3 - Autoconf 2.59a is required.
5 - Perl 5.6 or greater is required.
7 - The new AC_REQUIRE_AUX_FILE Autoconf macro is supported.
9 - The rebuild rules for distributed Yacc and Lex output will avoid
10 overwriting existing files if AM_MAINTAINER_MODE and maintainer-mode
13 - Preprocessed assembler (*.S) compilation now honnors CPPFLAGS,
14 AM_CPPFLAGS and per-target _CPPFLAGS, and supports dependency
15 tracking, unlike non-preprocessed assembler (*.s).
17 - Libtool generic flags (those that go before the --mode=MODE option)
18 can be specified using AM_LIBTOOLFLAGS and target_LIBTOOLFLAGS.
20 - aclocal now also supports -Wmumble and -Wno-mumble options.
22 - aclocal supports an --install option, that will cause system-wide
23 third-party macros to be installed in the local directory
24 specified with the first -I flag. This option also uses #serial
25 lines in M4 files to upgrade local macros.
27 The new aclocal options --dry-run and --diff help to review changes
28 before they are installed.
30 - Per-target flags are now correctly handled in link rules.
32 For instance maude_CFLAGS correctly overrides AM_CFLAGS; likewise
33 for maude_LDFLAGS and AM_LDFLAGS. Previous versions bogusly
34 preferred AM_CFLAGS over maude_CFLAGS while linking, and they
35 used both AM_LDFLAGS and maude_LDFLAGS on the same link command.
37 The fix for compiler flags (i.e., using maude_CFLAGS instead of
38 AM_CFLAGS) should not hurt any package since that is how _CFLAGS
39 is expected to work (and actually works during compilation).
41 However using maude_LDFLAGS "instead of" AM_LDFLAGS rather than
42 "in addition to" breaks backward compatibility with older versions.
43 If your package used both variables, as in
45 AM_LDFLAGS = common flags
47 a_LDFLAGS = more flags
50 and assumed *_LDFLAGS would sum up, you should rewrite it as
52 AM_LDFLAGS = common flags
54 a_LDFLAGS = $(AM_LDFLAGS) more flags
57 This new behavior of *_LDFLAGS is more coherent with other
58 per-target variables, and the way *_LDFLAGS variables were
59 considered internally.
61 - New targets mandated by GNU Coding Standards:
66 By default they will only install Texinfo manuals.
67 You can customize them with *-local variants:
73 - The undocumented recursive target `uninstall-info' no longer exists.
74 (`uninstall' is in charge of removing all possible documentation
75 flavors, including optional formats such as dvi, ps, or info even
76 when `no-installinfo' is used.)
78 - Automake no longer complains if input files for AC_CONFIG_FILES
79 are specified using shell variables.
81 - clean, distribution, or rebuild rules are normally disabled for
82 inputs and outputs of AC_CONFIG_FILES, AC_CONFIG_HEADERS, and
83 AC_CONFIG_LINK specified using shell variable. However if these
84 variables are used as ${VAR}, and AC_SUBSTed, then Automake will
85 be able to output rules anyway.
86 (See the Automake documentation for AC_CONFIG_FILES.)
88 - If `subdir-objects' is set, and AC_CONFIG_LIBOBJ_DIR is specified,
89 $(LIBOBJS), $(LTLIBOBJS), $(ALLOCA), and $(LTALLOCA) can be used
90 in different directories.
92 - $(EXEEXT) is automatically appended to filenames of TESTS
93 that have been declared as programs in the same Makefile.
94 This is mostly useful when some check_PROGRAMS are listed in TESTS.
96 - `-Wportability' has finally been turned on by default for `gnu' and
97 `gnits' strictness. This means automake will complain about %-rules
98 or $(GNU Make functions) unless you switch to `foreign' strictness or
99 use `-Wno-portability'.
101 - Improved support for Objective C:
102 - Autoconf's new AC_PROG_OBJC will enable automatic dependency tracking.
103 - A new section of the manual documents the support.
105 - `dirlist' entries (for the aclocal search path) may use shell wildcards
106 such as `*', `?', or `[...]'.
108 - aclocal now outputs an autoconf version check in aclocal.m4 in
109 projects using automake.
111 For a few years, automake and aclocal have been calling autoconf
112 (or its underlying engine autom4te) to accurately retrieve the
113 data they need from configure.ac and its siblings. Doing so can
114 only work if all autotools use the same version of autoconf. For
115 instance a Makefile.in generated by automake for one version of
116 autoconf may stop working if configure is regenerated with another
117 version of autoconf, and vice versa.
119 This new version check ensures that the whole build system has
120 been generated using the same autoconf version.
122 - New support for Unified Parallel C:
123 - AM_PROG_UPC looks for a UPC compiler.
124 - A new section of the manual documents the support.
126 - Automake installs an "Hello World!" example package in $(docdir).
127 This example is used thorough the new "Autotools Introduction"
128 chapter of the manual.
132 * Makefile.in bloat reduction:
134 - Inference rules are used to compile sources in subdirectories when
135 the `subdir-objects' option is used and no per-target flags are
136 used. This should reduce the size of some projects a lot, because
137 Automake used to output an explicit rule for each such object in
140 - Automake no longer outputs three rules (.o, .obj, .lo) for each
141 object that must be built with explicit rules. It just outputs
142 the rules required to build the kind of object considered: either
143 the two .o and .obj rules for usual objects, or the .lo rule for
146 * Change to Libtool support:
148 - Libtool tags are used with libtool versions that support them.
149 (I.e., with Libtool 1.5 or greater.)
151 - Automake is now able to handle setups where a libtool library is
152 conditionally installed in different directories, as in
155 lib_LTLIBRARIES = liba.la
157 pkglib_LTLIBRARIES = liba.la
159 liba_la_SOURCES = ...
161 * Changes to aclocal:
163 - aclocal now ensures that AC_DEFUNs and AU_DEFUNs it discovers are
164 really evaluated, before it decides to include them in aclocal.m4.
