build: improve silencing of automake build system

[automake.git] / NEWS

New in 1.11.0a:

* WARNING: Future backward-incompatibilities!

  - The `lzma' compression format for distribution archives has been
    deprecated in favor of `xz' and `lzip', and will be removed in the
    next major Automake release (1.12).

  - The Automake support for automatic de-ANSI-fication will be removed in
    the next major Automake release (1.12).

  - The `--acdir' option of aclocal is deprecated, and will probably be
    removed in the next major Automake release (1.12).

  - The exact order in which the directories in the aclocal macro
    search path are looked up is probably going to be changed in the
    next Automake release (1.12).

  - The obsolescent AM_WITH_REGEX  macro has been deprecated (since the
    GNU rx library has been decommissioned), and will be removed in the
    next major Automake release (1.12).

* Changes to aclocal:

  - The `--acdir' option is deprecated.  Now you should use the new options
    `--automake-acdir' and `--system-acdir' instead.

  - The `ACLOCAL_PATH' environment variable is now interpreted as a
    colon-separated list of additional directories to search after the
    automake internal acdir (by default ${prefix}/share/aclocal-APIVERSION)
    and before the system acdir (by default ${prefix}/share/aclocal).

* Miscellaneous changes:

  - Automake's own build system is more silent by default, making use of
    the 'silent-rules' option.

  - The master copy of the `gnupload' script is now maintained in gnulib,
    not in automake.

  - The `missing' script don't try to wrap calls to `tar' anymore.

  - "make dist" doesn't wrap `tar' invocations with the `missing' script
    anymore.  Similarly, the obsolescent variable `$(AMTAR)' (which you
    shouldn't be using BTW ;-) does not invoke the missing script anymore
    to wrap tar, but simply invokes the `tar' program itself.

  - "make dist" can now create lzip-compressed tarballs.

  - In the Automake info documentation, the Top node and the nodes about
    the invocation of the automake and aclocal programs have been renamed;
    now, calling "info automake" will open the Top node, while calling
    "info automake-invocation" and "info aclocal-invocation" will access
    the nodes about the invocation of respectively automake and aclocal.

  - Automake is now distributed as a gzip-compressed and an xz-compressed
    tarball.  Previously, bzip2 was used instead of xz.

  - The last relics of Python 1.5 support have been removed from the
    AM_PATH_PYTHON macro.

  - The `lzma' compression scheme and associated automake option `dist-lzma'
    is obsoleted by `xz' and `dist-xz' due to upstream changes.

  - You may adjust the compression options used in dist-xz and dist-bzip2.
    The default is now merely -e for xz, but still -9 for bzip;  you may
    specify a different level via the XZ_OPT and BZIP2 envvars respectively.
    E.g., "make dist-xz XZ_OPT=-7" or "make dist-bzip2 BZIP2=-5"

  - The py-compile script now accepts empty arguments passed to the options
    `--destdir' and `--basedir', and complains about unrecognized options.
    Moreover, a non-option argument or a special `--' argument terminates
    the list of options.

  - A developer that needs to pass specific flags to configure at "make
    distcheck" time can now, and indeed is advised to, do so by defining
    the developer-reserved makefile variable AM_DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS,
    instead of the old DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS.
    The DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS variable should now be reserved for the
    user; still, the old Makefile.am files that used to define it will
    still continue to work as before.

  - When using DejaGnu-based testsuites, the user can extend the `site.exp'
    file generated by automake-provided rules by defining the special make
    variable `$(EXTRA_DEJAGNU_SITE_CONFIG)'.

  - The `install-info' rule can now be instructed not to create/update
    the `${infodir}/dir' file, by exporting the new environment variable
    `AM_UPDATE_INFO_DIR' to the value "no".

  - For programs and libraries, automake now detects EXTRA_foo_DEPENDENCIES
    and adds them to the normal list of dependencies, but without
    overwriting the foo_DEPENDENCIES variable, which is normally computed
    by automake.

Bugs fixed in 1.11.0a:

* Bugs introduced by 1.11.2:

  - Automake now correctly recognizes the prefix/primary combination
   `pkglibexec_SCRIPTS' as valid.

* Bugs introduced by 1.11:

  - The parallel-tests harness doesn't trip anymore on sed implementations
    with stricter limits on the length of input lines (problem seen at
    least on Solaris 8).

  - The `parallel-tests' test driver works around a GNU make 3.80 bug with
    trailing white space in the test list (`TESTS = foo $(EMPTY)'), and
    does not report spurious successes when used with concurrent FreeBSD
    make (e.g., "make check -j3").

  - When the parallel-tests driver is in use, automake now explicitly
    rejects invalid entries and conditional contents in TEST_EXTENSIONS,
    instead of issuing confusing and apparently unrelated error messages
    (e.g., "non-POSIX variable name", "bad characters in variable name",
    or "redefinition of TEST_EXTENSIONS), or even, in some situations,
    silently producing broken `Makefile.in' files.

  - The `silent-rules' option now truly silences all compile rules, even
    when dependency tracking is disabled.  Also, when `silent-rules' is
    not used, `make' output no longer contains spurious backslash-only
    lines, thus once again matching what Automake did before 1.11.

  - The `silent-rules' option now generates working makefiles even for
    the uncommon `make' implementations that do not support the
    nested-variables extension to POSIX 2008.  For such `make'
    implementations, whether a build is silent is determined at
    configure time, and cannot be overridden at make time with
    `make V=0' or `make V=1'.

  - The AM_COND_IF macro also works if the shell expression for the conditional
    is no longer valid for the condition.

* Long-standing bugs:

  - Vala support now works better in VPATH setups.

  - The "deleted header file problem" for *.am files is avoided by stub
    rules.  This allows `make' to trigger a rerun of `automake' also if
    some previously needed `.am' file has been removed.

  - "make distcheck" now correctly complains also when "make uninstall"
    leaves one and only one file installed in $(prefix).

  - A "make uninstall" issued before a "make install", or after a mere
    "make install-data" or a mere "make install-exec" does not spuriously
    fail anymore.

  - Automake now warns about more primary/directory invalid combinations,
    such as "doc_LIBRARIES" or "pkglib_PROGRAMS".

  - On Darwin 9, `pythondir' and `pyexecdir' pointed below `/Library/Python'
    even if the `--prefix' argument pointed outside of a system directory.
    AM_PATH_PYTHON has been fixed to ignore the value returned from python's
    `get_python_lib' function if it points outside the configured prefix,
    unless the `--prefix' argument was either `/usr' or below `/System'.

  - The testsuite does not try to change the mode of `ltmain.sh' files from
    a Libtool installation (symlinked to test directories) any more.

  - AM_PROG_GCJ uses AC_CHECK_TOOLS to look for `gcj' now, so that prefixed
    tools are preferred in a cross-compile setup.

  - Several scripts and the parallel-tests testsuite driver now exit with
    the right exit status upon receiving a signal.

