3 * Obsolete features removed:
5 - Support for automatic de-ANSI-fication has been removed.
7 - The deprecated `lzma' compression format for distribution archives
8 has been removed, in favor of `xz' and `lzip'.
10 - The obsolete AM_WITH_REGEX macro has been removed.
12 - The deprecated options `--output-dir', `--Werror' and `--Wno-error'
17 - New `cscope' target to build a cscope database for the source tree.
19 * Changes to Automake-generated testsuite harnesses:
21 - Test scripts that exit with status 99 to signal an "hard error" (e.g.,
22 and unexpected or internal error, or a failure to set up the test case
23 scenario) have their outcome reported as an 'ERROR' now. Previous
24 versions of automake reported such an outcome as a 'FAIL' (the only
25 difference with normal failures being that hard errors were counted
26 as failures even when the test originating them was listed in
29 - The testsuite summary displayed by the parallel-test harness has a
30 completely new format, that always list the numbers of passed, failed,
31 xfailed, xpassed, skipped and errored tests, even when these numbers
32 are zero (but using smart coloring when the color-tests option is in
35 - The default testsuite driver offered by the 'parallel-tests' option is
36 now implemented (partly at least) with the help of automake-provided
37 auxiliary scripts (e.g., `test-driver'), instead of relying entirely
38 on code in the generated Makefile.in.
39 This has two noteworthy implications. The first one is that projects
40 using the `parallel-tests' option should now either run automake with
41 the `--add-missing' option, or manually copy the `test-driver' script
42 into their tree. The second, and more important, implication is that
43 now, when the `parallel-tests' option is in use, TESTS_ENVIRONMENT can
44 not be used anymore to define a test runner, and the command specified
45 in LOG_COMPILER (and <ext>_LOG_COMPILER) must be a *real* executable
46 program or script. For example, this is still a valid usage (albeit
50 if test -n '$(STRICT_TESTS)'; then \
55 LOG_COMPILER = $(SHELL) $$maybe_errexit
57 while this is not anymore:
60 $(SHELL) `test -n '$(STRICT_TESTS_CHECKING)' && echo ' -e'`
65 run_with_perl_or_shell () \
67 if grep -q '^#!.*perl' $$1; then
73 LOG_COMPILER = run_with_per_or_shell
75 - The package authors can now use customary testsuite drivers within
76 the framework provided by the 'parallel-tests' testsuite harness.
77 Consistently with the existing syntax, this can be done by defining
78 special makefile variables `LOG_DRIVER' and `<ext>_LOG_DRIVER'.
80 - A new developer-reserved variable `AM_TESTS_FD_REDIRECT' can be used
81 to redirect/define file descriptors used by the test scripts.
83 - The parallel-tests harness generates now, in addition the `.log' files
84 holding the output produced by the test scripts, a new set of `.trs'
85 files, holding "metadata" derived by the execution of the test scripts;
86 among such metadata are the outcomes of the test cases run by a script.
88 - Initial and still experimental support for the TAP test protocol is
91 * Miscellaneous changes:
93 - The `dist' and `dist-all' targets now can run compressors in parallel.
95 - Automake can now generate silenced rules for texinfo outputs.
97 - Some auxiliary files that are automatically distributed by Automake
98 (e.g., `install-sh', or the `depcomp' script for packages compiling
99 C sources) might now be listed in the DIST_COMMON variable in many
100 Makefile.in files, rather than in the top-level one.
102 - Messages of types warning or error from `automake' and `aclocal'
103 are now prefixed with the respective type, and presence of -Werror
106 - Automake's early configure-time sanity check now tries to avoid
107 sleeping for a second, which slowed down cached configure runs
108 noticeably. In that case, it will check back at the end of the
109 configure script to ensure that at least one second has passed, to
110 avoid time stamp issues with makefile rules rerunning autotools
113 - For programs and libraries, automake now detect EXTRA_foo_DEPENDENCIES
114 and adds them to the normal list of dependencies, but without
115 overwriting the foo_DEPENDENCIES variable, which is normally computed
118 - C source and header files derived from non-distributed Yacc sources
119 are now removed by "make clean", not only by "make maintainer-clean".
121 - The warnings in the category `extra-portability' are now enabled by
122 `-Wall'. In previous versions, one has to use `-Wextra-portability'
127 - Various minor bugfixes.
129 * Bugs introduced by 1.11:
131 - The AM_COND_IF macro also works if the shell expression for the
132 conditional is no longer valid for the condition.
134 * Long-standing bugs:
136 - Automake's own build system finally have a real "installcheck" target.
138 - Files listed with the AC_REQUIRE_AUX_FILE macro in configure.ac are
139 now automatically distributed also if the directory of the auxiliary
140 files coincides with the top-level directory.
142 - Automake now detects the presence of the `-d' flag in the various
143 `*YFLAGS' variables even when their definitions involve indirections
144 through other variables, such as in:
146 AM_YFLAGS = $(foo_opts)
148 - Automake now complains if a `*YFLAGS' variable has any conditional
149 content, not only a conditional definition.
151 - Explicit enabling and/or disabling of Automake warning categories
152 through the `-W...' options now always takes precedence over the
153 implicit warning level implied by Automake strictness (foreign, gnu
154 or gnits), regardless of the order in which such strictness and
155 warning flags appear. For example, a setting like:
156 AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = -Wall --foreign
157 will cause the warnings in category `portability' to be enabled, even
158 if those warnings are by default disabled in `foreign' strictness.
163 * WARNING: Future backward-incompatibilities!
165 - The obsolescent AM_WITH_REGEX macro has been deprecated, since the
166 GNU rx library has been decommissioned.
168 - The `lzma' compression format for distribution archives has been
169 deprecated in favor of `xz' and `lzip'.
171 - The `--acdir' option of aclocal is deprecated, and will probably be
172 removed in the next major Automake release (1.12). [FIXME]
174 - The exact order in which the directories in the aclocal macro
175 search path are looked up is probably going to be changed in the
176 next Automake release (1.12). [FIXME]
178 * Miscellaneous changes:
180 - "make dist" can now create lzip-compressed tarballs.
182 - In the Automake info documentation, the Top node and the nodes about
183 the invocation of the automake and aclocal programs have been renamed;
184 now, calling "info automake" will open the Top node, while calling
185 "info automake-invocation" and "info aclocal-invocation" will access
186 the nodes about the invocation of respectively automake and aclocal.
188 - Automake is now distributed as a gzip-compressed and an xz-compressed
189 tarball. Previously, bzip2 was used instead of xz.
191 - The last relics of Python 1.5 support have been removed from the
192 AM_PATH_PYTHON macro.
194 Bugs fixed in 1.11.2a:
196 * Long-standing bugs:
198 - The "deleted header file problem" for *.am files is avoided by stub
199 rules. This allows `make' to trigger a rerun of `automake' also if
200 some previously needed `.am' file has been removed.
202 - The `silent-rules' option now generates working makefiles even
203 for the uncommon `make' implementations that do not support the
204 nested-variables extension to POSIX 2008. For such `make'
205 implementations, whether a build is silent is determined at
206 configure time, and cannot be overridden at make time with
207 `make V=0' or `make V=1'.
212 * Changes to aclocal:
214 - The `--acdir' option is deprecated. Now you should use the new options
215 `--automake-acdir' and `--system-acdir' instead.
217 - The `ACLOCAL_PATH' environment variable is now interpreted as a
218 colon-separated list of additional directories to search after the
219 automake internal acdir (by default ${prefix}/share/aclocal-APIVERSION)
220 and before the system acdir (by default ${prefix}/share/aclocal).
222 * Miscellaneous changes:
224 - The Automake support for automatic de-ANSI-fication has been
227 - The `lzma' compression scheme and associated automake option `dist-lzma'
228 is obsoleted by `xz' and `dist-xz' due to upstream changes.
230 - You may adjust the compression options used in dist-xz and dist-bzip2.
231 The default is now merely -e for xz, but still -9 for bzip; you may
232 specify a different level via the XZ_OPT and BZIP2 envvars respectively.
233 E.g., "make dist-xz XZ_OPT=-7" or "make dist-bzip2 BZIP2=-5"
235 - The `compile' script now converts some options for MSVC for a better
236 user experience. Similarly, the new `ar-lib' script wraps Microsoft lib.
238 - The py-compile script now accepts empty arguments passed to the options
239 `--destdir' and `--basedir', and complains about unrecognized options.
240 Moreover, a non-option argument or a special `--' argument terminates
243 - A developer that needs to pass specific flags to configure at "make
244 distcheck" time can now, and indeed is advised to, do so by defining
245 the developer-reserved makefile variable AM_DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS,
246 instead of the old DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS.
247 The DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS variable should now be reserved for the
248 user; still, the old Makefile.am files that used to define it will
249 still continue to work as before.
251 - New macro AM_PROG_AR that looks for an archiver and wraps it in the new
252 'ar-lib' auxiliary script if the selected archiver is Microsoft lib.
253 This new macro is required for LIBRARIES and LTLIBRARIES when automake
254 is run with -Wextra-portability and -Werror.