165 This solves nasty problems with conditional redefinitions of
166 Autoconf macros in /usr/share/aclocal/*.m4 files causing extraneous
167 *.m4 files to be included in any project using these macros.
168 (Calls to AC_PROG_EGREP causing libtool.m4 to be included is the
169 most famous instance of this bug.)
171 - Do not complain about missing conditionally AC_REQUIREd macros
172 that are not actually used. In 1.8.x aclocal would correctly
173 determine which of these macros were really needed (and include
174 only these in the package); unfortunately it would also require
175 all of them to be present in order to run. This created
176 situations were aclocal would not work on a tarball distributing
177 all the macros it uses. For instance running aclocal on a project
178 containing only the subset of the Gettext macros in use by the
179 project did not work, because gettext conditionally requires other
182 * Portability improvements:
184 - Tar format can be chosen with the new options tar-v7, tar-ustar, and
185 tar-pax. The new option filename-length-max=99 helps diagnosing
186 filenames that are too long for tar-v7. (PR/414)
188 - Variables aumented with `+=' are now automatically flattened (i.e.,
189 trailing backslashes removed) and then wrapped around 80 colummns
190 (adding trailing backslashes). In previous versions, a long series
196 would result in a single-line definition of VAR that could possibly
197 exceed the maximum line length of some make implementations.
199 Non-augmented variables are still output as they are defined in
204 - Support Fortran 90/95 with the new "fc" and "ppfc" languages.
205 Works the same as the old Fortran 77 implementation; just replace
206 F77 with FC everywhere (exception: FFLAGS becomes FCFLAGS).
207 Requires a version of autoconf which provides AC_PROG_FC (>=2.59).
209 - Support for conditional _LISP.
211 - Support for conditional -hook and -local rules (PR/428).
213 - Diagnose AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR calls following AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE. (PR/49)
215 - Automake will not write any Makefile.ins after the first error it
216 encounters. The previous Makefile.ins (if any) will be left in
217 place. (Warnings will not prevent output, but remember they can
218 be turned into errors with -Werror.)
220 - The restriction that SUBDIRS must contain direct children is gone.
223 - The manual tells more about SUBDIRS vs. DIST_SUBDIRS.
224 It also gives an example of nested packages using AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS.
228 * Long standing bugs:
230 - Define DIST_SUBDIRS even when the `no-dist' or `cygnus' options are used
231 so that `make distclean' and `make maintainer-clean' can work.
233 - Define AR and ARFLAGS even when only EXTRA_LIBRARIES are defined.
235 - Fix many rules to please FreeBSD make, which runs commands with `sh -e'.
237 - Polish diagnostic when no input file is found.
241 * Long standing bugs:
243 - Fix AM_PATH_PYTHON to correctly display $PYTHON when it has been
244 overridden by the user.
246 - Honor PATH_SEPARATOR in various places of the Automake package, for
249 - Adjust dependency tracking mode detection to ICC 8.0's new output.
252 - Fix install-sh so it can install the `mv' binary... using `mv'.
254 - Fix tru64 dependency tracking for libtool objects.
256 - Work around Exuberant Ctags when creating a TAGS files in a directory
257 without files to scan but with subdirectories to include.
259 * Bugs introduced by 1.8:
261 - Fix an "internal error" when @LIBOBJS@ is used in a variable that is
262 not defined in the same conditions as the _LDADD that uses it.
264 - Do not warn when JAVAROOT is overridden, this is legitimate.
268 * Long standing bugs:
270 - Quote filenames in installation rules, in case $DESTDIR, $prefix,
271 or any of the other *dir variables contain a space.
273 Please note that Automake does not and cannot support spaces in
274 filenames that are involved during the build. This change affects
275 only installation paths, so that `make install' does not bomb out
276 in packages configured with
277 ./configure --prefix '/c/Program Files'
279 - Fix the depfiles output so it works with GNU sed (<4.1) even when
280 POSIXLY_CORRECT is set.
282 - Do not AC_SUBST(LIBOBJS) in AM_WITH_REGEX. This macro was unusable
283 since Autoconf 2.54, which defines LIBOBJS itself.
285 - Fix a potential (but unlikely) race condition in parallel elisp
286 builds. (Introduced in 1.7.3.)
288 - Do not assume that users override _DEPENDENCIES in all conditions
289 where Automake will try to define them.
291 - Do not use `mkdir -p' in mkinstalldirs, unless this is GNU mkdir.
292 Solaris 8's `mkdir -p' is not thread-safe and can break parallel
295 This fix also affects the $(mkdir_p) variable defined since
296 Automake 1.8. It will be set to `mkdir -p' only if mkdir is GNU
297 mkdir, and to `mkinstalldirs' or `install-sh -d' otherwise.
299 - Secure temporary directory creation in `make distcheck'. (PR/413)
301 - Do not generate two build rules for `parser.h' when the
302 parser appears in two different conditionals.
304 - Work around a Solaris 8 /bin/sh bug in the test for dependency
305 checking. Usually ./configure will not pick this shell; so this
306 fix only helps cases where the shell is forced to /bin/sh.
308 * Bugs introduced by 1.8:
310 - In some situations (hand-written `m4_include's), aclocal would
311 call the `File::Spec->rel2abs' method, which was only introduced
312 in Perl 5.6. This new version reestablish support Perl 5.005.
314 It is likely that the next major Automake releases will require at
315 least Perl 5.6. Consider upgrading your development environment
316 if you are still using the five-year-old Perl 5.005.
318 - Automake would sometimes fail to define rules for targets listed
319 in variables defined in multiple conditions. For instance on
325 it would define only the `a.$(OBJEXT): a.c' rule and omit the
326 `b.$(OBJEXT): b.c' rule.
328 * New sections in manual:
330 - Third-Party Makefiles: how to interface third party Makefiles.
331 - Upgrading: upgrading packages to newer Automake versions.
332 - Multiple Outputs: handling tools that produce many outputs.
336 * A (well known) portability bug slipped in the changes made to
337 install-sh in Automake 1.8.1. The broken install-sh would refuse to
338 install anything on Tru64.
