002-03-08 by Akim Demaille.
691 Perl 5.005_03 or later is required: autom4te is written in Perl and is
692 needed by autoconf. autoheader, autoreconf, ifnames, and autoscan are
698 Argument requirements, output variables, defined macros.
699 - M4sugar, M4sh, Autotest
701 - Double quoting macros
702 AC_TRY_CPP, AC_TRY_COMPILE, AC_TRY_LINK and AC_TRY_RUN.
704 The Autoconf manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
705 - Section `Hosts and Cross-Compilation'
706 Explains the rationale for the 2.5x changes in the cross-compilation
707 chain, and in the relationships between build, host, and target
709 Emphasizes that `cross-compilation' == `--host is given'.
710 If you are working on compilers etc., be sure to read this section.
711 - Section `AC_LIBOBJ vs. LIBOBJS'
712 Explains why assigning LIBOBJS directly is now an error.
713 Details how to update the code.
718 Now used instead of hard coded line numbers.
719 This eases the comparison of `configure's, and diminishes the
720 pressure over control version archives.
721 Automatic replacement for shells that don't support this feature.
722 - New output variables
723 @builddir@, @top_builddir@, @abs_srcdir@, @abs_top_srcdir@, @abs_builddir@,
728 Autoconf and Autotest modes are provided.
733 New, used by the Autoconf suite to cache and speed up most processing.
735 Supported by autom4te, autoconf and autoheader.
737 Replaces --autoconf-dir and --localdir in autoconf, autoheader,
738 autoupdate, and autoreconf.
740 No longer passes --cygnus, --foreign, --gnits, --gnu, --include-deps:
741 automake options are to be given via AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS.
743 Runs gettextize and libtoolize when appropriate.
745 --m4dir is no longer supported.
747 Now runs only in the specified directories, defaulting to `.',
748 but understands AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS for dependent directories.
749 Before, it used to run on all the `configure.ac' found in the
751 Independent packages are properly updated.
755 - The top level $prefix is propagated to the AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS configures.
757 Under the user pressure, $? is finally available. Probably a mistake.
758 - AC_F77_LIBRARY_LDFLAGS now supports the HP/UX f90 compiler.
759 - Precious variables accumulation
760 config.status could stack several copies of the precious variables
762 - AC_PATH_PROG and family.
763 Works properly when given a literal path.
765 Somewhere since 2.13, the result had been reversed.
769 - AC_C_BIGENDIAN supports the cross-compiling case.
770 - AC_C_BIGENDIAN accepts ACTION-IF-TRUE, ACTION-IF-FALSE, and
771 ACTION-IF-UNKNOWN arguments. All are facultative, and the default
772 for ACTION-IF-TRUE is to define WORDS_BIGENDIAN like AC_C_BIGENDIAN
774 - AC_C_LONG_DOUBLE now succeeds only if `long double' has more range or
775 precision than `double'.
780 It now defines the preprocessor symbols PACKAGE_NAME,
781 PACKAGE_TARNAME, PACKAGE_VERSION, PACKAGE_STRING, and
785 Admits a fourth optional parameter: the tar name.
787 - AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS, HEADERS, FILES, LINKS.
788 Provide the user with srcdir, ac_srcdir, ac_top_srcdir, ac_builddir,
789 ac_top_builddir, ac_abs_srcdir, ac_abs_top_srcdir, ac_abs_builddir,
792 - AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS, HEADERS, FILES, LINKS and AC_OUTPUT.
793 Are much less expensive when using long lists of files.
796 Works with shell variables, and non alphanumeric names.
800 - AC_FUNC_STRERROR_R now sets STRERROR_R_CHAR_P, not HAVE_WORKING_STRERROR_R,
801 because POSIX 1003.1-200x draft 7 says strerror_r returns int, not char *.
803 - AC_FUNC_STRTOD substitutes POW_LIB.
808 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.52
810 Released 2001-07-18 by Akim Demaille.
815 This feature was present in autoconf 2.50 but was not documented.
816 For example, `@<:@' is translated to `[' just before output. This
817 is useful when writing strings that contain unbalanced quotes, or
818 other hard-to-quote constructs.
819 - m4_pattern_forbid, m4_pattern_allow
820 - Tips for upgrading from 2.13.
821 - Using autoscan to maintain a configure.ac.
824 - Now include stdint.h.