256 - When using DejaGnu-based testsuites, the user can extend the `site.exp'
257 file generated by automake-provided rules by defining the special make
258 variable `$(EXTRA_DEJAGNU_SITE_CONFIG)'.
260 - The `install-info' rule can now be instructed not to create/update
261 the `${infodir}/dir' file, by exporting the new environment variable
262 `AM_UPDATE_INFO_DIR' to the value "no".
264 Bugs fixed in 1.11.2:
266 * Bugs introduced by 1.11.2:
268 - Automake now correctly recognizes the prefix/primary combination
269 `pkglibexec_SCRIPTS' as valid.
271 * Bugs introduced by 1.11:
273 - The parallel-tests driver no longer produces erroneous results with
274 Tru64/OSF 5.1 sh upon unreadable log files.
276 - The `parallel-tests' test driver does not report spurious successes
277 when used with concurrent FreeBSD make (e.g., "make check -j3").
279 - When the parallel-tests driver is in use, automake now explicitly
280 rejects invalid entries and conditional contents in TEST_EXTENSIONS,
281 instead of issuing confusing and apparently unrelated error messages
282 (e.g., "non-POSIX variable name", "bad characters in variable name",
283 or "redefinition of TEST_EXTENSIONS), or even, in some situations,
284 silently producing broken `Makefile.in' files.
286 - The `silent-rules' option now truly silences all compile rules, even
287 when dependency tracking is disabled. Also, when `silent-rules' is
288 not used, `make' output no longer contains spurious backslash-only
289 lines, thus once again matching what Automake did before 1.11.
291 - The AM_COND_IF macro also works if the shell expression for the
292 conditional is no longer valid for the condition.
294 * Long-standing bugs:
296 - The order of Yacc and Lex flags is fixed to be consistent with other
297 languages: $(AM_YFLAGS) comes before $(YFLAGS), and $(AM_LFLAGS) before
298 $(LFLAGS), so that the user variables override the developer variables.
300 - "make distcheck" now correctly complains also when "make uninstall"
301 leaves one and only one file installed in $(prefix).
303 - A "make uninstall" issued before a "make install", or after a mere
304 "make install-data" or a mere "make install-exec" does not spuriously
307 - Automake now warns about more primary/directory invalid combinations,
308 such as "doc_LIBRARIES" or "pkglib_PROGRAMS".
310 - Rules generated by Automake now try harder to not change any files when
311 `make -n' is invoked. Fixes include compilation of Emacs Lisp, Vala, or
312 Yacc source files and the rule to update config.h.
314 - Several scripts and the parallel-tests testsuite driver now exit with
315 the right exit status upon receiving a signal.
317 - A per-Makefile.am setting of -Werror does not erroneously carry over
318 to the handling of other Makefile.am files.
320 - The code for automatic dependency tracking works around a Solaris
321 make bug triggered by sources containing repeated slashes when the
322 `subdir-objects' option was used.
324 - The makedepend and hp depmodes now work better with VPATH builds.
326 - Java sources specified with check_JAVA are no longer compiled for
327 "make all", but only for "make check".
329 - An usage like "java_JAVA = foo.java" will now cause Automake to warn
330 and error out if `javadir' is undefined, instead of silently producing
331 a broken Makefile.in.
333 - aclocal and automake now honour the configure-time definitions of
334 AUTOCONF and AUTOM4TE when they spawn autoconf or autom4te processes.
336 - The `install-info' recipe no longer tries to guess whether the
337 `install-info' program is from Debian or from GNU, and adaptively
338 change its behaviour; this has proven to be frail and easy to
341 Bugs fixed in 1.11.1:
343 - Lots of minor bugfixes.
345 * Bugs introduced by 1.11:
347 - The `parallel-tests' test driver works around a GNU make 3.80 bug with
348 trailing white space in the test list (`TESTS = foo $(EMPTY)').
350 * Long standing bugs:
352 - On Darwin 9, `pythondir' and `pyexecdir' pointed below `/Library/Python'
353 even if the `--prefix' argument pointed outside of a system directory.
354 AM_PATH_PYTHON has been fixed to ignore the value returned from python's
355 `get_python_lib' function if it points outside the configured prefix,
356 unless the `--prefix' argument was either `/usr' or below `/System'.
358 - The testsuite does not try to change the mode of `ltmain.sh' files from
359 a Libtool installation (symlinked to test directories) any more.
361 - AM_PROG_GCJ uses AC_CHECK_TOOLS to look for `gcj' now, so that prefixed
362 tools are preferred in a cross-compile setup.
364 - The distribution is tarred up with mode 755 now by the `dist*' targets.
365 This fixes a race condition where untrusted users could modify files
366 in the $(PACKAGE)-$(VERSION) distdir before packing if the toplevel
367 build directory was world-searchable. This is CVE-2009-4029.
371 * Version requirements:
373 - Autoconf 2.62 or greater is required.
375 * Changes to aclocal:
377 - The autoconf version check implemented by aclocal in aclocal.m4
378 (and new in Automake 1.10) is degraded to a warning. This helps
379 in the common case where the Autoconf versions used are compatible.
381 * Changes to automake:
383 - The automake program can run multiple threads for creating most
384 Makefile.in files concurrently, if at least Perl 5.7.2 is available
385 with interpreter-based threads enabled. Set the environment variable
386 AUTOMAKE_JOBS to the maximum number of threads to use, in order to
387 enable this experimental feature.
389 * Changes to Libtool support:
391 - Libtool generic flags are now passed to the install and uninstall
394 - distcheck works with Libtool 2.x even when LT_OUTPUT is used, as
395 config.lt is removed correctly now.
399 - subdir-object mode works now with Fortran (F77, FC, preprocessed
400 Fortran, and Ratfor).
402 - For files with extension .f90, .f95, .f03, or .f08, the flag
403 $(FCFLAGS_f[09]x) computed by AC_FC_SRCEXT is now used in compile rules.
405 - Files with extension .sx are also treated as preprocessed assembler.
407 - The default source file extension (.c) can be overridden with
408 AM_DEFAULT_SOURCE_EXT now.
410 - Python 3.0 is supported now, Python releases prior to 2.0 are no
413 - AM_PATH_PYTHON honors python's idea about the site directory.
415 - There is initial support for the Vala programming language, when using
418 * Miscellaneous changes:
420 - Automake development is done in a git repository on Savannah now, see
422 http://git.sv.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=automake.git
424 A read-only CVS mirror is provided at
426 cvs -d :pserver:anonymous@pserver.git.sv.gnu.org:/automake.git \
427 checkout -d automake HEAD
429 - "make dist" can now create xz-compressed tarballs,
430 as well as (deprecated?) lzma-compressed tarballs.
432 - `automake --add-missing' will by default install the GPLv3 file as
433 COPYING if it is missing. It will also warn that the license file
434 should be added to source control. Note that Automake will never
435 overwrite an existing COPYING file, even when the `--force-missing'
438 - The manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL 1.3.
440 - Automake ships and installs man pages for automake and aclocal now.
442 - New shorthand `$(pkglibexecdir)' for `$(libexecdir)/@PACKAGE@'.
444 - install-sh supports -C, which does not update the installed file
445 (and its time stamps) if the contents did not change.
447 - The `gnupload' script has been revamped.
449 - The `depcomp' and `compile' scripts now work with MSVC under MSYS.
451 - The targets `install' and `uninstall' are more efficient now, in that
452 for example multiple files from one Automake variable such as
453 `bin_SCRIPTS' are copied in one `install' (or `libtool --mode=install')
454 invocation if they do not have to be renamed.
456 Both install and uninstall may sometimes enter (`cd' into) the target
457 installation directory now, when no build-local scripts are used.
459 Both install and uninstall do not fail anymore but do nothing if an
460 installation directory variable like `bindir' is set to the empty string.
462 For built-in rules, `make install' now fails reliably if installation
463 of a file failed. Conversely, `make uninstall' even succeeds when
464 issued multiple times.
466 These changes may need some adjustments from users: For example,
467 some `install' programs refuse to install multiple copies of the
468 same file in one invocation, so you may need to remove duplicate
469 entries from file lists.
471 Also, within one set of files, say, nobase_data_DATA, the order of
472 installation may be changed, or even unstable among different hosts,
473 due to the use of associative arrays in awk. The increased use of
474 awk matches a similar move in Autoconf to provide for better scaling.
476 Further, most undocumented per-rule install command variables such as
477 binSCRIPT_INSTALL have been removed because they are not needed any
478 more. Packages which use them should be using the appropriate one of
479 INSTALL_{DATA,PROGRAM,SCRIPT} or their install_sh_{DATA,PROGRAM,SCRIPT}
480 counterpart, depending on the type of files and the need for automatic
481 target directory creation.
483 - The "deleted header file problem" for *.m4 files is avoided by
484 stub rules. This allows `make' to trigger a rerun of `aclocal'
485 also if some previously needed macro file has been removed.
487 - Rebuild rules now also work for a removed `subdir/Makefile.in' in
488 an otherwise up to date tree.
490 - The `color-tests' option causes colored test result output on terminals.
492 - The `parallel-tests' option enables a new test driver that allows for
493 parallel test execution, inter-test dependencies, lazy test execution
494 for unit-testing, re-testing only failed tests, and formatted result output
495 as RST (reStructuredText) and HTML. Enabling this option may require some
496 changes to your test suite setup; see the manual for details.