340 * Fix install rules for conditionally built python files. (This never
345 * Bugs introduced by 1.8:
347 - Fix Config.pm import error with old Perl versions (at least
348 5.005_03). One symptom is that aclocal could not find its macro
351 - Automake 1.8 used `mkdir -m 0755 -p --' to ensure that directories
352 created by `make install' are always world readable, even if the
353 installer happens to have an overly restrictive umask (e.g. 077).
354 This was a mistake and has been reverted. There are at least two
355 reasons why we must not use `-m 0755':
356 - it causes special bits like SGID to be ignored,
357 - it may be too restrictive (some setups expect 775 directories).
359 - Fix aclocal to honor definitions located in files which have been
360 m4_included manually. aclocal 1.8 had been updated to check
361 m4_included files for new requirements, but forgot that these
362 m4_included files can also provide new definitions.
364 Note that if you have such a setup, we recommend you get rid of
365 it. In the past, there was a reason to m4_include files manually:
366 aclocal used to duplicate entire M4 files into aclocal.m4, even
367 files that were distributed. Some packages were therefore
368 m4_including the distributed file directly, and playing some
369 tricks to ensure aclocal would not copy that file to aclocal.m4,
370 in order to limit the amount of duplication. Since aclocal 1.8.x
371 will precisely output m4_includes for local M4 files, we recommend
372 that you clean up your setup, removing all manual m4_includes and
373 letting aclocal output them.
375 - Output detailed menus in the Info version if the Automake manual,
376 so that Emacs can locate the indexes.
378 - configure.ac and configure were listed twice in DIST_COMMON (an
379 internal variable where Automake lists configury files to
380 distribute). This was harmless, but unaesthetic.
382 - Use `chmod a-w' instead of `chmod -w' as the latter honors umask.
383 This was an issue only in the Automake package itself, not in
386 - Automake assumed that all AC_CONFIG_LINKS arguments had the form
387 DEST:SRC. This was wrong, as some packages do
388 AC_CONFIG_LINKS($computedlinks). This version no longer abort in
391 - Contrary to mkinstalldirs, $(mkdir_p) was expecting exactly one
392 argument. This caused two kinds of failures:
393 - Rules installing data in a conditionally defined directory
394 failed when that directory was undefined. In this case no
395 argument was supplied.
396 - `make installdirs' failed, because several directories were
397 passed to $(mkdir_p). This was an issue only on platform
398 were $(mkdir_p) is implemented with `install-sh -d'.
399 $(mkdir_p) as been changed to accept 0 or more arguments, as
402 * Long-standing bugs:
404 - Fix an unexpected diagnostic occurring when users attempt
405 to override some internal variables that Automake appends to.
407 - aclocal now scans configure.ac for macro definitions (PR/319).
409 - Fix a portability issue with OSF1/Tru64 Make. If a directory
410 distributes files which are outside itself (this usually occurs
411 when using AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR([../dir]) to use auxiliary files
412 from a parent package), then `make distcheck' fails due to an
413 optimization performed by OSF1/Tru64 Make in its VPATH handling.
414 (tests/subpkg2.test failure)
416 - Fix another portability issue with Sun and OSF1/Tru64 Make.
417 In a VPATH-build configuration, `make install' would install
418 nobase_ files to wrong locations.
420 - Fix a Perl `uninitialized value' diagnostic occurring when
421 automake complains that a Texinfo file does not have a
422 @setfilename statement.
424 - Erase config.status.lineno during `make distclean'. This file
425 can be created by config.status. Automake already knew about
426 configure.lineno, but forgot config.status.lineno.
428 - Distribute all files, even those which are built and installed
429 conditionally. This change affects files listed in conditionally
430 defined *_HEADERS and *_PYTHON variable (unless they are nodist_*)
431 as well as those listed in conditionally defined dist_*_DATA,
432 dist_*_JAVA, dist_*_LISP, and dist_*_SCRIPTS variables.
434 - Fix AM_PATH_LISPDIR to avoid \? in sed regular expressions; it
435 doesn't conform to POSIX.
437 - Normalize help strings for configure variables and options added
442 - Check for python2.4 in AM_PATH_PYTHON.
444 * Spurious failures in test suite:
446 - tests/libtool5.test, tests/ltcond.test, tests/ltcond2.test,
447 tests/ltconv.test: fix failures with CVS Libtool.
448 - tests/aclocal6.test: fix failure if autom4te.cache is disabled.
449 - tests/txinfo24.test, tests/txinfo25.test, tests/txinfo28.test:
450 fix failures with old Texinfo versions.
456 - The NEWS file is more verbose.
460 - Autoconf 2.58 or greater is required.
464 - Default source file names in the absence of a _SOURCES declaration
465 are made by removing any target extension before appending `.c', so
466 to make the libtool module `foo.la' from `foo.c', you only need to
469 lib_LTLIBRARIES = foo.la
470 foo_la_LDFLAGS = -module
472 For backward compatibility, foo_la.c will be used instead of
473 foo.c if this file exists or is the explicit target of a rule.
474 However -Wobsolete will warn about this deprecated naming.
476 - AR's `cru' flags are now set in a global ARFLAGS variable instead
477 of being hard-coded in each $(AR) invocation, so they can be
478 substituted from configure.ac. This has been requested by people
479 dealing with non-POSIX ar implementations.
481 - New warning option: -Woverride. This will warn about any user
482 target or variable definitions which override Automake
485 - Texinfo rules back up and restore info files when makeinfo fails.
487 - Texinfo rules now support the `html' target.
488 Running this requires Texinfo 4.0 or greater.
490 `html' is a new recursive target, so if your package mixes
491 hand-crafted `Makefile.in's with Automake-generated
492 `Makefile.in's, you should adjust the former to support (or
493 ignore) this target so that `make html' recurses successfully. If
494 you had a custom `html' rule in your `Makefile.am', it's better to
495 rename it as `html-local', otherwise your rule will override
496 Automake's new rule (you can check that by running `automake
497 -Woverride') and that will stop the recursion to subdirectories.