825 - sys/types.h and sys/stat.h are guarded.
826 - strings.h is included if available, and not conflicting with string.h.
829 - The test suite is more robust and presents less false failures.
830 - Invocation of GNU M4 now robust to POSIXLY_CORRECT.
831 - configure accepts --prefix='' again.
832 - AC_CHECK_LIB works properly when its first argument is not a
834 - HAVE_INTTYPES_H is defined only if not conflicting with sys/types.h.
835 - build_, host_, and target_alias are AC_SUBST as in 2.13.
836 - AC_ARG_VAR properly propagates precious variables inherited from the
837 environment to ./config.status.
838 - Using --program-suffix/--program-prefix is portable.
839 - Failures to detect the default compiler's output extension are less
841 - `config.status foo' works properly when `foo' depends on variables
842 set in an AC_CONFIG_THING INIT-CMD.
843 - autoheader is more robust to broken input.
844 - Fixed Fortran name-mangling and link tests on a number of systems,
845 e.g. NetBSD; see AC_F77_DUMMY_MAIN, below.
848 - AC_CHECK_HEADER and AC_CHECK_HEADERS support a fourth argument to
849 specify pre-includes. In this case, the headers are compiled with
850 cc, not merely preprocessed by cpp. Therefore it is the _usability_
851 of a header which is checked for, not just its availability.
852 - AC_ARG_VAR refuses to run configure when precious variables have
854 - Versions of compilers are dumped in the logs.
855 - AC_CHECK_TYPE recognizes use of `foo_t' as a replacement type.
858 - AC_PATH_XTRA only adds -ldnet to $LIBS if it's needed to link.
859 - AC_FUNC_WAIT3 and AC_SYS_RESTARTABLE_SYSCALLS are obsoleted.
860 - AM_FUNC_ERROR_AT_LINE, AM_FUNC_FNMATCH, AM_FUNC_MKTIME,
861 AM_FUNC_OBSTACK, and AM_FUNC_STRTOD are now activated.
862 Be sure to read `Upgrading from Version 2.13' to understand why
863 running `autoupdate' is needed.
864 - AC_F77_DUMMY_MAIN, AC_F77_MAIN: new macros to detect whether
865 a main-like routine is required/possible when linking C/C++ with
866 Fortran. Users of e.g. AC_F77_WRAPPERS should be aware of these.
867 - AC_FUNC_GETPGRG behaves better when cross-compiling.
869 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.51
870 There was no release of Autoconf 2.51 since some packagers had used
871 this version number without permission to ship intermediary versions
872 of 2.50. The version was skipped to avoid confusion.
874 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.50
876 Released 2001-05-21 by Akim Demaille.
879 There have been far too many to enumerate them here. Check out
880 ChangeLog if you really want to know more.
882 ** Improved documentation
883 In particular, portability issues are better covered.
886 All the standard GNU Makefile targets are supported. The layout has
887 changed: m4/ holds the M4 extensions Autoconf needs for its
888 configuration, doc/ contains the documentation, and tests/ contains
891 ** Man pages are provided
892 For autoconf, autoreconf, autoupdate, autoheader, autoscan, ifnames,
893 config.guess, config.sub.
897 Provides a safe and powerful means to trace the macro uses. This
898 provide the parsing layer for tools which need to `study'
902 Specify what category of warnings should be enabled.
904 - When recursing into subdirectories, try for configure.gnu before
905 configure to adapt for packages not using autoconf on case-insensitive
909 More errors are now caught (circular AC_REQUIRE dependencies,
910 AC_DEFINE in the action part of an AC_CACHE_CHECK, too many pops
911 etc.). In addition, their location and call stack are given.
914 autoupdate is much more powerful, and is able to provide the glue code
915 which might be needed to move from an old macro to its newer
918 You are strongly encouraged to use it to modernize both your
919 `configure.in' and your .m4 extension files.
922 The internal machinery of autoheader has completely changed. As a
923 result, using `acconfig.h' should be considered to be obsoleted, and
924 you are encouraged to get rid of it using the AH macros.
929 ** Fortran 77 compilers
930 Globally, the support for Fortran 77 is considerably improved.
932 Support for automatically determining a Fortran 77 compiler's
933 name-mangling scheme. New CPP macros F77_FUNC and F77_FUNC_ are
934 provided to wrap C/C++ identifiers, thus making it easier and more
935 transparent for C/C++ to call Fortran 77 routines, and Fortran 77 to
936 call C/C++ routines. See the Texinfo documentation for details.