498 - The `silent-rules' option enables Linux kernel-style silent build output.
499 This option requires the widely supported but non-POSIX `make' feature
500 of recursive variable expansion, so do not use it if your package needs
501 to build with `make' implementations that do not support it.
503 To enable less verbose build output, the developer has to use the Automake
504 option `silent-rules' in `AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE', or call the `AM_SILENT_RULES'
505 macro. The user may then set the default verbosity by passing the
506 `--enable-silent-rules' option to `configure'. At `make' run time, this
507 default may be overridden using `make V=0' for less verbose, and `make V=1'
508 for backward-compatible verbose output.
510 - New prefix `notrans_' for manpages which should not be transformed
511 by --program-transform.
513 - New macro AM_COND_IF for conditional evaluation and conditional
516 - For AC_CONFIG_LINKS, if source and destination are equal, do not
517 remove the file in a non-VPATH build. Such setups work with Autoconf
520 - AM_MAINTAINER_MODE now allows for an optional argument specifying
523 - AM_SUBST_NOTMAKE may prevent substitution of AC_SUBSTed variables,
524 useful especially for multi-line values.
526 - Automake's early configure-time sanity check now diagnoses an
527 unsafe absolute source directory name and makes configure fail.
529 - The Automake macros and rules cope better with whitespace in the
530 current directory name, as long as the relative path to `configure'
531 does not contain whitespace. To this end, the values of `$(MISSING)'
532 and `$(install_sh)' may contain suitable quoting, and their expansion
533 might need `eval'uation if used outside of a makefile. These
534 undocumented variables may be used in several documented macros such
535 as $(AUTOCONF) or $(MAKEINFO).
539 * Long-standing bugs:
541 - Fix aix dependency tracking for libtool objects.
543 - Work around AIX sh quoting issue in AC_PROG_CC_C_O, leading to
544 unnecessary use of the `compile' script.
546 - For nobase_*_LTLIBRARIES with nonempty directory components, the
547 correct `-rpath' argument is used now.
549 - `config.status --file=Makefile depfiles' now also works with the
550 extra quoting used internally by Autoconf 2.62 and newer
551 (it used to work only without the `--file=' bit).
553 - The `missing' script works better with versioned tool names.
555 - Semantics for `missing help2man' have been revamped:
557 Previously, if `help2man' was not present, `missing help2man' would have
558 the following semantics: if some man page was out of date but present, then
559 a warning would be printed, but the exit status was 0. If the man page was
560 not present at all, then `missing' would create a replacement man page
561 containing an error message, and exit with a status of 2. This does not play
562 well with `make': the next run will see this particular man page as being up
563 to date, and will only error out on the next generated man page, if any;
564 repeat until all pages are done. This was not desirable.
566 These are the new semantics: if some man page is not present, and help2man
567 is not either, then `missing' will warn and generate the replacement page
568 containing the error message, but exit successfully. However, `make dist'
569 will ensure that no such bogus man pages are packaged into a tarball.
571 - Targets provided by automake behave better with `make -n', in that they
572 take care not to create files.
574 - `config.status Makefile... depfiles' works fine again in the presence of
575 disabled dependency tracking.
577 - The default no-op recursive rules for these targets also work with BSD make
578 now: html, install-html, install-dvi, install-pdf, install-pdf, install-info.
580 - `make distcheck' works also when both a directory and some file below it
581 have been added to a distribution variable, such as EXTRA_DIST or *_SOURCES.
583 - Texinfo dvi, ps, pdf, and html output files are not removed upon
584 `make mostlyclean' any more; only the LaTeX by-products are.
586 - Renamed objects also work with the `subdir-objects' option and
587 source file languages which Automake does not know itself.
589 - `automake' now correctly complains about variable assignments which are
590 preceded by a comment, extend over multiple lines with backslash-escaped
591 newlines, and end in a comment sign. Previous versions would silently
592 and wrongly ignore such assignments completely.
594 * Bugs introduced by 1.10:
596 - Fix output of dummy dependency files in presence of post-processed
597 Makefile.in's again, but also cope with long lines.
599 - $(EXEEXT) is automatically appended to filenames of XFAIL_TESTS
600 that have been declared as programs in the same Makefile.
601 This is for consistency with the analogous change to TESTS in 1.10.
603 - Fix order of standard includes to again be `-I. -I$(srcdir)',
604 followed by directories containing config headers.
608 * Version requirements:
610 - Autoconf 2.60 or greater is required.
612 - Perl 5.6 or greater is required.
614 * Changes to aclocal:
616 - aclocal now also supports -Wmumble and -Wno-mumble options.
618 - `dirlist' entries (for the aclocal search path) may use shell
619 wildcards such as `*', `?', or `[...]'.
621 - aclocal supports an --install option that will cause system-wide
622 third-party macros to be installed in the local directory
623 specified with the first -I flag. This option also uses #serial
624 lines in M4 files to upgrade local macros.
626 The new aclocal options --dry-run and --diff help to review changes
627 before they are installed.
629 - aclocal now outputs an autoconf version check in aclocal.m4 in
630 projects using automake.
632 For a few years, automake and aclocal have been calling autoconf
633 (or its underlying engine autom4te) to accurately retrieve the
634 data they need from configure.ac and its siblings. Doing so can
635 only work if all autotools use the same version of autoconf. For
636 instance a Makefile.in generated by automake for one version of
637 autoconf may stop working if configure is regenerated with another
638 version of autoconf, and vice versa.
640 This new version check ensures that the whole build system has
641 been generated using the same autoconf version.
643 * Support for new Autoconf macros:
645 - The new AC_REQUIRE_AUX_FILE Autoconf macro is supported.
647 - If `subdir-objects' is set, and AC_CONFIG_LIBOBJ_DIR is specified,
648 $(LIBOBJS), $(LTLIBOBJS), $(ALLOCA), and $(LTALLOCA) can be used
649 in different directories. However, only one instance of such a
650 library objects directory is supported.
652 * Change to Libtool support:
654 - Libtool generic flags (those that go before the --mode=MODE option)
655 can be specified using AM_LIBTOOLFLAGS and target_LIBTOOLFLAGS.
657 * Yacc and Lex changes:
659 - The rebuild rules for distributed Yacc and Lex output will avoid
660 overwriting existing files if AM_MAINTAINER_MODE and maintainer-mode
663 - ylwrap is now always used for lex and yacc source files,
664 regardless of whether there is more than one source per directory.
668 - Preprocessed assembler (*.S) compilation now honors CPPFLAGS,
669 AM_CPPFLAGS and per-target _CPPFLAGS, and supports dependency
670 tracking, unlike non-preprocessed assembler (*.s).
672 - subdir-object mode works now with Assembler. Automake assumes
673 that the compiler understands `-c -o'.
675 - Preprocessed assembler (*.S) compilation now also honors
676 $(DEFS) $(DEFAULT_INCLUDES) $(INCLUDES).
678 - Improved support for Objective C:
679 - Autoconf's new AC_PROG_OBJC will enable automatic dependency tracking.
680 - A new section of the manual documents the support.
682 - New support for Unified Parallel C:
683 - AM_PROG_UPC looks for a UPC compiler.
684 - A new section of the manual documents the support.
686 - Per-target flags are now correctly handled in link rules.
688 For instance maude_CFLAGS correctly overrides AM_CFLAGS; likewise
689 for maude_LDFLAGS and AM_LDFLAGS. Previous versions bogusly
690 preferred AM_CFLAGS over maude_CFLAGS while linking, and they
691 used both AM_LDFLAGS and maude_LDFLAGS on the same link command.
693 The fix for compiler flags (i.e., using maude_CFLAGS instead of
694 AM_CFLAGS) should not hurt any package since that is how _CFLAGS
695 is expected to work (and actually works during compilation).
697 However using maude_LDFLAGS "instead of" AM_LDFLAGS rather than
698 "in addition to" breaks backward compatibility with older versions.
699 If your package used both variables, as in
701 AM_LDFLAGS = common flags
703 a_LDFLAGS = more flags
706 and assumed *_LDFLAGS would sum up, you should rewrite it as
708 AM_LDFLAGS = common flags
710 a_LDFLAGS = $(AM_LDFLAGS) more flags
713 This new behavior of *_LDFLAGS is more coherent with other
714 per-target variables, and the way *_LDFLAGS variables were
715 considered internally.
717 * New installation targets:
719 - New targets mandated by GNU Coding Standards:
724 By default they will only install Texinfo manuals.
725 You can customize them with *-local variants:
731 - The undocumented recursive target `uninstall-info' no longer exists.
732 (`uninstall' is in charge of removing all possible documentation
733 flavors, including optional formats such as dvi, ps, or info even
734 when `no-installinfo' is used.)
736 * Miscellaneous changes:
738 - Automake no longer complains if input files for AC_CONFIG_FILES
739 are specified using shell variables.
741 - clean, distribution, or rebuild rules are normally disabled for
742 inputs and outputs of AC_CONFIG_FILES, AC_CONFIG_HEADERS, and
743 AC_CONFIG_LINK specified using shell variables. However, if these
744 variables are used as ${VAR}, and AC_SUBSTed, then Automake will
745 be able to output rules anyway.