  - A per-Makefile.am setting of -Werror does not erroneously carry over
    to the handling of other Makefile.am files.

  - The order of Yacc and Lex flags is now consistent with that of other
    languages: $(AM_YFLAGS) comes before $(YFLAGS), and $(AM_LFLAGS) before
    $(LFLAGS), so that the user variables override the developer variables.

  - Rules generated by Automake now try harder not to change any files when
    `make -n' is invoked.  Fixes include compilation of Emacs Lisp, Vala, or
    Yacc source files and the rule to update config.h.

  - The code for automatic dependency tracking works around a Solaris
    make bug triggered by sources containing repeated slashes when the
    `subdir-objects' option was used.

  - The parallel-tests driver no longer produces erroneous results with
    Tru64/OSF 5.1 sh upon unreadable log files.

  - The makedepend and hp depmodes now work better with VPATH builds.

  - Java sources specified with check_JAVA are no longer compiled for
    "make all", but only for "make check".

  - An usage like "java_JAVA = foo.java" will now cause Automake to warn
    and error out if `javadir' is undefined, instead of silently producing
    a broken Makefile.in.

  - aclocal and automake now honour the configure-time definitions of
    AUTOCONF and AUTOM4TE when they spawn autoconf or autom4te processes.

  - The `install-info' recipe no longer tries to guess whether the
    `install-info' program is from Debian or from GNU, and adaptively
    change its behaviour; this has proven to be frail and easy to
    regress.
\f
New in 1.11:

* Version requirements:

  - Autoconf 2.62 or greater is required.

* Changes to aclocal:

  - The autoconf version check implemented by aclocal in aclocal.m4
    (and new in Automake 1.10) is degraded to a warning.  This helps
    in the common case where the Autoconf versions used are compatible.

* Changes to automake:

  - The automake program can run multiple threads for creating most
    Makefile.in files concurrently, if at least Perl 5.7.2 is available
    with interpreter-based threads enabled.  Set the environment variable
    AUTOMAKE_JOBS to the maximum number of threads to use, in order to
    enable this experimental feature.

* Changes to Libtool support:

  - Libtool generic flags are now passed to the install and uninstall
    modes as well.

  - distcheck works with Libtool 2.x even when LT_OUTPUT is used, as
    config.lt is removed correctly now.

* Languages changes:

  - subdir-object mode works now with Fortran (F77, FC, preprocessed
    Fortran, and Ratfor).

  - For files with extension .f90, .f95, .f03, or .f08, the flag
    $(FCFLAGS_f[09]x) computed by AC_FC_SRCEXT is now used in compile rules.

  - Files with extension .sx are also treated as preprocessed assembler.

  - The default source file extension (.c) can be overridden with
    AM_DEFAULT_SOURCE_EXT now.

  - Python 3.0 is supported now, Python releases prior to 2.0 are no
    longer supported.

  - AM_PATH_PYTHON honors python's idea about the site directory.

  - There is initial support for the Vala programming language, when using
    Vala 0.7.0 or later.

* Miscellaneous changes:

  - Automake development is done in a git repository on Savannah now, see

      http://git.sv.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=automake.git

    A read-only CVS mirror is provided at

      cvs -d :pserver:anonymous@pserver.git.sv.gnu.org:/automake.git \
          checkout -d automake HEAD

  - "make dist" can now create xz-compressed tarballs,
    as well as (deprecated?) lzma-compressed tarballs.

  - `automake --add-missing' will by default install the GPLv3 file as
    COPYING if it is missing.  It will also warn that the license file
    should be added to source control.  Note that Automake will never
    overwrite an existing COPYING file, even when the `--force-missing'
    option is used.

  - The manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL 1.3.

  - Automake ships and installs man pages for automake and aclocal now.

  - New shorthand `$(pkglibexecdir)' for `$(libexecdir)/@PACKAGE@'.

  - install-sh supports -C, which does not update the installed file
    (and its time stamps) if the contents did not change.

  - The `gnupload' script has been revamped.

  - The `depcomp' and `compile' scripts now work with MSVC under MSYS.

  - The targets `install' and `uninstall' are more efficient now, in that
    for example multiple files from one Automake variable such as
    `bin_SCRIPTS' are copied in one `install' (or `libtool --mode=install')
    invocation if they do not have to be renamed.

    Both install and uninstall may sometimes enter (`cd' into) the target
    installation directory now, when no build-local scripts are used.

    Both install and uninstall do not fail anymore but do nothing if an
    installation directory variable like `bindir' is set to the empty string.

    For built-in rules, `make install' now fails reliably if installation
    of a file failed.  Conversely, `make uninstall' even succeeds when
    issued multiple times.

    These changes may need some adjustments from users:  For example,
    some `install' programs refuse to install multiple copies of the
    same file in one invocation, so you may need to remove duplicate
    entries from file lists.

    Also, within one set of files, say, nobase_data_DATA, the order of
    installation may be changed, or even unstable among different hosts,
    due to the use of associative arrays in awk.  The increased use of
    awk matches a similar move in Autoconf to provide for better scaling.

    Further, most undocumented per-rule install command variables such as
    binSCRIPT_INSTALL have been removed because they are not needed any
    more.  Packages which use them should be using the appropriate one of
    INSTALL_{DATA,PROGRAM,SCRIPT} or their install_sh_{DATA,PROGRAM,SCRIPT}
    counterpart, depending on the type of files and the need for automatic
    target directory creation.

  - The "deleted header file problem" for *.m4 files is avoided by
    stub rules.  This allows `make' to trigger a rerun of `aclocal'
    also if some previously needed macro file has been removed.

  - Rebuild rules now also work for a removed `subdir/Makefile.in' in
    an otherwise up to date tree.

  - The `color-tests' option causes colored test result output on terminals.

  - The `parallel-tests' option enables a new test driver that allows for
    parallel test execution, inter-test dependencies, lazy test execution
    for unit-testing, re-testing only failed tests, and formatted result output
    as RST (reStructuredText) and HTML.  Enabling this option may require some
    changes to your test suite setup; see the manual for details.

  - The `silent-rules' option enables Linux kernel-style silent build output.
    This option requires the widely supported but non-POSIX `make' feature
    of recursive variable expansion, so do not use it if your package needs
    to build with `make' implementations that do not support it.

    To enable less verbose build output, the developer has to use the Automake
    option `silent-rules' in `AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE', or call the `AM_SILENT_RULES'
    macro.  The user may then set the default verbosity by passing the
    `--enable-silent-rules' option to `configure'.  At `make' run time, this
    default may be overridden using `make V=0' for less verbose, and `make V=1'
    for backward-compatible verbose output.

  - New prefix `notrans_' for manpages which should not be transformed
    by --program-transform.

  - New macro AM_COND_IF for conditional evaluation and conditional
    config files.