939 The test suite no longer uses DejaGNU. It should be easy to submit
940 test cases in this new framework.
943 - --help, --help=long, -hl
944 no longer dumps useless items.
946 lists only specific options.
947 - --help=recursive, -hr
948 displays the help of all the embedded packages.
949 - Remembers environment variables when reconfiguring.
950 The previous scheme to set envvar before running configure was
952 what prevented configure from remembering the environment in which
953 it was run, therefore --recheck was run in an inconsistent
954 environment. Now, one should run
956 and then --recheck will work properly. Variables declared with
957 AC_ARG_VAR are also preserved.
959 $build defaults to `config.guess`, $host to $build, and then $target
961 Cross-compilation is a global status of the package, it no longer
962 depends upon the current language.
963 Cross compilation is enabled iff the user specified `--host'.
964 `configure' now fails if it can't run the executables it compiles,
965 unless cross-compilation is enabled.
967 The cache file is disabled by default. The new options
968 `--config-cache', `-C' set the cache to `config.cache'.
972 Much faster on most architectures.
973 - concurrent executions
974 It is safe to use `make -j' with config.status.
975 - human interface improved
976 It is possible to invoke
977 ./config.status foobar
978 instead of the former form (still valid)
979 CONFIG_COMMANDS= CONFIG_HEADERS= CONFIG_LINKS= \
980 CONFIG_FILES=foobar:foo.in:bar.in \
982 The same holds for configuration headers and links.
983 You can instantiate unknown files and headers:
984 ./config.status --header foo.h:foo.h.in --file bar:baz
985 - has a useful --help
986 - accepts special file name "-" for stdin/stdout
991 Specify additional copyright information.
994 Now expects the identity of the package as argument.
998 Most macros, if not all, now strictly follow the `one quotation
999 level' rule. This results in a more predictable expansion.
1002 A sly bug in the AC_REQUIRE machinery, which could produce incorrect
1003 configure scripts, was fixed by Axel Thimm.
1007 Document and ask for the registration of an envvar.
1010 Specifies the file which `configure' should look for when trying to
1011 find the source tree (used to be handled by AC_INIT).
1013 - AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS
1014 To add new actions to config.status. Should be used instead of
1018 Replaces AC_LINK_FILES.
1020 - AC_CONFIG_HEADERS, AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS, AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS,
1021 AC_CONFIG_LINKS, and AC_CONFIG_FILES
1022 They now obey sh: you should no longer use shell variables as
1023 argument. Instead of
1025 test "$package_foo_enabled" = yes && $my_subdirs="$my_subdirs foo"
1026 AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS($my_subdirs)
1030 if test "$package_foo_enabled" = yes; then
1031 AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS(foo)
1035 To format an Autoconf macro's help string so that it looks pretty
1036 when the user executes `configure --help'.
1039 ** Generic Test Macros
1041 The interface of the AC_CHECK families of macros (decl, header,
1042 type, member, func) is now uniform. They support the same set of
1045 - AC_CHECK_DECL, AC_CHECK_DECLS
1046 To check whether a symbol is declared.
1048 - AC_CHECK_SIZEOF, AC_C_CHAR_UNSIGNED.
1049 No longer need a cross-compilation default.
1052 The test it performs is much more robust than previously, and makes
1053 it possible to test builtin types in addition to typedefs.
1054 It is now schizophrenic:
1055 - AC_CHECK_TYPE(TYPE, REPLACEMENT)
1056 remains for backward compatibility, but its use is discouraged.
1057 - AC_CHECK_TYPE(TYPE, IF-FOUND, IF-NOT-FOUND, INCLUDES)
1058 behaves exactly like the other AC_CHECK macros.
1061 Checks whether given types are supported by the system.
1063 - AC_CHECK_MEMBER, AC_CHECK_MEMBERS
1064 Check for given members in aggregates (e.g., pw_gecos in struct
1068 Checks if the compiler supports ISO C, included when needs special
1072 Checking whether the preprocessor indicates missing includes by the
1073 error code. stderr is checked by AC_TRY_CPP only as a fallback.