746 (See the Automake documentation for AC_CONFIG_FILES.)
748 - $(EXEEXT) is automatically appended to filenames of TESTS
749 that have been declared as programs in the same Makefile.
750 This is mostly useful when some check_PROGRAMS are listed in TESTS.
752 - `-Wportability' has finally been turned on by default for `gnu' and
753 `gnits' strictness. This means, automake will complain about %-rules
754 or $(GNU Make functions) unless you switch to `foreign' strictness or
755 use `-Wno-portability'.
757 - Automake now uses AC_PROG_MKDIR_P (new in Autoconf 2.60), and uses
758 $(MKDIR_P) instead of $(mkdir_p) to create directories. The
759 $(mkdir_p) variable is still defined (to the same value as
760 $(MKDIR_P)) but should be considered obsolete. If you are using
761 $(mkdir_p) in some of your rules, please plan to update them to
762 $(MKDIR_P) at some point.
764 - AM_C_PROTOTYPES and ansi2knr are now documented as being obsolete.
765 They still work in this release, but may be withdrawn in a future one.
767 - Inline compilation rules for gcc3-style dependency tracking are
770 - Automake installs a "Hello World!" example package in $(docdir).
771 This example is used throughout the new "Autotools Introduction"
772 chapter of the manual.
776 * Makefile.in bloat reduction:
778 - Inference rules are used to compile sources in subdirectories when
779 the `subdir-objects' option is used and no per-target flags are
780 used. This should reduce the size of some projects a lot, because
781 Automake used to output an explicit rule for each such object in
784 - Automake no longer outputs three rules (.o, .obj, .lo) for each
785 object that must be built with explicit rules. It just outputs
786 the rules required to build the kind of object considered: either
787 the two .o and .obj rules for usual objects, or the .lo rule for
790 * Change to Libtool support:
792 - Libtool tags are used with libtool versions that support them.
793 (I.e., with Libtool 1.5 or greater.)
795 - Automake is now able to handle setups where a libtool library is
796 conditionally installed in different directories, as in
799 lib_LTLIBRARIES = liba.la
801 pkglib_LTLIBRARIES = liba.la
803 liba_la_SOURCES = ...
805 * Changes to aclocal:
807 - aclocal now ensures that AC_DEFUNs and AU_DEFUNs it discovers are
808 really evaluated, before it decides to include them in aclocal.m4.
809 This solves nasty problems with conditional redefinitions of
810 Autoconf macros in /usr/share/aclocal/*.m4 files causing extraneous
811 *.m4 files to be included in any project using these macros.
812 (Calls to AC_PROG_EGREP causing libtool.m4 to be included is the
813 most famous instance of this bug.)
815 - Do not complain about missing conditionally AC_REQUIREd macros
816 that are not actually used. In 1.8.x aclocal would correctly
817 determine which of these macros were really needed (and include
818 only these in the package); unfortunately it would also require
819 all of them to be present in order to run. This created
820 situations were aclocal would not work on a tarball distributing
821 all the macros it uses. For instance running aclocal on a project
822 containing only the subset of the Gettext macros in use by the
823 project did not work, because gettext conditionally requires other
826 * Portability improvements:
828 - Tar format can be chosen with the new options tar-v7, tar-ustar, and
829 tar-pax. The new option filename-length-max=99 helps diagnosing
830 filenames that are too long for tar-v7. (PR/414)
832 - Variables aumented with `+=' are now automatically flattened (i.e.,
833 trailing backslashes removed) and then wrapped around 80 colummns
834 (adding trailing backslashes). In previous versions, a long series
840 would result in a single-line definition of VAR that could possibly
841 exceed the maximum line length of some make implementations.
843 Non-augmented variables are still output as they are defined in
848 - Support Fortran 90/95 with the new "fc" and "ppfc" languages.
849 Works the same as the old Fortran 77 implementation; just replace
850 F77 with FC everywhere (exception: FFLAGS becomes FCFLAGS).
851 Requires a version of autoconf which provides AC_PROG_FC (>=2.59).
853 - Support for conditional _LISP.
855 - Support for conditional -hook and -local rules (PR/428).
857 - Diagnose AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR calls following AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE. (PR/49)
859 - Automake will not write any Makefile.ins after the first error it
860 encounters. The previous Makefile.ins (if any) will be left in
861 place. (Warnings will not prevent output, but remember they can
862 be turned into errors with -Werror.)
864 - The restriction that SUBDIRS must contain direct children is gone.
867 - The manual tells more about SUBDIRS vs. DIST_SUBDIRS.
868 It also gives an example of nested packages using AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS.
872 * Long-standing bugs:
874 - Define DIST_SUBDIRS even when the `no-dist' or `cygnus' options are used
875 so that `make distclean' and `make maintainer-clean' can work.
877 - Define AR and ARFLAGS even when only EXTRA_LIBRARIES are defined.
879 - Fix many rules to please FreeBSD make, which runs commands with `sh -e'.
881 - Polish diagnostic when no input file is found.
885 * Long-standing bugs:
887 - Fix AM_PATH_PYTHON to correctly display $PYTHON when it has been
888 overridden by the user.
890 - Honor PATH_SEPARATOR in various places of the Automake package, for
893 - Adjust dependency tracking mode detection to ICC 8.0's new output.
896 - Fix install-sh so it can install the `mv' binary... using `mv'.
898 - Fix tru64 dependency tracking for libtool objects.
900 - Work around Exuberant Ctags when creating a TAGS files in a directory
901 without files to scan but with subdirectories to include.
903 * Bugs introduced by 1.8:
905 - Fix an "internal error" when @LIBOBJS@ is used in a variable that is
906 not defined in the same conditions as the _LDADD that uses it.
908 - Do not warn when JAVAROOT is overridden, this is legitimate.
912 * Long-standing bugs:
914 - Quote filenames in installation rules, in case $DESTDIR, $prefix,
915 or any of the other *dir variables contain a space.
917 Please note that Automake does not and cannot support spaces in
918 filenames that are involved during the build. This change affects
919 only installation paths, so that `make install' does not bomb out
920 in packages configured with
921 ./configure --prefix '/c/Program Files'
923 - Fix the depfiles output so it works with GNU sed (<4.1) even when
924 POSIXLY_CORRECT is set.
926 - Do not AC_SUBST(LIBOBJS) in AM_WITH_REGEX. This macro was unusable
927 since Autoconf 2.54, which defines LIBOBJS itself.
929 - Fix a potential (but unlikely) race condition in parallel elisp
930 builds. (Introduced in 1.7.3.)
932 - Do not assume that users override _DEPENDENCIES in all conditions
933 where Automake will try to define them.
935 - Do not use `mkdir -p' in mkinstalldirs, unless this is GNU mkdir.
936 Solaris 8's `mkdir -p' is not thread-safe and can break parallel
939 This fix also affects the $(mkdir_p) variable defined since
940 Automake 1.8. It will be set to `mkdir -p' only if mkdir is GNU
941 mkdir, and to `mkinstalldirs' or `install-sh -d' otherwise.
943 - Secure temporary directory creation in `make distcheck'. (PR/413)
945 - Do not generate two build rules for `parser.h' when the
946 parser appears in two different conditionals.
948 - Work around a Solaris 8 /bin/sh bug in the test for dependency
949 checking. Usually ./configure will not pick this shell; so this
950 fix only helps cases where the shell is forced to /bin/sh.
952 * Bugs introduced by 1.8:
954 - In some situations (hand-written `m4_include's), aclocal would
955 call the `File::Spec->rel2abs' method, which was only introduced
956 in Perl 5.6. This new version reestablish support Perl 5.005.
958 It is likely that the next major Automake releases will require at
959 least Perl 5.6. Consider upgrading your development environment
960 if you are still using the five-year-old Perl 5.005.
962 - Automake would sometimes fail to define rules for targets listed
963 in variables defined in multiple conditions. For instance on
969 it would define only the `a.$(OBJEXT): a.c' rule and omit the
970 `b.$(OBJEXT): b.c' rule.
972 * New sections in manual:
974 - Third-Party Makefiles: how to interface third party Makefiles.
975 - Upgrading: upgrading packages to newer Automake versions.
976 - Multiple Outputs: handling tools that produce many outputs.
980 * A (well known) portability bug slipped in the changes made to
981 install-sh in Automake 1.8.1. The broken install-sh would refuse to
982 install anything on Tru64.
984 * Fix install rules for conditionally built python files. (This never
989 * Bugs introduced by 1.8:
991 - Fix Config.pm import error with old Perl versions (at least
992 5.005_03). One symptom is that aclocal could not find its macro
995 - Automake 1.8 used `mkdir -m 0755 -p --' to ensure that directories
996 created by `make install' are always world readable, even if the
997 installer happens to have an overly restrictive umask (e.g. 077).
998 This was a mistake and has been reverted. There are at least two
999 reasons why we must not use `-m 0755':
1000 - it causes special bits like SGID to be ignored,
1001 - it may be too restrictive (some setups expect 775 directories).