  - For AC_CONFIG_LINKS, if source and destination are equal, do not
    remove the file in a non-VPATH build.  Such setups work with Autoconf
    2.62 or newer.

  - AM_MAINTAINER_MODE now allows for an optional argument specifying
    the default setting.

  - AM_SUBST_NOTMAKE may prevent substitution of AC_SUBSTed variables,
    useful especially for multi-line values.

  - Automake's early configure-time sanity check now diagnoses an
    unsafe absolute source directory name and makes configure fail.

  - The Automake macros and rules cope better with whitespace in the
    current directory name, as long as the relative path to `configure'
    does not contain whitespace.  To this end, the values of `$(MISSING)'
    and `$(install_sh)' may contain suitable quoting, and their expansion
    might need `eval'uation if used outside of a makefile.  These
    undocumented variables may be used in several documented macros such
    as $(AUTOCONF) or $(MAKEINFO).

Bugs fixed in 1.11:

* Long-standing bugs:

  - Fix aix dependency tracking for libtool objects.

  - Work around AIX sh quoting issue in AC_PROG_CC_C_O, leading to
    unnecessary use of the `compile' script.

  - For nobase_*_LTLIBRARIES with nonempty directory components, the
    correct `-rpath' argument is used now.

  - `config.status --file=Makefile depfiles' now also works with the
    extra quoting used internally by Autoconf 2.62 and newer
    (it used to work only without the `--file=' bit).

  - The `missing' script works better with versioned tool names.

  - Semantics for `missing help2man' have been revamped:

    Previously, if `help2man' was not present, `missing help2man' would have
    the following semantics: if some man page was out of date but present, then
    a warning would be printed, but the exit status was 0.  If the man page was
    not present at all, then `missing' would create a replacement man page
    containing an error message, and exit with a status of 2.  This does not play
    well with `make': the next run will see this particular man page as being up
    to date, and will only error out on the next generated man page, if any;
    repeat until all pages are done.  This was not desirable.

    These are the new semantics: if some man page is not present, and help2man
    is not either, then `missing' will warn and generate the replacement page
    containing the error message, but exit successfully.  However, `make dist'
    will ensure that no such bogus man pages are packaged into a tarball.

  - Targets provided by automake behave better with `make -n', in that they
    take care not to create files.

  - `config.status Makefile... depfiles' works fine again in the presence of
    disabled dependency tracking.

  - The default no-op recursive rules for these targets also work with BSD make
    now: html, install-html, install-dvi, install-pdf, install-pdf, install-info.

  - `make distcheck' works also when both a directory and some file below it
    have been added to a distribution variable, such as EXTRA_DIST or *_SOURCES.

  - Texinfo dvi, ps, pdf, and html output files are not removed upon
    `make mostlyclean' any more; only the LaTeX by-products are.

  - Renamed objects also work with the `subdir-objects' option and
    source file languages which Automake does not know itself.

  - `automake' now correctly complains about variable assignments which are
    preceded by a comment, extend over multiple lines with backslash-escaped
    newlines, and end in a comment sign.  Previous versions would silently
    and wrongly ignore such assignments completely.

* Bugs introduced by 1.10:

  - Fix output of dummy dependency files in presence of post-processed
    Makefile.in's again, but also cope with long lines.

  - $(EXEEXT) is automatically appended to filenames of XFAIL_TESTS
    that have been declared as programs in the same Makefile.
    This is for consistency with the analogous change to TESTS in 1.10.

  - Fix order of standard includes to again be `-I. -I$(srcdir)',
    followed by directories containing config headers.
\f
New in 1.10:

* Version requirements:

  - Autoconf 2.60 or greater is required.

  - Perl 5.6 or greater is required.

* Changes to aclocal:

  - aclocal now also supports -Wmumble and -Wno-mumble options.

  - `dirlist' entries (for the aclocal search path) may use shell
    wildcards such as `*', `?', or `[...]'.

  - aclocal supports an --install option that will cause system-wide
    third-party macros to be installed in the local directory
    specified with the first -I flag.  This option also uses #serial
    lines in M4 files to upgrade local macros.

    The new aclocal options --dry-run and --diff help to review changes
    before they are installed.

  - aclocal now outputs an autoconf version check in aclocal.m4 in
    projects using automake.

    For a few years, automake and aclocal have been calling autoconf
    (or its underlying engine autom4te) to accurately retrieve the
    data they need from configure.ac and its siblings.  Doing so can
    only work if all autotools use the same version of autoconf.  For
    instance a Makefile.in generated by automake for one version of
    autoconf may stop working if configure is regenerated with another
    version of autoconf, and vice versa.

    This new version check ensures that the whole build system has
    been generated using the same autoconf version.

* Support for new Autoconf macros:

  - The new AC_REQUIRE_AUX_FILE Autoconf macro is supported.

  - If `subdir-objects' is set, and AC_CONFIG_LIBOBJ_DIR is specified,
    $(LIBOBJS), $(LTLIBOBJS), $(ALLOCA), and $(LTALLOCA) can be used
    in different directories.  However, only one instance of such a
    library objects directory is supported.

* Change to Libtool support:

  - Libtool generic flags (those that go before the --mode=MODE option)
    can be specified using AM_LIBTOOLFLAGS and target_LIBTOOLFLAGS.

* Yacc and Lex changes:

  - The rebuild rules for distributed Yacc and Lex output will avoid
    overwriting existing files if AM_MAINTAINER_MODE and maintainer-mode
    is not enabled.

  - ylwrap is now always used for lex and yacc source files,
    regardless of whether there is more than one source per directory.

* Languages changes:

  - Preprocessed assembler (*.S) compilation now honors CPPFLAGS,
    AM_CPPFLAGS and per-target _CPPFLAGS, and supports dependency
    tracking, unlike non-preprocessed assembler (*.s).

  - subdir-object mode works now with Assembler.  Automake assumes
    that the compiler understands `-c -o'.

  - Preprocessed assembler (*.S) compilation now also honors
    $(DEFS) $(DEFAULT_INCLUDES) $(INCLUDES).

  - Improved support for Objective C:
    - Autoconf's new AC_PROG_OBJC will enable automatic dependency tracking.
    - A new section of the manual documents the support.

  - New support for Unified Parallel C:
    - AM_PROG_UPC looks for a UPC compiler.
    - A new section of the manual documents the support.

  - Per-target flags are now correctly handled in link rules.

    For instance maude_CFLAGS correctly overrides AM_CFLAGS; likewise
    for maude_LDFLAGS and AM_LDFLAGS.  Previous versions bogusly
    preferred AM_CFLAGS over maude_CFLAGS while linking, and they
    used both AM_LDFLAGS and maude_LDFLAGS on the same link command.

    The fix for compiler flags (i.e., using maude_CFLAGS instead of
    AM_CFLAGS) should not hurt any package since that is how _CFLAGS
    is expected to work (and actually works during compilation).