499 Last but not least, this `html' rule is declared PHONY, even when
500 overridden. Fortunately, it appears that few packages use a
501 non-PHONY `html' rule.
503 - Any file which is m4_included from configure.ac will appear as a
504 configure and Makefile.in dependency, and will be automatically
507 - The rules for rebuilding Makefiles and Makefile.ins will now
508 rebuild all Makefiles and all Makefile.ins at once when one of
509 configure's dependencies has changed. This is considerably faster
510 than previous implementations, where config.status and automake
511 were run separately in each directory (this still happens when you
512 change a Makefile.am locally, without touching configure.ac or
513 friends). Doing this also solves a longstanding issue: these
514 rebuild rules failed to work when adding new directories to the
515 tree, forcing you to run automake manually.
517 - For similar reasons, the rules to rebuild configure,
518 config.status, and aclocal.m4 are now defined in all directories.
519 Note that if you were using the CONFIG_STATUS_DEPENDENCIES and
520 CONFIGURE_DEPENDENCIES (formerly undocumented) variables, you
521 should better define them in all directories. This is easily done
522 using an AC_SUBST (make sure you prefix these dependencies with
523 $(top_srcdir) since this variable will appear at different
524 levels of the build tree).
526 - aclocal will now use `m4_include' instead of copying local m4
527 files into aclocal.m4. (Local m4 files are those you ship with
528 your project, other files will be copied as usual.)
530 Because m4_included files are automatically distributed, it means
531 for most projects there is no point in EXTRA_DISTing the list of
532 m4 files which are used. (You can probably get rid of
533 m4/Makefile.am if you had one.)
535 - aclocal will avoid touching aclocal.m4 when possible, so that
536 Autom4te's cache isn't needlessly invalidated. This behavior can
537 be switched off with the new `--force' option.
539 - aclocal now uses Autoconf's --trace to detect macros which are
540 actually used and will no longer include unused macros simply
541 because they where mentioned. This was often the case for macros
542 called conditionally.
544 - New options no-dist and no-dist-gzip.
546 - compile, depcomp, elisp-comp, install-sh, mdate-sh, mkinstalldirs,
547 py-compile, and ylwrap, now all understand --version and --help.
549 - Automake will now recognize AC_CONFIG_LINKS so far as removing created
550 links as part of the distclean target and including source files in
553 - AM_PATH_PYTHON now supports ACTION-IF-FOUND and ACTION-IF-NOT-FOUND
554 argument. The latter can be used to override the default behavior
557 - Automake will exit with $? = 63 on version mismatch. (So does
558 Autoconf 2.58) missing knows this, and in this case it will
559 emulate the tools as if they were absent. Because older versions
560 of Automake and Autoconf did not use this exit code, this change
561 will only be useful in projects generated with future versions of
564 - When using AC_CONFIG_FILES with multiple input files, Automake
565 generates the first ".in" input file for which a ".am" exists.
566 (Former versions would try to use only the first input file.)
568 - lisp_DATA is now allowed. If you are using the empty ELCFILES
569 idiom to disable byte-compilation of lisp_LISP files, it is
570 recommended that you switch to using lisp_DATA. Note that
571 this is not strictly equivalent: lisp_DATA will install elisp
572 files even if emacs is not installed, while *_LISP do not
573 install anything unless emacs is found.
575 - Makefiles will prefer `mkdir -p' over mkinstalldirs if it is
576 available. This selection is achieved through the Makefile
577 variable $(mkdir_p) that is set by AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE to either
578 `mkdir -m 0755 -p --', `$(mkinstalldirs) -m 0755', or
579 `$(install_sh) -m 0755 -d'.
583 - Because `mkdir -p' is available on most platforms, and we can use
584 `install-sh -d' when it is not, the use of the mkinstalldirs
585 script is being phased out. `automake --add-missing' no longer
586 installs it, and if you remove mkinstalldirs from your package,
587 automake will define $(mkinstalldirs) as an alias for $(mkdir_p).
589 Gettext 0.12.1 still requires mkinstalldirs. Fortunately
590 gettextize and autopoint will install it when needed. Automake
591 will continue to define the $(mkinstalldirs) and to distribute
592 mkinstalldirs when this script is in the source tree.
594 - AM_PROG_CC_STDC is now empty. The content of this macro was
595 merged in AC_PROG_CC. If your code uses $am_cv_prog_cc_stdc, you
596 should adjust it to use $ac_cv_prog_cc_stdc instead. (This
597 renaming should be safe, even if you have to support several,
598 versions of Automake, because AC_PROG_CC defines this variable
599 since Autoconf 2.54.)
601 - Some users where using the undocumented ACLOCAL_M4_SOURCES
602 variable to override the aclocal.m4 dependencies computed
603 (inaccurately) by older versions of Automake. Because Automake
604 now tracks configure's m4 dependencies accurately (see m4_include
605 above), the use of ACLOCAL_M4_SOURCES should be considered
606 obsolete and will be flagged as such when running `automake
611 - Defining programs conditionally using Automake conditionals no
612 longer leads to a combinatorial explosion. The following
613 construct used to be troublesome when used with dozens of
628 Likewise for _SOURCES, _LDADD, and _LIBADD variables.
630 - Due to implementation constraints, previous versions of Automake
631 proscribed multiple conditional definitions of some variables
641 All _PROGRAMS, _LDADD, and _LIBADD variables were affected.
642 This restriction has been lifted, and these variables now
643 support multiple conditional definitions as do other variables.
645 - Cleanup the definitions of $(distdir) and $(top_distdir).
646 $(top_distdir) now points to the root of the distribution
647 directory created during `make dist', as it did in Automake 1.4,
648 not to the root of the build tree as it did in intervening
649 versions. Furthermore these two variables are now only defined in
650 the top level Makefile, and passed to sub-directories when running
653 - The --no-force option now correctly checks the Makefile.in's
654 dependencies before deciding not to update it.