1003 - Fix aclocal to honor definitions located in files which have been
1004 m4_included manually. aclocal 1.8 had been updated to check
1005 m4_included files for new requirements, but forgot that these
1006 m4_included files can also provide new definitions.
1008 Note that if you have such a setup, we recommend you get rid of
1009 it. In the past, there was a reason to m4_include files manually:
1010 aclocal used to duplicate entire M4 files into aclocal.m4, even
1011 files that were distributed. Some packages were therefore
1012 m4_including the distributed file directly, and playing some
1013 tricks to ensure aclocal would not copy that file to aclocal.m4,
1014 in order to limit the amount of duplication. Since aclocal 1.8.x
1015 will precisely output m4_includes for local M4 files, we recommend
1016 that you clean up your setup, removing all manual m4_includes and
1017 letting aclocal output them.
1019 - Output detailed menus in the Info version if the Automake manual,
1020 so that Emacs can locate the indexes.
1022 - configure.ac and configure were listed twice in DIST_COMMON (an
1023 internal variable where Automake lists configury files to
1024 distribute). This was harmless, but unaesthetic.
1026 - Use `chmod a-w' instead of `chmod -w' as the latter honors umask.
1027 This was an issue only in the Automake package itself, not in
1030 - Automake assumed that all AC_CONFIG_LINKS arguments had the form
1031 DEST:SRC. This was wrong, as some packages do
1032 AC_CONFIG_LINKS($computedlinks). This version no longer abort in
1035 - Contrary to mkinstalldirs, $(mkdir_p) was expecting exactly one
1036 argument. This caused two kinds of failures:
1037 - Rules installing data in a conditionally defined directory
1038 failed when that directory was undefined. In this case no
1039 argument was supplied.
1040 - `make installdirs' failed, because several directories were
1041 passed to $(mkdir_p). This was an issue only on platform
1042 were $(mkdir_p) is implemented with `install-sh -d'.
1043 $(mkdir_p) as been changed to accept 0 or more arguments, as
1046 * Long-standing bugs:
1048 - Fix an unexpected diagnostic occurring when users attempt
1049 to override some internal variables that Automake appends to.
1051 - aclocal now scans configure.ac for macro definitions (PR/319).
1053 - Fix a portability issue with OSF1/Tru64 Make. If a directory
1054 distributes files which are outside itself (this usually occurs
1055 when using AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR([../dir]) to use auxiliary files
1056 from a parent package), then `make distcheck' fails due to an
1057 optimization performed by OSF1/Tru64 Make in its VPATH handling.
1058 (tests/subpkg2.test failure)
1060 - Fix another portability issue with Sun and OSF1/Tru64 Make.
1061 In a VPATH-build configuration, `make install' would install
1062 nobase_ files to wrong locations.
1064 - Fix a Perl `uninitialized value' diagnostic occurring when
1065 automake complains that a Texinfo file does not have a
1066 @setfilename statement.
1068 - Erase config.status.lineno during `make distclean'. This file
1069 can be created by config.status. Automake already knew about
1070 configure.lineno, but forgot config.status.lineno.
1072 - Distribute all files, even those which are built and installed
1073 conditionally. This change affects files listed in conditionally
1074 defined *_HEADERS and *_PYTHON variable (unless they are nodist_*)
1075 as well as those listed in conditionally defined dist_*_DATA,
1076 dist_*_JAVA, dist_*_LISP, and dist_*_SCRIPTS variables.
1078 - Fix AM_PATH_LISPDIR to avoid \? in sed regular expressions; it
1079 doesn't conform to POSIX.
1081 - Normalize help strings for configure variables and options added
1086 - Check for python2.4 in AM_PATH_PYTHON.
1088 * Spurious failures in test suite:
1090 - tests/libtool5.test, tests/ltcond.test, tests/ltcond2.test,
1091 tests/ltconv.test: fix failures with CVS Libtool.
1092 - tests/aclocal6.test: fix failure if autom4te.cache is disabled.
1093 - tests/txinfo24.test, tests/txinfo25.test, tests/txinfo28.test:
1094 fix failures with old Texinfo versions.
1100 - The NEWS file is more verbose.
1104 - Autoconf 2.58 or greater is required.
1108 - Default source file names in the absence of a _SOURCES declaration
1109 are made by removing any target extension before appending `.c', so
1110 to make the libtool module `foo.la' from `foo.c', you only need to
1113 lib_LTLIBRARIES = foo.la
1114 foo_la_LDFLAGS = -module
1116 For backward compatibility, foo_la.c will be used instead of
1117 foo.c if this file exists or is the explicit target of a rule.
1118 However -Wobsolete will warn about this deprecated naming.
1120 - AR's `cru' flags are now set in a global ARFLAGS variable instead
1121 of being hard-coded in each $(AR) invocation, so they can be
1122 substituted from configure.ac. This has been requested by people
1123 dealing with non-POSIX ar implementations.
1125 - New warning option: -Woverride. This will warn about any user
1126 target or variable definitions which override Automake
1129 - Texinfo rules back up and restore info files when makeinfo fails.
1131 - Texinfo rules now support the `html' target.
1132 Running this requires Texinfo 4.0 or greater.
1134 `html' is a new recursive target, so if your package mixes
1135 hand-crafted `Makefile.in's with Automake-generated
1136 `Makefile.in's, you should adjust the former to support (or
1137 ignore) this target so that `make html' recurses successfully. If
1138 you had a custom `html' rule in your `Makefile.am', it's better to
1139 rename it as `html-local', otherwise your rule will override
1140 Automake's new rule (you can check that by running `automake
1141 -Woverride') and that will stop the recursion to subdirectories.
1143 Last but not least, this `html' rule is declared PHONY, even when
1144 overridden. Fortunately, it appears that few packages use a
1145 non-PHONY `html' rule.
1147 - Any file which is m4_included from configure.ac will appear as a
1148 configure and Makefile.in dependency, and will be automatically
1151 - The rules for rebuilding Makefiles and Makefile.ins will now
1152 rebuild all Makefiles and all Makefile.ins at once when one of
1153 configure's dependencies has changed. This is considerably faster
1154 than previous implementations, where config.status and automake
1155 were run separately in each directory (this still happens when you
1156 change a Makefile.am locally, without touching configure.ac or
1157 friends). Doing this also solves a longstanding issue: these
1158 rebuild rules failed to work when adding new directories to the
1159 tree, forcing you to run automake manually.
1161 - For similar reasons, the rules to rebuild configure,
1162 config.status, and aclocal.m4 are now defined in all directories.
1163 Note that if you were using the CONFIG_STATUS_DEPENDENCIES and
1164 CONFIGURE_DEPENDENCIES (formerly undocumented) variables, you
1165 should better define them in all directories. This is easily done
1166 using an AC_SUBST (make sure you prefix these dependencies with
1167 $(top_srcdir) since this variable will appear at different
1168 levels of the build tree).
1170 - aclocal will now use `m4_include' instead of copying local m4
1171 files into aclocal.m4. (Local m4 files are those you ship with
1172 your project, other files will be copied as usual.)
1174 Because m4_included files are automatically distributed, it means
1175 for most projects there is no point in EXTRA_DISTing the list of
1176 m4 files which are used. (You can probably get rid of
1177 m4/Makefile.am if you had one.)
1179 - aclocal will avoid touching aclocal.m4 when possible, so that
1180 Autom4te's cache isn't needlessly invalidated. This behavior can
1181 be switched off with the new `--force' option.
1183 - aclocal now uses Autoconf's --trace to detect macros which are
1184 actually used and will no longer include unused macros simply
1185 because they where mentioned. This was often the case for macros
1186 called conditionally.
1188 - New options no-dist and no-dist-gzip.
1190 - compile, depcomp, elisp-comp, install-sh, mdate-sh, mkinstalldirs,
1191 py-compile, and ylwrap, now all understand --version and --help.
1193 - Automake will now recognize AC_CONFIG_LINKS so far as removing created
1194 links as part of the distclean target and including source files in
1197 - AM_PATH_PYTHON now supports ACTION-IF-FOUND and ACTION-IF-NOT-FOUND
1198 argument. The latter can be used to override the default behavior
1199 (which is to abort).
1201 - Automake will exit with $? = 63 on version mismatch. (So does
1202 Autoconf 2.58) missing knows this, and in this case it will
1203 emulate the tools as if they were absent. Because older versions
1204 of Automake and Autoconf did not use this exit code, this change
1205 will only be useful in projects generated with future versions of
1208 - When using AC_CONFIG_FILES with multiple input files, Automake
1209 generates the first ".in" input file for which a ".am" exists.
1210 (Former versions would try to use only the first input file.)
1212 - lisp_DATA is now allowed. If you are using the empty ELCFILES
1213 idiom to disable byte-compilation of lisp_LISP files, it is
1214 recommended that you switch to using lisp_DATA. Note that
1215 this is not strictly equivalent: lisp_DATA will install elisp
1216 files even if emacs is not installed, while *_LISP do not
1217 install anything unless emacs is found.