    However using maude_LDFLAGS "instead of" AM_LDFLAGS rather than
    "in addition to" breaks backward compatibility with older versions.
    If your package used both variables, as in

      AM_LDFLAGS = common flags
      bin_PROGRAMS = a b c
      a_LDFLAGS = more flags
      ...

    and assumed *_LDFLAGS would sum up, you should rewrite it as

      AM_LDFLAGS = common flags
      bin_PROGRAMS = a b c
      a_LDFLAGS = $(AM_LDFLAGS) more flags
      ...

    This new behavior of *_LDFLAGS is more coherent with other
    per-target variables, and the way *_LDFLAGS variables were
    considered internally.

* New installation targets:

  - New targets mandated by GNU Coding Standards:
      install-dvi
      install-html
      install-ps
      install-pdf
    By default they will only install Texinfo manuals.
    You can customize them with *-local variants:
      install-dvi-local
      install-html-local
      install-ps-local
      install-pdf-local

  - The undocumented recursive target `uninstall-info' no longer exists.
    (`uninstall' is in charge of removing all possible documentation
    flavors, including optional formats such as dvi, ps, or info even
    when `no-installinfo' is used.)

* Miscellaneous changes:

  - Automake no longer complains if input files for AC_CONFIG_FILES
    are specified using shell variables.

  - clean, distribution, or rebuild rules are normally disabled for
    inputs and outputs of AC_CONFIG_FILES, AC_CONFIG_HEADERS, and
    AC_CONFIG_LINK specified using shell variables.  However, if these
    variables are used as ${VAR}, and AC_SUBSTed, then Automake will
    be able to output rules anyway.
    (See the Automake documentation for AC_CONFIG_FILES.)

  - $(EXEEXT) is automatically appended to filenames of TESTS
    that have been declared as programs in the same Makefile.
    This is mostly useful when some check_PROGRAMS are listed in TESTS.

  - `-Wportability' has finally been turned on by default for `gnu' and
    `gnits' strictness.  This means, automake will complain about %-rules
    or $(GNU Make functions) unless you switch to `foreign' strictness or
    use `-Wno-portability'.

  - Automake now uses AC_PROG_MKDIR_P (new in Autoconf 2.60), and uses
    $(MKDIR_P) instead of $(mkdir_p) to create directories.  The
    $(mkdir_p) variable is still defined (to the same value as
    $(MKDIR_P)) but should be considered obsolete.  If you are using
    $(mkdir_p) in some of your rules, please plan to update them to
    $(MKDIR_P) at some point.

  - AM_C_PROTOTYPES and ansi2knr are now documented as being obsolete.
    They still work in this release, but may be withdrawn in a future one.

  - Inline compilation rules for gcc3-style dependency tracking are
    more readable.

  - Automake installs a "Hello World!" example package in $(docdir).
    This example is used throughout the new "Autotools Introduction"
    chapter of the manual.
\f
New in 1.9:

* Makefile.in bloat reduction:

  - Inference rules are used to compile sources in subdirectories when
    the `subdir-objects' option is used and no per-target flags are
    used.  This should reduce the size of some projects a lot, because
    Automake used to output an explicit rule for each such object in
    the past.

  - Automake no longer outputs three rules (.o, .obj, .lo) for each
    object that must be built with explicit rules.  It just outputs
    the rules required to build the kind of object considered: either
    the two .o and .obj rules for usual objects, or the .lo rule for
    libtool objects.

* Change to Libtool support:

  - Libtool tags are used with libtool versions that support them.
    (I.e., with Libtool 1.5 or greater.)

  - Automake is now able to handle setups where a libtool library is
    conditionally installed in different directories, as in

      if COND
        lib_LTLIBRARIES = liba.la
      else
        pkglib_LTLIBRARIES = liba.la
      endif
      liba_la_SOURCES = ...

* Changes to aclocal:

  - aclocal now ensures that AC_DEFUNs and AU_DEFUNs it discovers are
    really evaluated, before it decides to include them in aclocal.m4.
    This solves nasty problems with conditional redefinitions of
    Autoconf macros in /usr/share/aclocal/*.m4 files causing extraneous
    *.m4 files to be included in any project using these macros.
    (Calls to AC_PROG_EGREP causing libtool.m4 to be included is the
    most famous instance of this bug.)

  - Do not complain about missing conditionally AC_REQUIREd macros
    that are not actually used.  In 1.8.x aclocal would correctly
    determine which of these macros were really needed (and include
    only these in the package); unfortunately it would also require
    all of them to be present in order to run.  This created
    situations were aclocal would not work on a tarball distributing
    all the macros it uses.  For instance running aclocal on a project
    containing only the subset of the Gettext macros in use by the
    project did not work, because gettext conditionally requires other
    macros.

* Portability improvements:

  - Tar format can be chosen with the new options tar-v7, tar-ustar, and
    tar-pax.  The new option filename-length-max=99 helps diagnosing
    filenames that are too long for tar-v7.  (PR/414)

  - Variables aumented with `+=' are now automatically flattened (i.e.,
    trailing backslashes removed) and then wrapped around 80 colummns
    (adding trailing backslashes).  In previous versions, a long series
    of
      VAR += value1
      VAR += value2
      VAR += value3
      ...
    would result in a single-line definition of VAR that could possibly
    exceed the maximum line length of some make implementations.

    Non-augmented variables are still output as they are defined in
    the Makefile.am.

* Miscellaneous:

  - Support Fortran 90/95 with the new "fc" and "ppfc" languages.
    Works the same as the old Fortran 77 implementation; just replace
    F77 with FC everywhere (exception: FFLAGS becomes FCFLAGS).
    Requires a version of autoconf which provides AC_PROG_FC (>=2.59).

  - Support for conditional _LISP.

  - Support for conditional -hook and -local rules (PR/428).

  - Diagnose AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR calls following AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE. (PR/49)

  - Automake will not write any Makefile.ins after the first error it
    encounters.  The previous Makefile.ins (if any) will be left in
    place.  (Warnings will not prevent output, but remember they can
    be turned into errors with -Werror.)

  - The restriction that SUBDIRS must contain direct children is gone.
    Do not abuse.

  - The manual tells more about SUBDIRS vs. DIST_SUBDIRS.
    It also gives an example of nested packages using AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS.
\f
Bugs fixed in 1.8.5:

* Long-standing bugs:

  - Define DIST_SUBDIRS even when the `no-dist' or `cygnus' options are used
    so that `make distclean' and `make maintainer-clean' can work.

  - Define AR and ARFLAGS even when only EXTRA_LIBRARIES are defined.

  - Fix many rules to please FreeBSD make, which runs commands with `sh -e'.

  - Polish diagnostic when no input file is found.
\f
Bugs fixed in 1.8.4:

* Long-standing bugs:

  - Fix AM_PATH_PYTHON to correctly display $PYTHON when it has been
    overridden by the user.

  - Honor PATH_SEPARATOR in various places of the Automake package, for
    the sake of OS/2.