1076 Takes a language as argument and replaces AC_LANG_C,
1077 AC_LANG_CPLUSPLUS and AC_LANG_FORTRAN77.
1079 - AC_LANG_PUSH, AC_LANG_POP
1080 Are preferred to AC_LANG_SAVE, AC_LANG_RESTORE.
1083 - AC_FUNC_CHOWN, AC_FUNC_MALLOC, AC_FUNC_STRERROR_R,
1084 AC_FUNC_LSTAT_FOLLOWS_SLASHED_SYMLINK, AC_FUNC_STAT, AC_FUNC_LSTAT,
1085 AC_FUNC_ERROR_AT_LINE, AC_FUNC_OBSTACK, AC_FUNC_STRTOD, AC_FUNC_FSEEKO.
1089 Sets GETGROUPS_LIBS.
1091 - AC_FUNC_GETLOADAVG
1092 Defines `HAVE_STRUCT_NLIST_N_UN_N_NAME' instead of `NLIST_NAME_UNION'.
1095 Now integrates `AC_DECL_YYTEXT' which is obsoleted.
1098 Arrange for large-file support.
1100 - AC_EXEEXT, AC_OBJEXT
1101 You are no longer expected to use them: their computation is
1102 performed by default.
1104 ** C++ compatibility
1105 Every macro has been revisited in order to support at best CC=c++.
1107 Major changes in Autoconf 2.14:
1108 There was no release of GNU Autoconf 2.14.
1110 Major changes in Autoconf 2.13:
1112 Released 1999-05-01 by Ben Elliston.
1114 * Support for building on Win32 systems where the only available C or
1115 C++ compiler is the Microsoft Visual C++ command line compiler
1116 (`cl'). Additional support for building on Win32 systems which are
1117 using the Cygwin or Mingw32 environments.
1118 * Support for alternative object file and executable file extensions.
1119 On Win32, for example, these are .obj and .exe. These are discovered
1120 using AC_OBJEXT and AC_EXEEXT, which substitute @OBJEXT@ and
1121 @EXEEXT@ in the output, respectively.
1122 * New macros: AC_CACHE_LOAD, AC_CACHE_SAVE, AC_FUNC_SELECT_ARGTYPES,
1123 AC_VALIDATE_CACHED_SYSTEM_TUPLE, AC_SEARCH_LIBS, AC_TRY_LINK_FUNC,
1124 AC_C_STRINGIZE, AC_CHECK_FILE(S), AC_PROG_F77 (and friends).
1125 * AC_DEFINE now has an optional third argument for a description to be
1126 placed in the config header input file (e.g. config.h.in).
1127 * The C++ code fragment compiled for the C++ compiler test had to be
1128 improved to include an explicit return type for main(). This was
1129 causing failures on systems using recent versions of the EGCS C++
1131 * Fixed an important bug in AC_CHECK_TYPE that would cause a configure
1132 script to report that `sometype_t' was present when only `type_t'
1134 * Merge of the FSF version of config.guess and config.sub to modernize
1135 these scripts. Add support for a few new hosts in config.guess.
1136 Incorporate latest versions of install-sh, mkinstalldirs and
1137 texinfo.tex from the FSF.
1138 * autoreconf is capable of running automake if necessary (and
1140 * Support for Fortran 77. See the Texinfo documentation for details.
1141 * Bug fixes and workarounds for quirky bugs in vendor utilities.
1143 Major changes in Autoconf 2.12:
1145 Released 1996-11-26 by David J. MacKenzie
1147 * AC_OUTPUT and AC_CONFIG_HEADER can create output files by
1148 concatenating multiple input files separated by colons, like so:
1149 AC_CONFIG_HEADER(config.h:conf.pre:config.h.in:conf.post)
1150 AC_OUTPUT(Makefile:Makefile.in:Makefile.rules)
1151 The arguments may be shell variables, to compute the lists on the fly.
1152 * AC_LINK_FILES and AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS may be called multiple times.
1153 * New macro AC_OUTPUT_COMMANDS adds more commands to run in config.status.
1156 Major changes in Autoconf 2.11:
1158 Released November 18th, 1996, by David J. MacKenzie
1160 * AC_PROG_CC and AC_PROG_CXX check whether the compiler works.
1161 They also default CFLAGS/CXXFLAGS to "-g -O2" for gcc, instead of "-g -O".
1162 * AC_REPLACE_FUNCS defines HAVE_foo if the system has the function `foo'.