1219 - Makefiles will prefer `mkdir -p' over mkinstalldirs if it is
1220 available. This selection is achieved through the Makefile
1221 variable $(mkdir_p) that is set by AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE to either
1222 `mkdir -m 0755 -p --', `$(mkinstalldirs) -m 0755', or
1223 `$(install_sh) -m 0755 -d'.
1227 - Because `mkdir -p' is available on most platforms, and we can use
1228 `install-sh -d' when it is not, the use of the mkinstalldirs
1229 script is being phased out. `automake --add-missing' no longer
1230 installs it, and if you remove mkinstalldirs from your package,
1231 automake will define $(mkinstalldirs) as an alias for $(mkdir_p).
1233 Gettext 0.12.1 still requires mkinstalldirs. Fortunately
1234 gettextize and autopoint will install it when needed. Automake
1235 will continue to define the $(mkinstalldirs) and to distribute
1236 mkinstalldirs when this script is in the source tree.
1238 - AM_PROG_CC_STDC is now empty. The content of this macro was
1239 merged in AC_PROG_CC. If your code uses $am_cv_prog_cc_stdc, you
1240 should adjust it to use $ac_cv_prog_cc_stdc instead. (This
1241 renaming should be safe, even if you have to support several,
1242 versions of Automake, because AC_PROG_CC defines this variable
1243 since Autoconf 2.54.)
1245 - Some users where using the undocumented ACLOCAL_M4_SOURCES
1246 variable to override the aclocal.m4 dependencies computed
1247 (inaccurately) by older versions of Automake. Because Automake
1248 now tracks configure's m4 dependencies accurately (see m4_include
1249 above), the use of ACLOCAL_M4_SOURCES should be considered
1250 obsolete and will be flagged as such when running `automake
1255 - Defining programs conditionally using Automake conditionals no
1256 longer leads to a combinatorial explosion. The following
1257 construct used to be troublesome when used with dozens of
1272 Likewise for _SOURCES, _LDADD, and _LIBADD variables.
1274 - Due to implementation constraints, previous versions of Automake
1275 proscribed multiple conditional definitions of some variables
1285 All _PROGRAMS, _LDADD, and _LIBADD variables were affected.
1286 This restriction has been lifted, and these variables now
1287 support multiple conditional definitions as do other variables.
1289 - Cleanup the definitions of $(distdir) and $(top_distdir).
1290 $(top_distdir) now points to the root of the distribution
1291 directory created during `make dist', as it did in Automake 1.4,
1292 not to the root of the build tree as it did in intervening
1293 versions. Furthermore these two variables are now only defined in
1294 the top level Makefile, and passed to sub-directories when running
1297 - The --no-force option now correctly checks the Makefile.in's
1298 dependencies before deciding not to update it.
1300 - Do not assume that make files are called Makefile in cleaning rules.
1302 - Update .info files in the source tree, not in the build tree. This
1303 is what the GNU Coding Standard recommend. Only Automake 1.7.x
1304 used to update these files in the build tree (previous versions did
1305 it in the source tree too), and it caused several problems, varying
1306 from mere annoyance to portability issues.
1308 - COPYING, COPYING.LIB, and COPYING.LESSER are no longer overwritten
1309 when --add-missing and --force-missing are used. For backward
1310 compatibility --add-missing will continue to install COPYING (in
1311 `gnu' strictness) when none of these three files exist, but this
1312 use is deprecated: you should better choose a license yourself and
1313 install it once for all in your source tree (and in your code
1316 - Fix ylwrap so that it does not overwrite header files that haven't
1317 changed, as the inline rule already does.
1319 - User-defined rules override automake-defined rules for the same
1320 targets, even when rules do not have commands. This is not new
1321 (and was documented), however some of the automake-generated
1322 rules have escaped this principle in former Automake versions.
1323 Rules for the following targets are affected by this fix:
1325 clean, clean-am, dist-all, distclean, distclean-am, dvi, dvi-am,
1326 info, info-am, install-data-am, install-exec-am, install-info,
1327 install-info-am, install-man, installcheck-am, maintainer-clean,
1328 maintainer-clean-am, mostlyclean, mostlyclean-am, pdf, pdf-am,
1329 ps, ps-am, uninstall-am, uninstall-info, uninstall-man
1331 Practically it means that an attempt to supplement the dependencies
1332 of some target, as in
1334 clean: my-clean-rule
1336 will now *silently override* the automake definition of the
1337 rule for this target. Running `automake -Woverride' will diagnose
1338 all such overriding definitions.
1340 It should be noted that almost all these targets support a *-local
1341 variant that is meant to supplement the automake-defined rule
1342 (See node `Extending' in the manual). The above rule should
1345 clean-local: my-clean-rule
1347 These *-local targets have been documented since at least
1348 Automake 1.2, so you should not fear the change if you have
1349 to support multiple automake versions.
1353 - The Automake manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
1355 - Targets dist-gzip, dist-bzip2, dist-tarZ, dist-zip are always defined.
1357 - core dumps are no longer removed by the cleaning rules. There are
1358 at least three reasons for this:
1359 1. These files should not be created by any build step,
1360 so their removal do not fit any of the cleaning rules.
1361 Actually, they may be precious to the developer.
1362 2. If such file is created during a build, then it's clearly a
1363 bug Automake should not hide. Not removing the file will
1364 cause `make distcheck' to complain about its presence.
1365 3. Operating systems have different naming conventions for
1366 core dump files. A core file on one system might be a
1367 completely legitimate data file on another system.
1369 - RUNTESTFLAGS, CTAGSFLAGS, ETAGSFLAGS, JAVACFLAGS are no longer
1370 defined by Automake. This means that any definition in the
1371 environment will be used, unless overridden in the Makefile.am or
1372 on the command line. The old behavior, where these variables were
1373 defined empty in each Makefile, can be obtained by AC_SUBSTing or
1374 AC_ARG_VARing each variable from configure.ac.
1376 - CONFIGURE_DEPENDENCIES and CONFIG_STATUS_DEPENDENCIES are now
1377 documented. (The is not a new feature, these variables have
1378 been there since at least Automake 1.4.)
1380 Bugs fixed in 1.7.9:
1381 * Fix install-strip to work with nobase_ binaries.
1382 * Fix renaming of #line directives in ylwrap.
1383 * Rebuild with Autoconf 2.59. (1.7.8 was not installable with pdksh.)
1385 Bugs fixed in 1.7.8:
1386 * Remove spurious blank lines in cleaning rules introduced in 1.7.7.
1387 * Fix detection of Debian's install-info, broken since version 1.5.
1388 (Debian bug #213524).
1389 * Honor -module if it appears in AM_LDFLAGS (i.e., relax name checking)
1390 This was only done for libfoo_LDFLAGS and LDFLAGS in previous versions.
1392 Bugs fixed in 1.7.7:
1393 * The implementation of automake's --no-force option is unreliable,
1394 so this option is ignored in this version. A real fix will appear in
1395 Automake 1.8. (Debian Bug #206299)
1396 * AM_PATH_PYTHON: really check the whole list of interpreters if no
1397 argument is given. (PR/399)
1398 * Do not warn about leading `_' in variable names, even with -Wportability.
1399 * Support user redefinitions of TEXINFO_TEX.
1400 * depcomp: support AIX Compiler version 6.
1401 * Fix missing rebuilds during `make dist' with BSD make.
1402 (Could produce tarballs containing out-of-date files.)
1403 * Resurrect multilib support.
1404 * Noteworthy manual updates:
1405 - Extending aclocal: how to write m4 macros that won't trigger warnings
1407 - A Shared Library: Rewrite and split into subsections.
1409 Bugs fixed in 1.7.6:
1410 * Fix depcomp's icc mode for ICC 7.1.
1411 * Diagnose calls to AC_CONFIG_FILES and friends with not enough arguments.
1412 * Fix maintainer-clean's removal of autom4te.cache in VPATH builds.
1413 * Fix AM_PATH_LISPDIR to work with POSIXLY_CORRECT=1.
1414 * Fix the location reported in some diagnostics related to AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS.
1415 * Remove Latin-1 characters from elisp-comp.
1416 * Update the manual's @dircategory to match the Free Software Directory.
1418 Bugs fixed in 1.7.5:
1419 * Update install-sh's license to remove an advertising clause.
1420 (Debian bug #191717)
1421 * Fix a bug introduced in 1.7.4, related to BUILT_SOURCE handling,
1422 that caused invalid Makefile.ins to be generated.
1423 * Make sure AM_MAKE_INCLUDE doesn't fail when a `doit' file exists.
1424 * New FAQ entry: renamed objects.
1426 Bugs fixed in 1.7.4:
1427 * Tweak the TAGS rule to support Exuberant Ctags (in addition to
1428 the Emacs implementation)
1429 * Fix output of aclocal.m4 dependencies in subdirectories.
1430 * Use `mv -f' instead of `mv' in fastdep rules.
1431 * Upgrade mdate-sh to work on OS/2.
1432 * Don't byte-compile elisp files when ELCFILES is set empty.
1433 (this documented feature was broken by 1.7.3)
1434 * Diagnose trailing backslashes on last line of Makefile.am.
1435 * Diagnose whitespace following trailing backslashes.
1436 * Multiple tests are now correctly supported in DEJATOOL. (PR/388)
1437 * Fix rebuilt rules for AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile:Makefile.in:Makefile.bot])
1439 * `make install' will build `BUILT_SOURCES' first.