  - Adjust dependency tracking mode detection to ICC 8.0's new output.
    (PR/416)

  - Fix install-sh so it can install the `mv' binary... using `mv'.

  - Fix tru64 dependency tracking for libtool objects.

  - Work around Exuberant Ctags when creating a TAGS files in a directory
    without files to scan but with subdirectories to include.

* Bugs introduced by 1.8:

  - Fix an "internal error" when @LIBOBJS@ is used in a variable that is
    not defined in the same conditions as the _LDADD that uses it.

  - Do not warn when JAVAROOT is overridden, this is legitimate.
\f
Bugs fixed in 1.8.3:

* Long-standing bugs:

  - Quote filenames in installation rules, in case $DESTDIR, $prefix,
    or any of the other *dir variables contain a space.

    Please note that Automake does not and cannot support spaces in
    filenames that are involved during the build.  This change affects
    only installation paths, so that `make install' does not bomb out
    in packages configured with
      ./configure --prefix '/c/Program Files'

  - Fix the depfiles output so it works with GNU sed (<4.1) even when
    POSIXLY_CORRECT is set.

  - Do not AC_SUBST(LIBOBJS) in AM_WITH_REGEX.  This macro was unusable
    since Autoconf 2.54, which defines LIBOBJS itself.

  - Fix a potential (but unlikely) race condition in parallel elisp
    builds.  (Introduced in 1.7.3.)

  - Do not assume that users override _DEPENDENCIES in all conditions
    where Automake will try to define them.

  - Do not use `mkdir -p' in mkinstalldirs, unless this is GNU mkdir.
    Solaris 8's `mkdir -p' is not thread-safe and can break parallel
    builds.

    This fix also affects the $(mkdir_p) variable defined since
    Automake 1.8.  It will be set to `mkdir -p' only if mkdir is GNU
    mkdir, and to `mkinstalldirs' or `install-sh -d' otherwise.

  - Secure temporary directory creation in `make distcheck'. (PR/413)

  - Do not generate two build rules for `parser.h' when the
    parser appears in two different conditionals.

  - Work around a Solaris 8 /bin/sh bug in the test for dependency
    checking.  Usually ./configure will not pick this shell; so this
    fix only helps cases where the shell is forced to /bin/sh.

* Bugs introduced by 1.8:

  - In some situations (hand-written `m4_include's), aclocal would
    call the `File::Spec->rel2abs' method, which was only introduced
    in Perl 5.6.  This new version reestablish support Perl 5.005.

    It is likely that the next major Automake releases will require at
    least Perl 5.6.  Consider upgrading your development environment
    if you are still using the five-year-old Perl 5.005.

  - Automake would sometimes fail to define rules for targets listed
    in variables defined in multiple conditions.  For instance on
      if C1
        bin_PROGRAMS = a
      else
        bin_PROGRAMS = b
      endif
    it would define only the `a.$(OBJEXT): a.c' rule and omit the
    `b.$(OBJEXT): b.c' rule.

* New sections in manual:

  - Third-Party Makefiles: how to interface third party Makefiles.
  - Upgrading: upgrading packages to newer Automake versions.
  - Multiple Outputs: handling tools that produce many outputs.
\f
Bug fixed in 1.8.2:

* A (well known) portability bug slipped in the changes made to
  install-sh in Automake 1.8.1.  The broken install-sh would refuse to
  install anything on Tru64.

* Fix install rules for conditionally built python files.  (This never
  really worked.)
\f
Bug fixed in 1.8.1:

* Bugs introduced by 1.8:

  - Fix Config.pm import error with old Perl versions (at least
    5.005_03).  One symptom is that aclocal could not find its macro
    directory.

  - Automake 1.8 used `mkdir -m 0755 -p --' to ensure that directories
    created by `make install' are always world readable, even if the
    installer happens to have an overly restrictive umask (e.g. 077).
    This was a mistake and has been reverted.  There are at least two
    reasons why we must not use `-m 0755':
      - it causes special bits like SGID to be ignored,
      - it may be too restrictive (some setups expect 775 directories).

  - Fix aclocal to honor definitions located in files which have been
    m4_included manually.  aclocal 1.8 had been updated to check
    m4_included files for new requirements, but forgot that these
    m4_included files can also provide new definitions.

    Note that if you have such a setup, we recommend you get rid of
    it.  In the past, there was a reason to m4_include files manually:
    aclocal used to duplicate entire M4 files into aclocal.m4, even
    files that were distributed.  Some packages were therefore
    m4_including the distributed file directly, and playing some
    tricks to ensure aclocal would not copy that file to aclocal.m4,
    in order to limit the amount of duplication.  Since aclocal 1.8.x
    will precisely output m4_includes for local M4 files, we recommend
    that you clean up your setup, removing all manual m4_includes and
    letting aclocal output them.

  - Output detailed menus in the Info version if the Automake manual,
    so that Emacs can locate the indexes.

  - configure.ac and configure were listed twice in DIST_COMMON (an
    internal variable where Automake lists configury files to
    distribute).  This was harmless, but unaesthetic.

  - Use `chmod a-w' instead of `chmod -w' as the latter honors umask.
    This was an issue only in the Automake package itself, not in
    its output.

  - Automake assumed that all AC_CONFIG_LINKS arguments had the form
    DEST:SRC.  This was wrong, as some packages do
    AC_CONFIG_LINKS($computedlinks).  This version no longer abort in
    that situation.

  - Contrary to mkinstalldirs, $(mkdir_p) was expecting exactly one
    argument.  This caused two kinds of failures:
      - Rules installing data in a conditionally defined directory
        failed when that directory was undefined.  In this case no
        argument was supplied.
      - `make installdirs' failed, because several directories were
        passed to $(mkdir_p).  This was an issue only on platform
        were $(mkdir_p) is implemented with `install-sh -d'.
    $(mkdir_p) as been changed to accept 0 or more arguments, as
    mkinstalldirs did.

* Long-standing bugs:

  - Fix an unexpected diagnostic occurring when users attempt
    to override some internal variables that Automake appends to.

  - aclocal now scans configure.ac for macro definitions (PR/319).

  - Fix a portability issue with OSF1/Tru64 Make.  If a directory
    distributes files which are outside itself (this usually occurs
    when using AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR([../dir]) to use auxiliary files
    from a parent package), then `make distcheck' fails due to an
    optimization performed by OSF1/Tru64 Make in its VPATH handling.
    (tests/subpkg2.test failure)

  - Fix another portability issue with Sun and OSF1/Tru64 Make.
    In a VPATH-build configuration, `make install' would install
    nobase_ files to wrong locations.

  - Fix a Perl `uninitialized value' diagnostic occurring when
    automake complains that a Texinfo file does not have a
    @setfilename statement.

  - Erase config.status.lineno during `make distclean'.  This file
    can be created by config.status.  Automake already knew about
    configure.lineno, but forgot config.status.lineno.