1163 * AC_CONFIG_HEADER expands shell variables in its argument.
1164 * New macros: AC_FUNC_FNMATCH, AC_FUNC_SETPGRP.
1165 * The "checking..." messages and the source code for test programs that
1166 fail are saved in config.log.
1167 * Another workaround has been added for seds with small command length limits.
1168 * config.sub and config.guess recognize more system types.
1171 Major changes in Autoconf 2.10:
1173 Released May 7th, 1996, by Roland McGrath
1176 * The cache variable names used by `AC_CHECK_LIB(LIB, FUNC, ...)' has
1177 changed: now $ac_cv_lib_LIB_FUNC, previously $ac_cv_lib_LIB.
1179 Major changes in Autoconf 2.9:
1181 Released March 16th, 1996, by Roland McGrath
1185 Major changes in Autoconf 2.8:
1187 Released March 8th, 1996, by Roland McGrath
1191 Major changes in Autoconf 2.7:
1193 Released November 22nd, 1995, by David J. MacKenzie
1197 Major changes in Autoconf 2.6:
1199 Released November 20th, 1995, by David J. MacKenzie
1203 Major changes in Autoconf 2.5:
1205 Released November 17th, 1995, by Roland McGrath
1207 * New configure options --bindir, --libdir, --datadir, etc., with
1208 corresponding output variables.
1209 * New macro: AC_CACHE_CHECK, to make using the cache easier.
1210 * config.log contains the command being run as well as any output from it.
1211 * AC_CHECK_LIB can check for libraries with "." or "/" or "+" in their name.
1212 * AC_PROG_INSTALL doesn't cache a name for install-sh, for sharing caches.
1213 * AC_CHECK_PROG, AC_PATH_PROG, AC_CHECK_PROGS, AC_PATH_PROGS, and
1214 AC_CHECK_TOOL can search a path other than $PATH.
1215 * AC_CHECK_SIZEOF takes an optional size to use when cross-compiling.
1217 Major changes in Autoconf 2.4:
1219 Released June 14th, 1995, by David J. MacKenzie
1221 * Fix a few bugs found by Emacs testers.
1223 Major changes in Autoconf 2.3:
1225 Released March 27th, 1995, by David J. MacKenzie
1227 * Fix the cleanup trap in several ways.
1228 * Handle C compilers that are picky about option placement.
1229 * ifnames gets the version number from the right directory.
1231 Major changes in Autoconf 2.2:
1233 Released March 8th, 1995, by David J. MacKenzie
1235 * The ifnames utility is much faster but requires a "new awk" interpreter.
1236 * AC_CHECK_LIB and AC_HAVE_LIBRARY check and add the new
1237 library before existing libs, not after, in case it uses them.
1238 * New macros: AC_FUNC_GETPGRP, AC_CHECK_TOOL.
1239 * Lots of bug fixes.
1240 * Many additions to the TODO file :-)
1242 Major changes in Autoconf 2.1:
1244 Released November 4th, 1994, by David J. MacKenzie
1247 * More explanations in the manual.
1248 * Fix a spurious failure in the testsuite.
1249 * Clarify some warning messages.
1250 * autoreconf by default only rebuilds configure and config.h.in files
1251 that are older than any of their particular input files; there is a
1252 --force option to use after installing a new version of Autoconf.
1254 Thanks to everybody who's submitted changes and additions to Autoconf!
1255 I've incorporated many of them, and am still considering others for
1256 future releases -- but I didn't want to postpone this release indefinitely.
1258 Caution: don't indiscriminately rebuild configure scripts with
1259 Autoconf version 2. Some configure.in files need minor adjustments to
1260 work with it; the documentation has a chapter on upgrading. A few
1261 configure.in files, including those for GNU Emacs and the GNU C
1262 Library, need major changes because they relied on undocumented
1263 internals of version 1. Future releases of those packages will have
1264 updated configure.in files.
1266 It's best to use GNU M4 1.3 (or later) with Autoconf version 2.
1267 Autoconf now makes heavy use of M4 diversions, which were implemented
1268 inefficiently in GNU M4 releases before 1.3.
1270 Major changes in Autoconf 2.0:
1272 Released October 26th, 1994, by David J. MacKenzie
1274 ** New copyright terms:
1275 * There are no restrictions on distribution or use of configure scripts.