1440 * Minor documentation fixes.
1442 Bugs fixed in 1.7.3:
1443 * Fix stamp files numbering (when using multiple AC_CONFIG_HEADERS).
1444 * Query distutils for `pythondir' and `pythonexecdir', instead of
1445 using an hardcoded path. This should allow builds on 64-bit
1446 distributions that usually use lib64/ instead of lib/.
1447 * AM_PATH_PYTHON will also search for python2.3.
1448 * elisp files are now built all at once instead of one by one. Besides
1449 incurring a speed-up, this is required to support interdependent elisp files.
1450 * Support for DJGPP:
1451 - `make distcheck' will now work in `_inst/' and `_build' instead
1452 of `=inst/' and `=build/'
1453 - use `_dirstamp' when the file-system doesn't support `.dirstamp'
1454 - install/uninstall `*.i[0-9][0-9]'-style info files
1455 - more changes that affect only the Automake package (not its output)
1456 * Fix some incompatibilities with upcoming perl-5.10.
1457 * Properly quote AC_PACKAGE_TARNAME and AC_PACKAGE_VERSION when defining
1458 PACKAGE and VERSION.
1460 - dashmstdout and dashXmstdout modes: don't use `-o /dev/null', this
1461 is troublesome with gcc and Solaris compilers. (PR/385)
1462 - makedepend mode: work with Libtool. (PR/385 too)
1464 * better support for unusual gettext setups, such as multiple po/ directories
1466 - Flag missing po/ and intl/ directories as warnings, not errors.
1467 - Disable these warnings if po/ does not exist.
1468 * Noteworthy manual updates:
1470 - Document how AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR interacts with missing files.
1472 - Document `AM_YFLAGS = -d'. (PR/382)
1474 Bugs fixed in 1.7.2:
1475 * Fix installation and uninstallation of Info files built in subdirectories.
1476 * Do not run `./configure --with-included-gettext' during `make distcheck'
1477 if AM_GNU_GETTEXT([external]) is used.
1478 * Correctly uninstall renamed man pages.
1479 * Do not strip escaped newline in variables defined in one condition
1480 and augmented in another condition.
1481 * Fix ansi2knr rules for LIBOBJS sources.
1482 * Clean all known Texinfo index files, not only those which appear to
1483 be used, because we cannot know wich indexes are used in included files.
1484 (PR/375, Debian Bug #168671)
1485 * Honor only the first @setfilename seen in a Texinfo file.
1486 * Treat "required file X not found" diagnostics as errors (exit status 1).
1487 * Don't complain that a required file is not found when it is a Makefile
1489 * Don't use single suffix inference rules when building `.info'-less
1490 Info files, for the sake of Solaris make.
1491 * The `check' target now depends on `$(BUILT_SOURCES)'. (PR/359)
1492 * Recognize multiple inference rules such as `.a.b .c.d:'. (PR/371)
1493 * Warn about multiple inference rules when -Wportability is used. (PR/372)
1494 * Fix building of deansified files from subdirectories. (PR/370)
1495 * Add missing `fi' in the .c->.obj rules.
1496 * Improve install-sh to work even when names contain spaces or certain
1497 (but not all) shell metachars.
1498 * Fix the following spurious failures in the test suite:
1499 depcomp2.test, gnits2.test, gnits3.test, python3.test, texinfo13.test
1500 * Noteworthy manual updates:
1501 - Augment the section about BUILT_SOURCES.
1502 - Mention that AM_PROG_CC_STDC is a relic that is better avoided today.
1504 Bugs fixed in 1.7.1:
1505 * Honor `ansi2knr' for files built in subdirectories, or using per-targets
1507 * Aclocal should now recognize macro names containing parentheses, e.g.
1508 AC_DEFUN([AC_LANG_PREPROC(Fortran 90)], [...]).
1509 * Erase *.sum and *.log files created by DejaGnu, during `make distclean'.
1511 * Install Python files even if they were built. (PR/369)
1512 * Have stamp-vti dependent upon configure instead of configure.ac, as the
1513 version might not be defined in the latter. (PR/358)
1514 * Reorder arguments passed to a couple of commands, so things works
1515 when POSIXLY_CORRECT=1.
1516 * Fix a regex that can cause Perl to segfault on large input.
1518 * Fix distribution of packages that have some sources defined conditionally,
1519 as in the `Conditional compilation using Automake conditionals' example
1521 * Fix spurious test suite failures on IRIX.
1522 * Don't report a required variable as undefined if it has been
1523 defined conditionally for the "right" conditions.
1524 * Fix cleaning of the /tmp subdirectory used by `make distcheck', in case
1525 `make distcheck' fails.
1526 * Fix distribution of included Makefile fragment, so we don't create
1527 spurious directories in the distribution. (PR/366)
1528 * Don't complain that a target lacks `.$(EXEEXT)' when it has it.
1531 * Autoconf 2.54 is required.
1532 * `aclocal' and `automake' will no longer warn about obsolete
1533 configure macros. This is done by `autoconf -Wobsolete'.
1534 * AM_CONFIG_HEADER, AM_SYS_POSIX_TERMIOS and
1535 AM_HEADER_TIOCGWINSZ_NEEDS_SYS_IOCTL are obsolete (although still
1536 supported). You should use AC_CONFIG_HEADERS, AC_SYS_POSIX_TERMIOS,
1537 and AC_HEADER_TIOCGWINSZ instead. `autoupdate' can upgrade
1538 `configure.ac' for you.
1539 * Support for per-program and per-library `_CPPFLAGS'.
1540 * New `ctags' target (builds CTAGS files).
1541 * Support for -Wmumble and -Wno-mumble, where mumble is a warning category
1542 (see `automake --help' or the manual for a list of them).
1543 * Honor the WARNINGS environment variable.
1544 * Omit the call to depcomp when using gcc3: call the compiler directly.
1545 * A new option, std-options, tests that programs support --help and --version
1546 when `make installcheck' is run. This is enabled by --gnits.
1547 * Texinfo rules now support the `ps' and `pdf' targets.
1548 * Info files are now created in the build directory, not the source directory.
1549 * info_TEXINFOS supports files in subdirectories (this requires Texinfo 4.1
1551 * `make distcheck' will enforce DESTDIR support by attempting
1553 * `+=' can be used in conditionals, even if the augmented variable
1554 was defined for another condition.
1555 * Makefile fragments (inserted with `include') are always distributed.
1556 * Use Autoconf's --trace interface to inspect configure.ac and get
1557 a more accurate view of it.
1558 * Add support for extending aclocal's default macro search path
1559 using a `dirlist' file within the aclocal directory.
1560 * automake --output-dir is deprecated.
1561 * The part of the distcheck target that checks whether uninstall actually
1562 removes all installed files has been moved in a separate target,
1563 distuninstallcheck, so it can be overridden easily.
1567 * Support for AM_INIT_GETTEXT([external])
1568 * Bug fixes, including:
1569 - Fix Automake's own `make install' so it works even if `ln' doesn't.
1570 - nobase_ programs and scripts honor --program-transform correctly.
1571 - Erase configure.lineno during `make distclean'.
1572 - Erase YACC and LEX outputs during `make maintainer-clean'.
1575 * Many bug fixes, including:
1576 - Requiring the current version works.
1577 - Fix "$@" portability issues (for Zsh).
1578 - Fix output of dummy dependency files in presence of post-processed
1580 - Don't compute dependencies in background to avoid races with libtool.
1581 - Fix handling of _OBJECTS variables for targets sharing source variables.
1582 - Check dependency mode for Java when AM_PROG_GCJ is used.
1585 * automake --output-dir is deprecated
1586 * Many bug fixes, including:
1587 - Don't choke on AM_LDFLAGS definitions.
1588 - Clean libtool objects from subdirectories.
1589 - Allow configure variables with reserved suffix and unknown prefix
1590 (e.g. AC_SUBST(mumble_LDFLAGS) when 'mumble' is not a target).
1591 - Fix the definition of AUTOMAKE and ACLOCAL in configure.
1594 * Autoconf 2.52 is required.
1595 * automake no longer run libtoolize.
1596 This is the job of autoreconf (from GNU Autoconf).
1597 * `dist' generates all the archive flavors, as did `dist-all'.
1598 * `dist-gzip' generates the Gzip tar file only.
1599 * Combining Automake Makefile conditionals no longer lead to a combinatorial
1600 explosion. Makefile.in's keep a reasonable size.
1601 * AM_FUNC_ERROR_AT_LINE, AM_FUNC_STRTOD, AM_FUNC_OBSTACK, AM_PTRDIFF_T
1602 are no longer shipped, since Autoconf 2.52 provides them (both as AM_
1604 * `#line' of Lex and Yacc files are properly set.
1605 * EXTRA_DIST can contain generated directories.
1606 * Support for dot-less extensions in suffix rules.
1607 * The part of the distcheck target that checks whether distclean actually
1608 cleans all built files has been moved in a separate target, distcleancheck,
1609 so it can be overridden easily.
1610 * `make distcheck' will pass additional options defined in
1611 $(DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS) to configure.