  - Distribute all files, even those which are built and installed
    conditionally.  This change affects files listed in conditionally
    defined *_HEADERS and *_PYTHON variable (unless they are nodist_*)
    as well as those listed in conditionally defined dist_*_DATA,
    dist_*_JAVA, dist_*_LISP, and dist_*_SCRIPTS variables.

  - Fix AM_PATH_LISPDIR to avoid \? in sed regular expressions; it
    doesn't conform to POSIX.

  - Normalize help strings for configure variables and options added
    by Automake macros.

* Anticipation:

  - Check for python2.4 in AM_PATH_PYTHON.

* Spurious failures in test suite:

  - tests/libtool5.test, tests/ltcond.test, tests/ltcond2.test,
    tests/ltconv.test: fix failures with CVS Libtool.
  - tests/aclocal6.test: fix failure if autom4te.cache is disabled.
  - tests/txinfo24.test, tests/txinfo25.test, tests/txinfo28.test:
    fix failures with old Texinfo versions.
\f
New in 1.8:

* Meta-News

  - The NEWS file is more verbose.

* Requirements

  - Autoconf 2.58 or greater is required.

* New features

  - Default source file names in the absence of a _SOURCES declaration
    are made by removing any target extension before appending `.c', so
    to make the libtool module `foo.la' from `foo.c', you only need to
    do this:

        lib_LTLIBRARIES = foo.la
        foo_la_LDFLAGS  = -module

    For backward compatibility, foo_la.c will be used instead of
    foo.c if this file exists or is the explicit target of a rule.
    However -Wobsolete will warn about this deprecated naming.

  - AR's `cru' flags are now set in a global ARFLAGS variable instead
    of being hard-coded in each $(AR) invocation, so they can be
    substituted from configure.ac.  This has been requested by people
    dealing with non-POSIX ar implementations.

  - New warning option: -Woverride.  This will warn about any user
    target or variable definitions which override Automake
    definitions.

  - Texinfo rules back up and restore info files when makeinfo fails.

  - Texinfo rules now support the `html' target.
    Running this requires Texinfo 4.0 or greater.

    `html' is a new recursive target, so if your package mixes
    hand-crafted `Makefile.in's with Automake-generated
    `Makefile.in's, you should adjust the former to support (or
    ignore) this target so that `make html' recurses successfully.  If
    you had a custom `html' rule in your `Makefile.am', it's better to
    rename it as `html-local', otherwise your rule will override
    Automake's new rule (you can check that by running `automake
    -Woverride') and that will stop the recursion to subdirectories.

    Last but not least, this `html' rule is declared PHONY, even when
    overridden.  Fortunately, it appears that few packages use a
    non-PHONY `html' rule.

  - Any file which is m4_included from configure.ac will appear as a
    configure and Makefile.in dependency, and will be automatically
    distributed.

  - The rules for rebuilding Makefiles and Makefile.ins will now
    rebuild all Makefiles and all Makefile.ins at once when one of
    configure's dependencies has changed.  This is considerably faster
    than previous implementations, where config.status and automake
    were run separately in each directory (this still happens when you
    change a Makefile.am locally, without touching configure.ac or
    friends).  Doing this also solves a longstanding issue: these
    rebuild rules failed to work when adding new directories to the
    tree, forcing you to run automake manually.

  - For similar reasons, the rules to rebuild configure,
    config.status, and aclocal.m4 are now defined in all directories.
    Note that if you were using the CONFIG_STATUS_DEPENDENCIES and
    CONFIGURE_DEPENDENCIES (formerly undocumented) variables, you
    should better define them in all directories.  This is easily done
    using an AC_SUBST (make sure you prefix these dependencies with
    $(top_srcdir) since this variable will appear at different
    levels of the build tree).

  - aclocal will now use `m4_include' instead of copying local m4
    files into aclocal.m4.  (Local m4 files are those you ship with
    your project, other files will be copied as usual.)

    Because m4_included files are automatically distributed, it means
    for most projects there is no point in EXTRA_DISTing the list of
    m4 files which are used.  (You can probably get rid of
    m4/Makefile.am if you had one.)

  - aclocal will avoid touching aclocal.m4 when possible, so that
    Autom4te's cache isn't needlessly invalidated.  This behavior can
    be switched off with the new `--force' option.

  - aclocal now uses Autoconf's --trace to detect macros which are
    actually used and will no longer include unused macros simply
    because they where mentioned.  This was often the case for macros
    called conditionally.

  - New options no-dist and no-dist-gzip.

  - compile, depcomp, elisp-comp, install-sh, mdate-sh, mkinstalldirs,
    py-compile, and ylwrap, now all understand --version and --help.

  - Automake will now recognize AC_CONFIG_LINKS so far as removing created
    links as part of the distclean target and including source files in
    distributions.

  - AM_PATH_PYTHON now supports ACTION-IF-FOUND and ACTION-IF-NOT-FOUND
    argument.  The latter can be used to override the default behavior
    (which is to abort).

  - Automake will exit with $? = 63 on version mismatch.  (So does
    Autoconf 2.58)  missing knows this, and in this case it will
    emulate the tools as if they were absent.  Because older versions
    of Automake and Autoconf did not use this exit code, this change
    will only be useful in projects generated with future versions of
    these tools.

  - When using AC_CONFIG_FILES with multiple input files, Automake
    generates the first ".in" input file for which a ".am" exists.
    (Former versions would try to use only the first input file.)

  - lisp_DATA is now allowed.  If you are using the empty ELCFILES
    idiom to disable byte-compilation of lisp_LISP files, it is
    recommended that you switch to using lisp_DATA.  Note that
    this is not strictly equivalent: lisp_DATA will install elisp
    files even if emacs is not installed, while *_LISP do not
    install anything unless emacs is found.

  - Makefiles will prefer `mkdir -p' over mkinstalldirs if it is
    available.  This selection is achieved through the Makefile
    variable $(mkdir_p) that is set by AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE to either
    `mkdir -m 0755 -p --', `$(mkinstalldirs) -m 0755', or
    `$(install_sh) -m 0755 -d'.

* Obsolete features

  - Because `mkdir -p' is available on most platforms, and we can use
    `install-sh -d' when it is not, the use of the mkinstalldirs
    script is being phased out.  `automake --add-missing' no longer
    installs it, and if you remove mkinstalldirs from your package,
    automake will define $(mkinstalldirs) as an alias for $(mkdir_p).

    Gettext 0.12.1 still requires mkinstalldirs.  Fortunately
    gettextize and autopoint will install it when needed.  Automake
    will continue to define the $(mkinstalldirs) and to distribute
    mkinstalldirs when this script is in the source tree.

  - AM_PROG_CC_STDC is now empty.  The content of this macro was
    merged in AC_PROG_CC.  If your code uses $am_cv_prog_cc_stdc, you
    should adjust it to use $ac_cv_prog_cc_stdc instead.  (This
    renaming should be safe, even if you have to support several,
    versions of Automake, because AC_PROG_CC defines this variable
    since Autoconf 2.54.)