1278 * Autoconf manual is reorganized to make information easier to find
1279 and has several new indexes.
1280 * INSTALL is reorganized and clearer and is now made from Texinfo source.
1283 * autoscan to generate a preliminary configure.in for a package by
1284 scanning its source code for commonly used nonportable functions,
1285 programs, and header files.
1286 * ifnames to list the symbols used in #if and #ifdef directives in a
1288 * autoupdate to update a configure.in to use the version 2 macro names.
1289 * autoreconf to recursively remake configure and configuration header
1290 files in a source tree.
1292 ** Changed utilities:
1293 * autoheader can take pieces of acconfig.h to replace config.h.{top,bot}.
1294 * autoconf and autoheader can look for package-local definition files
1295 in an alternate directory.
1298 * AC_CACHE_VAL to share results of tests between configure runs.
1299 * AC_DEFUN to define macros, automatically AC_PROVIDE them, and ensure
1300 that macros invoked with AC_REQUIRE don't interrupt other macros.
1301 * AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR, AC_CANONICAL_SYSTEM, AC_CANONICAL_HOST, AC_LINK_FILES to
1302 support deciding unguessable features based on the host and target types.
1303 * AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS to recursively configure a source tree.
1304 * AC_ARG_PROGRAM to use the options --program-prefix,
1305 --program-suffix, and --program-transform-name to change the names
1306 of programs being installed.
1307 * AC_PREFIX_DEFAULT to change the default installation prefix.
1308 * AC_TRY_COMPILE to compile a test program without linking it.
1309 * AC_CHECK_TYPE to check whether sys/types.h or stdlib.h defines a given type.
1310 * AC_CHECK_LIB to check for a particular function and library.
1311 * AC_MSG_CHECKING and AC_MSG_RESULT to print test results, on a single line,
1312 whether or not the test succeeds. They obsolete AC_CHECKING and AC_VERBOSE.
1313 * AC_SUBST_FILE to insert one file into another.
1314 * AC_FUNC_MEMCMP to check whether memcmp is 8-bit clean.
1315 * AC_FUNC_STRFTIME to find strftime even if it's in -lintl.
1316 * AC_FUNC_GETMNTENT to find getmntent even if it's in -lsun or -lseq.
1317 * AC_HEADER_SYS_WAIT to check whether sys/wait.h is POSIX.1 compatible.
1320 * Many macros renamed systematically, but old names are accepted for
1321 backward compatibility.
1322 * AC_OUTPUT adds the "automatically generated" comment to
1323 non-Makefiles where it finds @configure_input@ in an input file, to
1324 support files with various comment syntaxes.
1325 * AC_OUTPUT does not replace "prefix" and "exec_prefix" in generated
1326 files when they are not enclosed in @ signs.
1327 * AC_OUTPUT allows the optional environment variable CONFIG_STATUS to
1328 override the file name "config.status".
1329 * AC_OUTPUT takes an optional argument for passing variables from
1330 configure to config.status.
1331 * AC_OUTPUT and AC_CONFIG_HEADER allow you to override the input-file names.
1332 * AC_OUTPUT automatically substitutes the values of CFLAGS, CXXFLAGS,
1333 CPPFLAGS, and LDFLAGS from the environment.
1334 * AC_PROG_CC and AC_PROG_CXX now set CFLAGS and CXXFLAGS, respectively.
1335 * AC_PROG_INSTALL looks for install-sh or install.sh in the directory
1336 specified by AC_CONFIG_AUXDIR, or srcdir or srcdir/.. or
1337 srcdir/../.. by default.
1338 * AC_DEFINE, AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED, and AC_SUBST are more robust and smaller.
1339 * AC_DEFINE no longer prints anything, because of the new result reporting
1340 mechanism (AC_MSG_CHECKING and AC_MSG_RESULT).
1341 * AC_VERBOSE pays attention to --quiet/--silent, not --verbose.
1342 * AC_ARG_ENABLE and AC_ARG_WITH support whitespace in the arguments to
1343 --enable- and --with- options.
1344 * AC_CHECK_FUNCS and AC_CHECK_HEADERS take optional shell commands to
1345 execute on success or failure.
1346 * Checking for C functions in C++ works.
1349 * AC_REMOTE_TAPE and AC_RSH removed; too specific to tar and cpio, and
1350 better maintained with them.