1612 * Fixed CDPATH portability problems, in particular for MacOS X.
1613 * Fixed handling of nobase_ targets.
1614 * Fixed support of implicit rules leading to .lo objects.
1615 * Fixed late inclusion of --add-missing files (e.g. depcomp) in DIST_COMMON
1616 * Added uninstall-hook target
1617 * `AC_INIT AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE(tarname,version)' is an obsolete construct.
1618 You can now use `AC_INIT(pkgname,version) AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE' instead.
1619 (Note that "pkgname" is not "tarname", see the manual for details.)
1620 It is also possible to pass a list of global Automake options as
1621 first argument to this new form of AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE.
1622 * Compiler-based assembler is now called `CCAS'; people expected `AS'
1623 to be a real assembler.
1624 * AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE will set STRIP itself when it needs it. Adding
1625 AC_CHECK_TOOL([STRIP], [strip]) manually is no longer required.
1626 * aclocal and automake are also installed with the version number
1627 appended, and some of the install directory names have changed.
1628 This lets you have multiple versions installed simultaneously.
1629 * Support for parsers and lexers in subdirectories.
1632 * Support for `configure.ac'.
1633 * Support for `else COND', `endif COND' and negated conditions `!COND'.
1634 * `make dist-all' is much faster.
1635 * Allows '@' AC_SUBSTs in macro names.
1636 * Faster AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE (requires update of `missing' script)
1637 * User-side dependency tracking. Developers no longer need GNU make
1639 * Uses DIST_SUBDIRS in some situations when SUBDIRS is conditional
1640 * Most files are correctly handled if they appear in subdirs
1641 For instance, a _DATA file can appear in a subdir
1642 * GNU tar is no longer required for `make dist'
1643 * Added support for `dist_' and `nodist_' prefixes
1644 * Added support for `nobase_' prefix
1645 * Compiled Java support
1646 * Support for per-executable and per-library compilation flags
1650 * Added support for the Fortran 77 programming language.
1651 * Re-indexed the Automake Texinfo manual.
1652 * Added `AM_FOOFLAGS' variable for each compiler invocation;
1653 e.g. AM_CFLAGS can be used in Makefile.am to set C compiler flags
1654 * Support for latest autoconf, including support for objext
1655 * Can now put `.' in SUBDIRS to control build order
1656 * `include' command and `+=' support for macro assignment
1657 * Dependency tracking no long susceptible to deleted header file problem
1658 * Maintainer mode now a conditional. @MAINT@ is now an anachronism.
1663 * Better Cygwin32 support
1664 * Support for suffix rules with _SOURCES variables
1665 * New options `readme-alpha' and `check-news'; Gnits mode sets these
1666 * @LEXLIB@ no longer required when lex source seen
1667 Lex support in `missing', and new lex macro. Update your missing script.
1668 * Built-in support for assembly
1669 * aclocal gives error if `AM_' macro not found
1670 * Passed YFLAGS, not YACCFLAGS, to yacc
1671 * AM_PROG_CC_STDC does not have to come before AC_PROG_CPP
1672 * Dependencies computed as a side effect of compilation
1673 * Preliminary support for Java
1674 * DESTDIR support at "make install" time
1675 * Improved ansi2knr support; you must use the latest ansi2knr.c (included)
1679 * Better DejaGnu support
1680 * Added no-installinfo option
1681 * Added Emacs Lisp support
1682 * Added --no-force option
1683 * Included `aclocal' program
1684 * Automake will now generate rules to regenerate aclocal.m4, if appropriate
1685 * Now uses `AM_' macro names everywhere
1686 * ansi2knr option can have directory prefix (eg `../lib/ansi2knr')
1687 ansi2knr now works correctly on K&R sources
1688 * Better C++, yacc, lex support
1689 * Will compute _DEPENDENCIES variables automatically if not supplied
1690 * Will interpolate $(...) and ${...} when examining contents of a variable
1691 * .deps files now in build directory, not source directory; dependency
1692 handling generally rewritten
1693 * DATA, MANS and BUILT_SOURCES no longer included in distribution
1694 * can now put config.h into a subdir
1695 * Added dist-all target
1696 * Support for install-info program (see texinfo 3.9)
1697 * Support for "yacc -d"
1698 * configure substitutions are automatically discovered and included
1699 in generated Makefile.in
1700 * Special --cygnus mode
1701 * OMIT_DEPENDENCIES can now hold list of dependencies to be omitted
1702 when making distribution. Some dependencies are auto-ignored.
1703 * Changed how libraries are specified in _LIBRARIES variable
1704 * Full libtool support, from Gord Matzigkeit
1705 * No longer have to explicitly touch stamp-h when using AC_CONFIG_HEADER;
1706 AM_CONFIG_HEADER handles it automatically
1707 * Texinfo output files no longer need .info extension
1708 * Added `missing' support
1710 * Conditionals in Makefile.am, from Ian Taylor
1714 * distcheck target runs install and installcheck targets
1715 * Added preliminary support for DejaGnu.
1720 * More libtool fixes from Gord Matzigkeit; libtool support is still
1722 * Added support for jm_MAINTAINER_MODE
1724 * New "distcheck" target
1728 * mkinstalldirs and mdate-sh now appear in directory specified by
1730 * Removed DIST_SUBDIRS, DIST_OTHER
1731 * AC_ARG_PROGRAM only required when an actual program exists
1732 * dist-hook target now run before distribution packaged up; idea from
1733 Dieter Baron. Other hooks exist, too.
1734 * Preliminary (unfinished) support for libtool
1735 * Added short option names.
1736 * Better "dist" support when gluing together multiple packages
1740 * Documentation updates (many from François Pinard)
1741 * strictness `normal' now renamed to `foreign'
1742 * Renamed --install-missing to --add-missing
1743 * Now handles AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR
1744 * Now handles TESTS macro
1745 * DIST_OTHER renamed to EXTRA_DIST
1746 * DIST_SUBDIRS is deprecated
1747 * @ALLOCA@ and @LIBOBJS@ now work in _LDADD variables
1748 * Better error messages in many cases
1749 * Program names are canonicalized
1750 * Added "check" prefix; from Gord Matzigkeit
1754 * configure.in scanner knows about AC_PATH_XTRA, AC_OUTPUT ":" syntax
1755 * Beginnings of a test suite
1756 * Automatically adds -I options for $(srcdir), ".", and path to config.h
1757 * Doesn't print anything when running
1758 * Beginnings of MAINT_CHARSET support
1759 * Can specify version in AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS
1760 * Most errors recognizable by Emacs' M-x next-error
1761 * Added --verbose option
1762 * All "primary" variables now obsolete; use EXTRA_PRIMARY to supply
1763 configure-generated names
1764 * Required macros now distributed in aclocal.m4
1766 * --strictness=gnu is default
1770 * More sophisticated configure.in scanning; now understands ALLOCA and
1771 LIBOBJS directly, handles AC_CONFIG_HEADER more precisely, etc.
1772 * TEXINFOS and MANS now obsolete; use info_TEXINFOS and man_MANS instead.
1773 * CONFIG_HEADER variable now obsolete
1774 * Can handle multiple Texinfo sources
1775 * Allow hierarchies deeper than 2. From Gord Matzigkeit.
1776 * HEADERS variable no longer needed; now can put .h files directly into
1777 foo_SOURCES variable.
1778 * Automake automatically rebuilds files listed in AC_OUTPUT. The
1779 corresponding ".in" files are included in the distribution.
1782 * Added --gnu and --gnits options
1783 * More standards checking
1785 * Cleaned up 'dist' targets
1786 * Added AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS variable and several options
1787 * Now scans configure.in to get some information (preliminary)
1790 * Works with Perl 4 again
1793 * Added --install-missing option.
1794 * Pretty-prints generated macros and rules
1795 * Comments in Makefile.am are placed more intelligently in Makefile.in
1796 * Generates .PHONY target
1797 * Rule or macro in Makefile.am now overrides contents of Automake file
1798 * Substantial cleanups from François Pinard
1802 * Works with Perl 4 again.
1805 * New uniform naming scheme.
1806 * --strictness option
1808 * '.c' files corresponding to '.y' or '.l' files are automatically
1810 * Many bug fixes and cleanups
1813 * Allow objects to be conditionally included in libraries via lib_LIBADD.
1816 * Bug fixes in 'clean' code.
1817 * Now generates 'installdirs' target.
1818 * man page installation reworked.
1819 * 'make dist' no longer re-creates all Makefile.in's.
1822 * Reimplemented in Perl
1823 * Added --amdir option (for debugging)
1824 * Texinfo support cleaned up.
1825 * Automatic de-ANSI-fication cleaned up.
1826 * Cleaned up 'clean' targets.
1829 * Automatic dependency tracking
1830 * More documentation
1831 * New variables DATA and PACKAGEDATA
1832 * SCRIPTS installed using $(INSTALL_SCRIPT)
1833 * No longer uses double-colon rules
1835 * Changes in advance of internationalization
1839 Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003,
1840 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 Free Software
1843 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
1844 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
1845 the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
1848 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
1849 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
1850 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
1851 GNU General Public License for more details.
1853 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
1854 along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.