  - Some users where using the undocumented ACLOCAL_M4_SOURCES
    variable to override the aclocal.m4 dependencies computed
    (inaccurately) by older versions of Automake.  Because Automake
    now tracks configure's m4 dependencies accurately (see m4_include
    above), the use of ACLOCAL_M4_SOURCES should be considered
    obsolete and will be flagged as such when running `automake
    -Wobsolete'.

* Bug fixes

  - Defining programs conditionally using Automake conditionals no
    longer leads to a combinatorial explosion.  The following
    construct used to be troublesome when used with dozens of
    conditions.

      bin_PROGRAMS = a
      if COND1
        bin_PROGRAMS += a1
      endif
      if COND2
        bin_PROGRAMS += a2
      endif
      if COND3
        bin_PROGRAMS += a3
      endif
      ...

    Likewise for _SOURCES, _LDADD, and _LIBADD variables.

  - Due to implementation constraints, previous versions of Automake
    proscribed multiple conditional definitions of some variables
    like bin_PROGRAMS:

      if COND1
        bin_PROGRAMS = a1
      endif
      if COND2
        bin_PROGRAMS = a2
      endif

    All _PROGRAMS, _LDADD, and _LIBADD variables were affected.
    This restriction has been lifted, and these variables now
    support multiple conditional definitions as do other variables.

  - Cleanup the definitions of $(distdir) and $(top_distdir).
    $(top_distdir) now points to the root of the distribution
    directory created during `make dist', as it did in Automake 1.4,
    not to the root of the build tree as it did in intervening
    versions.  Furthermore these two variables are now only defined in
    the top level Makefile, and passed to sub-directories when running
    `make dist'.

  - The --no-force option now correctly checks the Makefile.in's
    dependencies before deciding not to update it.

  - Do not assume that make files are called Makefile in cleaning rules.

  - Update .info files in the source tree, not in the build tree.  This
    is what the GNU Coding Standard recommend.  Only Automake 1.7.x
    used to update these files in the build tree (previous versions did
    it in the source tree too), and it caused several problems, varying
    from mere annoyance to portability issues.

  - COPYING, COPYING.LIB, and COPYING.LESSER are no longer overwritten
    when --add-missing and --force-missing are used.  For backward
    compatibility --add-missing will continue to install COPYING (in
    `gnu' strictness) when none of these three files exist, but this
    use is deprecated: you should better choose a license yourself and
    install it once for all in your source tree (and in your code
    management system).

  - Fix ylwrap so that it does not overwrite header files that haven't
    changed, as the inline rule already does.

  - User-defined rules override automake-defined rules for the same
    targets, even when rules do not have commands.  This is not new
    (and was documented), however some of the automake-generated
    rules have escaped this principle in former Automake versions.
    Rules for the following targets are affected by this fix:

       clean, clean-am, dist-all, distclean, distclean-am, dvi, dvi-am,
       info, info-am, install-data-am, install-exec-am, install-info,
       install-info-am, install-man, installcheck-am, maintainer-clean,
       maintainer-clean-am, mostlyclean, mostlyclean-am, pdf, pdf-am,
       ps, ps-am, uninstall-am, uninstall-info, uninstall-man

    Practically it means that an attempt to supplement the dependencies
    of some target, as in

       clean: my-clean-rule

    will now *silently override* the automake definition of the
    rule for this target.  Running `automake -Woverride' will diagnose
    all such overriding definitions.

    It should be noted that almost all these targets support a *-local
    variant that is meant to supplement the automake-defined rule
    (See node `Extending' in the manual).  The above rule should
    be rewritten as

      clean-local: my-clean-rule

    These *-local targets have been documented since at least
    Automake 1.2, so you should not fear the change if you have
    to support multiple automake versions.

* Miscellaneous

  - The Automake manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.

  - Targets dist-gzip, dist-bzip2, dist-tarZ, dist-zip are always defined.

  - core dumps are no longer removed by the cleaning rules.  There are
    at least three reasons for this:
      1. These files should not be created by any build step,
         so their removal do not fit any of the cleaning rules.
         Actually, they may be precious to the developer.
      2. If such file is created during a build, then it's clearly a
         bug Automake should not hide.  Not removing the file will
         cause `make distcheck' to complain about its presence.
      3. Operating systems have different naming conventions for
         core dump files.  A core file on one system might be a
         completely legitimate data file on another system.

  - RUNTESTFLAGS, CTAGSFLAGS, ETAGSFLAGS, JAVACFLAGS are no longer
    defined by Automake.  This means that any definition in the
    environment will be used, unless overridden in the Makefile.am or
    on the command line.  The old behavior, where these variables were
    defined empty in each Makefile, can be obtained by AC_SUBSTing or
    AC_ARG_VARing each variable from configure.ac.