656 - Do not assume that make files are called Makefile in cleaning rules.
658 - Update .info files in the source tree, not in the build tree. This
659 is what the GNU Coding Standard recommend. Only Automake 1.7.x
660 used to update these files in the build tree (previous versions did
661 it in the source tree too), and it caused several problems, varying
662 from mere annoyance to portability issues.
664 - COPYING, COPYING.LIB, and COPYING.LESSER are no longer overwritten
665 when --add-missing and --force-missing are used. For backward
666 compatibility --add-missing will continue to install COPYING (in
667 `gnu' strictness) when none of these three files exist, but this
668 use is deprecated: you should better choose a license yourself and
669 install it once for all in your source tree (and in your code
672 - Fix ylwrap so that it does not overwrite header files that haven't
673 changed, as the inline rule already does.
675 - User-defined rules override automake-defined rules for the same
676 targets, even when rules do not have commands. This is not new
677 (and was documented), however some of the automake-generated
678 rules have escaped this principle in former Automake versions.
679 Rules for the following targets are affected by this fix:
681 clean, clean-am, dist-all, distclean, distclean-am, dvi, dvi-am,
682 info, info-am, install-data-am, install-exec-am, install-info,
683 install-info-am, install-man, installcheck-am, maintainer-clean,
684 maintainer-clean-am, mostlyclean, mostlyclean-am, pdf, pdf-am,
685 ps, ps-am, uninstall-am, uninstall-info, uninstall-man
687 Practically it means that an attempt to supplement the dependencies
688 of some target, as in
692 will now *silently override* the automake definition of the
693 rule for this target. Running `automake -Woverride' will diagnose
694 all such overriding definitions.
696 It should be noted that almost all these targets support a *-local
697 variant that is meant to supplement the automake-defined rule
698 (See node `Extending' in the manual). The above rule should
701 clean-local: my-clean-rule
703 These *-local targets have been documented since at least
704 Automake 1.2, so you should not fear the change if you have
705 to support multiple automake versions.
709 - The Automake manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
711 - Targets dist-gzip, dist-bzip2, dist-tarZ, dist-zip are always defined.
713 - core dumps are no longer removed by the cleaning rules. There are
714 at least three reasons for this:
715 1. These files should not be created by any build step,
716 so their removal do not fit any of the cleaning rules.
717 Actually, they may be precious to the developer.
718 2. If such file is created during a build, then it's clearly a
719 bug Automake should not hide. Not removing the file will
720 cause `make distcheck' to complain about its presence.
721 3. Operating systems have different naming conventions for
722 core dump files. A core file on one system might be a
723 completely legitimate data file on another system.
725 - RUNTESTFLAGS, CTAGSFLAGS, ETAGSFLAGS, JAVACFLAGS are no longer
726 defined by Automake. This means that any definition in the
727 environment will be used, unless overridden in the Makefile.am or
728 on the command line. The old behavior, where these variables were
729 defined empty in each Makefile, can be obtained by AC_SUBSTing or
730 AC_ARG_VARing each variable from configure.ac.
732 - CONFIGURE_DEPENDENCIES and CONFIG_STATUS_DEPENDENCIES are now
733 documented. (The is not a new feature, these variables have
734 been there since at least Automake 1.4.)
737 * Fix install-strip to work with nobase_ binaries.
738 * Fix renaming of #line directives in ylwrap.
739 * Rebuild with Autoconf 2.59. (1.7.8 was not installable with pdksh.)
742 * Remove spurious blank lines in cleaning rules introduced in 1.7.7.
743 * Fix detection of Debian's install-info, broken since version 1.5.
744 (Debian bug #213524).
745 * Honor -module if it appears in AM_LDFLAGS (i.e., relax name checking)
746 This was only done for libfoo_LDFLAGS and LDFLAGS in previous versions.
749 * The implementation of automake's --no-force option is unreliable,
750 so this option is ignored in this version. A real fix will appear in
751 Automake 1.8. (Debian Bug #206299)
752 * AM_PATH_PYTHON: really check the whole list of interpreters if no
753 argument is given. (PR/399)
754 * Do not warn about leading `_' in variable names, even with -Wportability.
755 * Support user redefinitions of TEXINFO_TEX.
756 * depcomp: support AIX Compiler version 6.
757 * Fix missing rebuilds during `make dist' with BSD make.
758 (Could produce tarballs containing out-of-date files.)
759 * Resurrect multilib support.
760 * Noteworthy manual updates:
761 - Extending aclocal: how to write m4 macros that won't trigger warnings
763 - A Shared Library: Rewrite and split into subsections.
766 * Fix depcomp's icc mode for ICC 7.1.
767 * Diagnose calls to AC_CONFIG_FILES and friends with not enough arguments.
768 * Fix maintainer-clean's removal of autom4te.cache in VPATH builds.
769 * Fix AM_PATH_LISPDIR to work with POSIXLY_CORRECT=1.
770 * Fix the location reported in some diagnostics related to AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS.
771 * Remove Latin-1 characters from elisp-comp.
772 * Update the manual's @dircategory to match the Free Software Directory.
775 * Update install-sh's license to remove an advertising clause.
777 * Fix a bug introduced in 1.7.4, related to BUILT_SOURCE handling,
778 that caused invalid Makefile.ins to be generated.
779 * Make sure AM_MAKE_INCLUDE doesn't fail when a `doit' file exists.
780 * New FAQ entry: renamed objects.
783 * Tweak the TAGS rule to support Exuberant Ctags (in addition to
784 the Emacs implementation)
785 * Fix output of aclocal.m4 dependencies in subdirectories.
786 * Use `mv -f' instead of `mv' in fastdep rules.
787 * Upgrade mdate-sh to work on OS/2.
788 * Don't byte-compile elisp files when ELCFILES is set empty.
789 (this documented feature was broken by 1.7.3)
790 * Diagnose trailing backslashes on last line of Makefile.am.
791 * Diagnose whitespace following trailing backslashes.