1351 * AC_ARG_ARRAY removed because no one was likely using it.
1352 * AC_HAVE_POUNDBANG replaced with AC_SYS_INTERPRETER, which doesn't
1353 take arguments, for consistency with all of the other specific checks.
1356 * Comes with config.sub and config.guess, and uses them optionally.
1357 * Uses config.cache to cache test results. An alternate cache file
1358 can be selected with the --cache-file=FILE option.
1359 * Uses optional shell scripts $prefix/share/config.site and
1360 $prefix/etc/config.site to perform site or system specific initializations.
1361 * configure saves compiler output to ./config.log for debugging.
1362 * New files autoconf.m4 and autoheader.m4 load the other Autoconf macros.
1363 * acsite.m4 is the new name for the system-wide aclocal.m4.
1364 * Has a DejaGnu test suite.
1366 Major changes in Autoconf 1.11:
1368 * AC_PROG_INSTALL calls install.sh with the -c option.
1369 * AC_SET_MAKE cleans up after itself.
1370 * AC_OUTPUT sets prefix and exec_prefix if they weren't set already.
1371 * AC_OUTPUT prevents shells from looking in PATH for config.status.
1373 Plus a few other bug fixes.
1375 Major changes in Autoconf 1.10:
1377 * autoheader uses config.h.bot if present, analogous to config.h.top.
1378 * AC_PROG_INSTALL looks for install.sh in srcdir or srcdir/.. and
1380 * AC_PROG_CXX looks for cxx as a C++ compiler.
1382 Plus several bugs fixed.
1384 Major changes in Autoconf 1.9:
1386 * AC_YYTEXT_POINTER replaces AC_DECLARE_YYTEXT.
1387 * AC_SIZEOF_TYPE generates the cpp symbol name automatically,
1388 and autoheader generates entries for those names automatically.
1389 * AC_FIND_X gets the result from xmkmf correctly.
1390 * AC_FIND_X assumes no X if --without-x was given.
1391 * AC_FIND_XTRA adds libraries to the variable X_EXTRA_LIBS.
1392 * AC_PROG_INSTALL finds OSF/1 installbsd.
1394 Major changes in Autoconf 1.8:
1397 * New macros AC_LANG_C, AC_LANG_CPLUSPLUS, AC_LANG_SAVE, AC_LANG_RESTORE,
1398 AC_PROG_CXX, AC_PROG_CXXCPP, AC_REQUIRE_CPP
1399 for checking both C++ and C features in one configure script.
1400 * New macros AC_CHECKING, AC_VERBOSE, AC_WARN, AC_ERROR for printing messages.
1401 * New macros AC_FIND_XTRA, AC_MMAP, AC_SIZEOF_TYPE, AC_PREREQ,
1402 AC_SET_MAKE, AC_ENABLE.
1405 * AC_FIND_X looks for X in more places.
1406 * AC_PROG_INSTALL defaults to install.sh instead of cp, if it's in srcdir.
1407 install.sh is distributed with Autoconf.
1408 * AC_DECLARE_YYTEXT has been removed because it can't work, pending
1409 a rewrite of quoting in AC_DEFINE.
1410 * AC_OUTPUT adds its comments in C format when substituting in C files.
1411 * AC_COMPILE_CHECK protects its ECHO-TEXT argument with double quotes.
1413 ** New or changed command line options:
1414 * configure accepts --enable-FEATURE[=ARG] and --disable-FEATURE options.
1415 * configure accepts --without-PACKAGE, which sets withval=no.
1416 * configure accepts --x-includes=DIR and --x-libraries=DIR.
1417 * Giving --with-PACKAGE no argument sets withval=yes instead of withval=1.
1418 * configure accepts --help, --version, --silent/--quiet, --no-create options.
1419 * configure accepts and ignores most other Cygnus configure options, and
1420 warns about unknown options.
1421 * config.status accepts --help, --version options.
1423 ** File names and other changes:
1424 * Relative srcdir values are not made absolute.
1425 * The values of @prefix@ and @exec_prefix@ and @top_srcdir@ get substituted.
1426 * Autoconf library files are installed in ${datadir}/autoconf, not ${datadir}.
1427 * autoheader optionally copies config.h.top to the beginning of config.h.in.