792 * Multiple tests are now correctly supported in DEJATOOL. (PR/388)
793 * Fix rebuilt rules for AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile:Makefile.in:Makefile.bot])
795 * `make install' will build `BUILT_SOURCES' first.
796 * Minor documentation fixes.
799 * Fix stamp files numbering (when using multiple AC_CONFIG_HEADERS).
800 * Query distutils for `pythondir' and `pythonexecdir', instead of
801 using an hardcoded path. This should allow builds on 64-bit
802 distributions that usually use lib64/ instead of lib/.
803 * AM_PATH_PYTHON will also search for python2.3.
804 * elisp files are now built all at once instead of one by one. Besides
805 incurring a speed-up, this is required to support interdependent elisp files.
807 - `make distcheck' will now work in `_inst/' and `_build' instead
808 of `=inst/' and `=build/'
809 - use `_dirstamp' when the file-system doesn't support `.dirstamp'
810 - install/uninstall `*.i[0-9][0-9]'-style info files
811 - more changes that affect only the Automake package (not its output)
812 * Fix some incompatibilities with upcoming perl-5.10.
813 * Properly quote AC_PACKAGE_TARNAME and AC_PACKAGE_VERSION when defining
816 - dashmstdout and dashXmstdout modes: don't use `-o /dev/null', this
817 is troublesome with gcc and Solaris compilers. (PR/385)
818 - makedepend mode: work with Libtool. (PR/385 too)
820 * better support for unusual gettext setups, such as multiple po/ directories
822 - Flag missing po/ and intl/ directories as warnings, not errors.
823 - Disable these warnings if po/ does not exist.
824 * Noteworthy manual updates:
826 - Document how AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR interacts with missing files.
828 - Document `AM_YFLAGS = -d'. (PR/382)
831 * Fix installation and uninstallation of Info files built in subdirectories.
832 * Do not run `./configure --with-included-gettext' during `make distcheck'
833 if AM_GNU_GETTEXT([external]) is used.
834 * Correctly uninstall renamed man pages.
835 * Do not strip escaped newline in variables defined in one condition
836 and augmented in another condition.
837 * Fix ansi2knr rules for LIBOBJS sources.
838 * Clean all known Texinfo index files, not only those which appear to
839 be used, because we cannot know wich indexes are used in included files.
840 (PR/375, Debian Bug #168671)
841 * Honor only the first @setfilename seen in a Texinfo file.
842 * Treat "required file X not found" diagnostics as errors (exit status 1).
843 * Don't complain that a required file is not found when it is a Makefile
845 * Don't use single suffix inference rules when building `.info'-less
846 Info files, for the sake of Solaris make.
847 * The `check' target now depends on `$(BUILT_SOURCES)'. (PR/359)
848 * Recognize multiple inference rules such as `.a.b .c.d:'. (PR/371)
849 * Warn about multiple inference rules when -Wportability is used. (PR/372)
850 * Fix building of deansified files from subdirectories. (PR/370)
851 * Add missing `fi' in the .c->.obj rules.
852 * Improve install-sh to work even when names contain spaces or certain
853 (but not all) shell metachars.
854 * Fix the following spurious failures in the test suite:
855 depcomp2.test, gnits2.test, gnits3.test, python3.test, texinfo13.test
856 * Noteworthy manual updates:
857 - Augment the section about BUILT_SOURCES.
858 - Mention that AM_PROG_CC_STDC is a relic that is better avoided today.
861 * Honor `ansi2knr' for files built in subdirectories, or using per-targets
863 * Aclocal should now recognize macro names containing parentheses, e.g.
864 AC_DEFUN([AC_LANG_PREPROC(Fortran 90)], [...]).
865 * Erase *.sum and *.log files created by DejaGnu, during `make distclean'.
867 * Install Python files even if they were built. (PR/369)
868 * Have stamp-vti dependent upon configure instead of configure.ac, as the
869 version might not be defined in the latter. (PR/358)
870 * Reorder arguments passed to a couple of commands, so things works
871 when POSIXLY_CORRECT=1.
872 * Fix a regex that can cause Perl to segfault on large input.
874 * Fix distribution of packages that have some sources defined conditionally,
875 as in the `Conditional compilation using Automake conditionals' example
877 * Fix spurious test suite failures on IRIX.
878 * Don't report a required variable as undefined if it has been
879 defined conditionally for the "right" conditions.
880 * Fix cleaning of the /tmp subdirectory used by `make distcheck', in case
881 `make distcheck' fails.
882 * Fix distribution of included Makefile fragment, so we don't create
883 spurious directories in the distribution. (PR/366)
884 * Don't complain that a target lacks `.$(EXEEXT)' when it has it.
887 * Autoconf 2.54 is required.
888 * `aclocal' and `automake' will no longer warn about obsolete
889 configure macros. This is done by `autoconf -Wobsolete'.
890 * AM_CONFIG_HEADER, AM_SYS_POSIX_TERMIOS and
891 AM_HEADER_TIOCGWINSZ_NEEDS_SYS_IOCTL are obsolete (although still
892 supported). You should use AC_CONFIG_HEADERS, AC_SYS_POSIX_TERMIOS,
893 and AC_HEADER_TIOCGWINSZ instead. `autoupdate' can upgrade
894 `configure.ac' for you.
895 * Support for per-program and per-library `_CPPFLAGS'.
896 * New `ctags' target (builds CTAGS files).
897 * Support for -Wmumble and -Wno-mumble, where mumble is a warning category
898 (see `automake --help' or the manual for a list of them).
899 * Honor the WARNINGS environment variable.
900 * Omit the call to depcomp when using gcc3: call the compiler directly.
901 * A new option, std-options, tests that programs support --help and --version
902 when `make installcheck' is run. This is enabled by --gnits.
903 * Texinfo rules now support the `ps' and `pdf' targets.
904 * Info files are now created in the build directory, not the source directory.
905 * info_TEXINFOS supports files in subdirectories (this requires Texinfo 4.1
907 * `make distcheck' will enforce DESTDIR support by attempting
909 * `+=' can be used in conditionals, even if the augmented variable
910 was defined for another condition.