1428 * The example Makefile dependencies for configure et al. work better.
1429 * Namespace cleanup: all shell variables used internally by Autoconf
1430 have names beginning with `ac_'.
1432 More big improvements are in process for future releases, but have not
1433 yet been (variously) finished, integrated, tested, or documented enough
1436 Major changes in Autoconf 1.7:
1438 * New macro AC_OBSOLETE.
1439 * Bugs in Makefile.in fixed.
1440 * AC_LONG_FILE_NAMES improved.
1442 Major changes in Autoconf 1.6:
1444 * New macro AC_LONG_64_BITS.
1445 * Multiple .h files can be created.
1446 * AC_FIND_X looks for X files directly if it doesn't find xmkmf.
1447 * AC_ALLOCA defines C_ALLOCA if using alloca.c.
1448 * --with-NAME can take a value, e.g., --with-targets=sun4,hp300bsd.
1449 * Unused --no-create option to configure removed.
1450 * autoheader doesn't change the timestamp of its output file if
1451 the file didn't change.
1452 * All macros that look for libraries now use AC_HAVE_LIBRARY.
1453 * config.status checks three optional environment variables to
1454 modify its behavior.
1455 * The usual bug fixes.
1457 Major changes in Autoconf 1.5:
1459 * New macros AC_FIND_X, AC_OFF_T, AC_STAT_MACROS_BROKEN, AC_REVISION.
1460 * autoconf and autoheader scripts have GNU standards conforming
1461 --version and --help options (they print their message and exit).
1464 Major changes in Autoconf 1.4:
1466 * New macros AC_HAVE_POUNDBANG, AC_TIME_WITH_SYS_TIME, AC_LONG_DOUBLE,
1467 AC_GETGROUPS_T, AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED.
1468 * autoconf and autoheader use the M4 environment variable to determine the
1469 name of the M4 program to use.
1470 * The --macrodir option to autoconf and autoheader specifies the directory
1471 in which acspecific.m4, acgeneral.m4, etc. reside if not the default.
1472 * autoconf and autoheader can take `-' as their file names, which means to
1473 read stdin as input.
1474 * Resulting configure scripts can take a --verbose option which causes them
1475 to print the results of their tests.
1476 * AC_DEFINE quotes its second argument in such a way that spaces, magic
1477 shell characters, etc. will be preserved during various stages of
1478 expansion done by the shell. If you don't want this, use
1479 AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED instead.
1480 * Much textual processing done with external calls to tr and sed have been
1481 internalized with builtin M4 `patsubst' and `translit' calls.
1482 * AC_OUTPUT doesn't hardwire the file names it outputs. Instead, you can
1483 set the shell variables `gen_files' and `gen_config' to the list of
1484 file names to output.
1485 * AC_DECLARE_YYTEXT does an AC_SUBST of `LEX_OUTPUT_ROOT', which may be
1486 "lex.yy" or "lexyy", depending on the system.
1487 * AC_PROGRAMS_CHECK takes an optional third arg. If given, it is used as
1489 * If AC_ALLOCA chooses alloca.c, it also defines STACK_DIRECTION.
1490 * AC_CONST works much more reliably on more systems.
1493 Major changes in Autoconf 1.3:
1495 configure no longer requires awk for packages that use a config.h.
1496 Support handling --with-PACKAGE options.
1497 New `autoheader' script to create `config.h.in' from `configure.in'.
1498 Ignore troublesome -lucb and -lPW when searching for alloca.
1499 Rename --exec_prefix to --exec-prefix for GNU standards conformance.
1500 Improve detection of STDC library.
1501 Add AC_HAVE_LIBRARY to check for non-default libraries.
1502 Function checking should work with future GNU libc releases.
1504 Major changes in Autoconf 1.2:
1506 The --srcdir option is now usually unnecessary.
1507 Add a file containing sample comments describing CPP macros.
1508 A comment in config.status tells which host it was configured on.
1509 Substituted variable values can now contain commas.
1510 Fix bugs in various feature checks.
1512 Major changes in Autoconf 1.1:
1514 Added AC_STRCOLL macro.
1515 Made AC_GETLOADAVG check for more things.
1516 AC_OUTPUT argument is now optional.
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1524 This file is part of GNU Autoconf.
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1527 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
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1533 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
1534 GNU General Public License for more details.
1536 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
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1539 Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.