911 * Makefile fragments (inserted with `include') are always distributed.
912 * Use Autoconf's --trace interface to inspect configure.ac and get
913 a more accurate view of it.
914 * Add support for extending aclocal's default macro search path
915 using a `dirlist' file within the aclocal directory.
916 * automake --output-dir is deprecated.
917 * The part of the distcheck target that checks whether uninstall actually
918 removes all installed files has been moved in a separate target,
919 distuninstallcheck, so it can be overridden easily.
923 * Support for AM_INIT_GETTEXT([external])
924 * Bug fixes, including:
925 - Fix Automake's own `make install' so it works even if `ln' doesn't.
926 - nobase_ programs and scripts honor --program-transform correctly.
927 - Erase configure.lineno during `make distclean'.
928 - Erase YACC and LEX outputs during `make maintainer-clean'.
931 * Many bug fixes, including:
932 - Requiring the current version works.
933 - Fix "$@" portability issues (for Zsh).
934 - Fix output of dummy dependency files in presence of post-processed
936 - Don't compute dependencies in background to avoid races with libtool.
937 - Fix handling of _OBJECTS variables for targets sharing source variables.
938 - Check dependency mode for Java when AM_PROG_GCJ is used.
941 * automake --output-dir is deprecated
942 * Many bug fixes, including:
943 - Don't choke on AM_LDFLAGS definitions.
944 - Clean libtool objects from subdirectories.
945 - Allow configure variables with reserved suffix and unknown prefix
946 (e.g. AC_SUBST(mumble_LDFLAGS) when 'mumble' is not a target).
947 - Fix the definition of AUTOMAKE and ACLOCAL in configure.
950 * Autoconf 2.52 is required.
951 * automake no longer run libtoolize.
952 This is the job of autoreconf (from GNU Autoconf).
953 * `dist' generates all the archive flavors, as did `dist-all'.
954 * `dist-gzip' generates the Gzip tar file only.
955 * Combining Automake Makefile conditionals no longer lead to a combinatorial
956 explosion. Makefile.in's keep a reasonable size.
957 * AM_FUNC_ERROR_AT_LINE, AM_FUNC_STRTOD, AM_FUNC_OBSTACK, AM_PTRDIFF_T
958 are no longer shipped, since Autoconf 2.52 provides them (both as AM_
960 * `#line' of Lex and Yacc files are properly set.
961 * EXTRA_DIST can contain generated directories.
962 * Support for dot-less extensions in suffix rules.
963 * The part of the distcheck target that checks whether distclean actually
964 cleans all built files has been moved in a separate target, distcleancheck,
965 so it can be overridden easily.
966 * `make distcheck' will pass additional options defined in
967 $(DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS) to configure.
968 * Fixed CDPATH portability problems, in particular for MacOS X.
969 * Fixed handling of nobase_ targets.
970 * Fixed support of implicit rules leading to .lo objects.
971 * Fixed late inclusion of --add-missing files (e.g. depcomp) in DIST_COMMON
972 * Added uninstall-hook target
973 * `AC_INIT AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE(tarname,version)' is an obsolete construct.
974 You can now use `AC_INIT(pkgname,version) AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE' instead.
975 (Note that "pkgname" is not "tarname", see the manual for details.)
976 It is also possible to pass a list of global Automake options as
977 first argument to this new form of AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE.
978 * Compiler-based assembler is now called `CCAS'; people expected `AS'
979 to be a real assembler.
980 * AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE will set STRIP itself when it needs it. Adding
981 AC_CHECK_TOOL([STRIP], [strip]) manually is no longer required.
982 * aclocal and automake are also installed with the version number
983 appended, and some of the install directory names have changed.
984 This lets you have multiple versions installed simultaneously.
985 * Support for parsers and lexers in subdirectories.
988 * Support for `configure.ac'.
989 * Support for `else COND', `endif COND' and negated conditions `!COND'.
990 * `make dist-all' is much faster.
991 * Allows '@' AC_SUBSTs in macro names.
992 * Faster AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE (requires update of `missing' script)
993 * User-side dependency tracking. Developers no longer need GNU make
995 * Uses DIST_SUBDIRS in some situations when SUBDIRS is conditional
996 * Most files are correctly handled if they appear in subdirs
997 For instance, a _DATA file can appear in a subdir
998 * GNU tar is no longer required for `make dist'
999 * Added support for `dist_' and `nodist_' prefixes
1000 * Added support for `nobase_' prefix
1001 * Compiled Java support
1002 * Support for per-executable and per-library compilation flags
1006 * Added support for the Fortran 77 programming language.
1007 * Re-indexed the Automake Texinfo manual.
1008 * Added `AM_FOOFLAGS' variable for each compiler invocation;
1009 e.g. AM_CFLAGS can be used in Makefile.am to set C compiler flags
1010 * Support for latest autoconf, including support for objext
1011 * Can now put `.' in SUBDIRS to control build order
1012 * `include' command and `+=' support for macro assignment
1013 * Dependency tracking no long susceptible to deleted header file problem
1014 * Maintainer mode now a conditional. @MAINT@ is now an anachronism.
1019 * Better Cygwin32 support
1020 * Support for suffix rules with _SOURCES variables
1021 * New options `readme-alpha' and `check-news'; Gnits mode sets these
1022 * @LEXLIB@ no longer required when lex source seen
1023 Lex support in `missing', and new lex macro. Update your missing script.
1024 * Built-in support for assembly
1025 * aclocal gives error if `AM_' macro not found
1026 * Passed YFLAGS, not YACCFLAGS, to yacc
1027 * AM_PROG_CC_STDC does not have to come before AC_PROG_CPP
1028 * Dependencies computed as a side effect of compilation
1029 * Preliminary support for Java
1030 * DESTDIR support at "make install" time
1031 * Improved ansi2knr support; you must use the latest ansi2knr.c (included)
1035 * Better DejaGnu support
1036 * Added no-installinfo option
1037 * Added Emacs Lisp support
1038 * Added --no-force option
1039 * Included `aclocal' program
1040 * Automake will now generate rules to regenerate aclocal.m4, if appropriate
1041 * Now uses `AM_' macro names everywhere
1042 * ansi2knr option can have directory prefix (eg `../lib/ansi2knr')
1043 ansi2knr now works correctly on K&R sources
1044 * Better C++, yacc, lex support
1045 * Will compute _DEPENDENCIES variables automatically if not supplied
1046 * Will interpolate $(...) and ${...} when examining contents of a variable
1047 * .deps files now in build directory, not source directory; dependency
1048 handling generally rewritten
1049 * DATA, MANS and BUILT_SOURCES no longer included in distribution
1050 * can now put config.h into a subdir
1051 * Added dist-all target
1052 * Support for install-info program (see texinfo 3.9)
1053 * Support for "yacc -d"
1054 * configure substitutions are automatically discovered and included
1055 in generated Makefile.in
1056 * Special --cygnus mode
1057 * OMIT_DEPENDENCIES can now hold list of dependencies to be omitted
1058 when making distribution. Some dependencies are auto-ignored.
1059 * Changed how libraries are specified in _LIBRARIES variable
1060 * Full libtool support, from Gord Matzigkeit
1061 * No longer have to explicitly touch stamp-h when using AC_CONFIG_HEADER;
1062 AM_CONFIG_HEADER handles it automatically
1063 * Texinfo output files no longer need .info extension
1064 * Added `missing' support
1066 * Conditionals in Makefile.am, from Ian Taylor
1070 * distcheck target runs install and installcheck targets
1071 * Added preliminary support for DejaGnu.
1076 * More libtool fixes from Gord Matzigkeit; libtool support is still
1078 * Added support for jm_MAINTAINER_MODE
1080 * New "distcheck" target
1084 * mkinstalldirs and mdate-sh now appear in directory specified by
1086 * Removed DIST_SUBDIRS, DIST_OTHER
1087 * AC_ARG_PROGRAM only required when an actual program exists
1088 * dist-hook target now run before distribution packaged up; idea from
1089 Dieter Baron. Other hooks exist, too.
1090 * Preliminary (unfinished) support for libtool
1091 * Added short option names.
1092 * Better "dist" support when gluing together multiple packages
1096 * Documentation updates (many from François Pinard)
1097 * strictness `normal' now renamed to `foreign'
1098 * Renamed --install-missing to --add-missing
1099 * Now handles AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR
1100 * Now handles TESTS macro
1101 * DIST_OTHER renamed to EXTRA_DIST
1102 * DIST_SUBDIRS is deprecated
1103 * @ALLOCA@ and @LIBOBJS@ now work in _LDADD variables
1104 * Better error messages in many cases
1105 * Program names are canonicalized
1106 * Added "check" prefix; from Gord Matzigkeit
1110 * configure.in scanner knows about AC_PATH_XTRA, AC_OUTPUT ":" syntax
1111 * Beginnings of a test suite
1112 * Automatically adds -I options for $(srcdir), ".", and path to config.h
1113 * Doesn't print anything when running
1114 * Beginnings of MAINT_CHARSET support
1115 * Can specify version in AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS
1116 * Most errors recognizable by Emacs' M-x next-error
1117 * Added --verbose option
1118 * All "primary" variables now obsolete; use EXTRA_PRIMARY to supply
1119 configure-generated names
1120 * Required macros now distributed in aclocal.m4
1122 * --strictness=gnu is default
1126 * More sophisticated configure.in scanning; now understands ALLOCA and
1127 LIBOBJS directly, handles AC_CONFIG_HEADER more precisely, etc.
1128 * TEXINFOS and MANS now obsolete; use info_TEXINFOS and man_MANS instead.
1129 * CONFIG_HEADER variable now obsolete
1130 * Can handle multiple Texinfo sources
1131 * Allow hierarchies deeper than 2. From Gord Matzigkeit.
1132 * HEADERS variable no longer needed; now can put .h files directly into
1133 foo_SOURCES variable.
1134 * Automake automatically rebuilds files listed in AC_OUTPUT. The
1135 corresponding ".in" files are included in the distribution.
1138 * Added --gnu and --gnits options
1139 * More standards checking
1141 * Cleaned up 'dist' targets
1142 * Added AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS variable and several options
1143 * Now scans configure.in to get some information (preliminary)
1146 * Works with Perl 4 again
1149 * Added --install-missing option.
1150 * Pretty-prints generated macros and rules
1151 * Comments in Makefile.am are placed more intelligently in Makefile.in
1152 * Generates .PHONY target
1153 * Rule or macro in Makefile.am now overrides contents of Automake file
1154 * Substantial cleanups from François Pinard
1158 * Works with Perl 4 again.
1161 * New uniform naming scheme.
1162 * --strictness option
1164 * '.c' files corresponding to '.y' or '.l' files are automatically
1166 * Many bug fixes and cleanups
1169 * Allow objects to be conditionally included in libraries via lib_LIBADD.
1172 * Bug fixes in 'clean' code.
1173 * Now generates 'installdirs' target.
1174 * man page installation reworked.
1175 * 'make dist' no longer re-creates all Makefile.in's.
1178 * Reimplemented in Perl
1179 * Added --amdir option (for debugging)
1180 * Texinfo support cleaned up.
1181 * Automatic de-ANSI-fication cleaned up.
1182 * Cleaned up 'clean' targets.
1185 * Automatic dependency tracking
1186 * More documentation
1187 * New variables DATA and PACKAGEDATA
1188 * SCRIPTS installed using $(INSTALL_SCRIPT)
1189 * No longer uses double-colon rules
1191 * Changes in advance of internationalization
1195 Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003,
1196 2004, 2005 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1198 This file is part of GNU Automake.
1200 GNU Automake is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
1201 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
1202 the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
1205 GNU Automake is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
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1207 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
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1210 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
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1212 the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor,
1213 Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.