  - CONFIGURE_DEPENDENCIES and CONFIG_STATUS_DEPENDENCIES are now
    documented.  (The is not a new feature, these variables have
    been there since at least Automake 1.4.)
\f
Bugs fixed in 1.7.9:
* Fix install-strip to work with nobase_ binaries.
* Fix renaming of #line directives in ylwrap.
* Rebuild with Autoconf 2.59.  (1.7.8 was not installable with pdksh.)
\f
Bugs fixed in 1.7.8:
* Remove spurious blank lines in cleaning rules introduced in 1.7.7.
* Fix detection of Debian's install-info, broken since version 1.5.
  (Debian bug #213524).
* Honor -module if it appears in AM_LDFLAGS (i.e., relax name checking)
  This was only done for libfoo_LDFLAGS and LDFLAGS in previous versions.
\f
Bugs fixed in 1.7.7:
* The implementation of automake's --no-force option is unreliable,
  so this option is ignored in this version.  A real fix will appear in
  Automake 1.8.  (Debian Bug #206299)
* AM_PATH_PYTHON: really check the whole list of interpreters if no
  argument is given.  (PR/399)
* Do not warn about leading `_' in variable names, even with -Wportability.
* Support user redefinitions of TEXINFO_TEX.
* depcomp: support AIX Compiler version 6.
* Fix missing rebuilds during `make dist' with BSD make.
  (Could produce tarballs containing out-of-date files.)
* Resurrect multilib support.
* Noteworthy manual updates:
  - Extending aclocal: how to write m4 macros that won't trigger warnings
    with Automake 1.8.
  - A Shared Library: Rewrite and split into subsections.
\f
Bugs fixed in 1.7.6:
* Fix depcomp's icc mode for ICC 7.1.
* Diagnose calls to AC_CONFIG_FILES and friends with not enough arguments.
* Fix maintainer-clean's removal of autom4te.cache in VPATH builds.
* Fix AM_PATH_LISPDIR to work with POSIXLY_CORRECT=1.
* Fix the location reported in some diagnostics related to AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS.
* Remove Latin-1 characters from elisp-comp.
* Update the manual's @dircategory to match the Free Software Directory.
\f
Bugs fixed in 1.7.5:
* Update install-sh's license to remove an advertising clause.
  (Debian bug #191717)
* Fix a bug introduced in 1.7.4, related to BUILT_SOURCE handling,
  that caused invalid Makefile.ins to be generated.
* Make sure AM_MAKE_INCLUDE doesn't fail when a `doit' file exists.
* New FAQ entry: renamed objects.
\f
Bugs fixed in 1.7.4:
* Tweak the TAGS rule to support Exuberant Ctags (in addition to
  the Emacs implementation)
* Fix output of aclocal.m4 dependencies in subdirectories.
* Use `mv -f' instead of `mv' in fastdep rules.
* Upgrade mdate-sh to work on OS/2.
* Don't byte-compile elisp files when ELCFILES is set empty.
  (this documented feature was broken by 1.7.3)
* Diagnose trailing backslashes on last line of Makefile.am.
* Diagnose whitespace following trailing backslashes.
* Multiple tests are now correctly supported in DEJATOOL. (PR/388)
* Fix rebuilt rules for AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile:Makefile.in:Makefile.bot])
  Makefiles. (PR/389)
* `make install' will build `BUILT_SOURCES' first.
* Minor documentation fixes.
\f
Bugs fixed in 1.7.3:
* Fix stamp files numbering (when using multiple AC_CONFIG_HEADERS).
* Query distutils for `pythondir' and `pythonexecdir', instead of
  using an hardcoded path.  This should allow builds on 64-bit
  distributions that usually use lib64/ instead of lib/.
* AM_PATH_PYTHON will also search for python2.3.
* elisp files are now built all at once instead of one by one. Besides
  incurring a speed-up, this is required to support interdependent elisp files.
* Support for DJGPP:
  - `make distcheck' will now work in `_inst/' and `_build' instead
    of `=inst/' and `=build/'
  - use `_dirstamp' when the file-system doesn't support `.dirstamp'
  - install/uninstall `*.i[0-9][0-9]'-style info files
  - more changes that affect only the Automake package (not its output)
* Fix some incompatibilities with upcoming perl-5.10.
* Properly quote AC_PACKAGE_TARNAME and AC_PACKAGE_VERSION when defining
  PACKAGE and VERSION.
* depcomp fixes:
  - dashmstdout and dashXmstdout modes: don't use `-o /dev/null', this
    is troublesome with gcc and Solaris compilers. (PR/385)
  - makedepend mode: work with Libtool. (PR/385 too)
  - support for ICC.
* better support for unusual gettext setups, such as multiple po/ directories
  (PR/381):
  - Flag missing po/ and intl/ directories as warnings, not errors.
  - Disable these warnings if po/ does not exist.
* Noteworthy manual updates:
  - New FAQ chapter.
  - Document how AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR interacts with missing files.
    (Debian Bug #39542)
  - Document `AM_YFLAGS = -d'.  (PR/382)
\f
Bugs fixed in 1.7.2:
* Fix installation and uninstallation of Info files built in subdirectories.
* Do not run `./configure --with-included-gettext' during `make distcheck'
  if AM_GNU_GETTEXT([external]) is used.
* Correctly uninstall renamed man pages.
* Do not strip escaped newline in variables defined in one condition
  and augmented in another condition.
* Fix ansi2knr rules for LIBOBJS sources.
* Clean all known Texinfo index files, not only those which appear to
  be used, because we cannot know wich indexes are used in included files.
  (PR/375, Debian Bug #168671)
* Honor only the first @setfilename seen in a Texinfo file.
* Treat "required file X not found" diagnostics as errors (exit status 1).
* Don't complain that a required file is not found when it is a Makefile
  target. (PR/357)
* Don't use single suffix inference rules when building `.info'-less
  Info files, for the sake of Solaris make.
* The `check' target now depends on `$(BUILT_SOURCES)'. (PR/359)
* Recognize multiple inference rules such as `.a.b .c.d:'. (PR/371)
* Warn about multiple inference rules when -Wportability is used. (PR/372)
* Fix building of deansified files from subdirectories. (PR/370)
* Add missing `fi' in the .c->.obj rules.
* Improve install-sh to work even when names contain spaces or certain
  (but not all) shell metachars.
* Fix the following spurious failures in the test suite:
  depcomp2.test, gnits2.test, gnits3.test, python3.test, texinfo13.test
* Noteworthy manual updates:
  - Augment the section about BUILT_SOURCES.
  - Mention that AM_PROG_CC_STDC is a relic that is better avoided today.
\f
Bugs fixed in 1.7.1:
* Honor `ansi2knr' for files built in subdirectories, or using per-targets
  flags.
* Aclocal should now recognize macro names containing parentheses, e.g.
  AC_DEFUN([AC_LANG_PREPROC(Fortran 90)], [...]).
* Erase *.sum and *.log files created by DejaGnu, during `make distclean'.
  (Debian Bug#153697)
* Install Python files even if they were built.  (PR/369)
* Have stamp-vti dependent upon configure instead of configure.ac, as the
  version might not be defined in the latter. (PR/358)
* Reorder arguments passed to a couple of commands, so things works
  when POSIXLY_CORRECT=1.
* Fix a regex that can cause Perl to segfault on large input.
  (Debian Bug#162583)
* Fix distribution of packages that have some sources defined conditionally,
  as in the `Conditional compilation using Automake conditionals' example
  of the manual.
* Fix spurious test suite failures on IRIX.
* Don't report a required variable as undefined if it has been
  defined conditionally for the "right" conditions.
* Fix cleaning of the /tmp subdirectory used by `make distcheck', in case
  `make distcheck' fails.
* Fix distribution of included Makefile fragment, so we don't create
  spurious directories in the distribution. (PR/366)
* Don't complain that a target lacks `.$(EXEEXT)' when it has it.
\f
New in 1.7:
* Autoconf 2.54 is required.
* `aclocal' and `automake' will no longer warn about obsolete
  configure macros.  This is done by `autoconf -Wobsolete'.
* AM_CONFIG_HEADER, AM_SYS_POSIX_TERMIOS and
  AM_HEADER_TIOCGWINSZ_NEEDS_SYS_IOCTL are obsolete (although still
  supported).  You should use AC_CONFIG_HEADERS, AC_SYS_POSIX_TERMIOS,
  and AC_HEADER_TIOCGWINSZ instead.  `autoupdate' can upgrade
  `configure.ac' for you.
* Support for per-program and per-library `_CPPFLAGS'.
* New `ctags' target (builds CTAGS files).
* Support for -Wmumble and -Wno-mumble, where mumble is a warning category
  (see `automake --help' or the manual for a list of them).
* Honor the WARNINGS environment variable.
* Omit the call to depcomp when using gcc3: call the compiler directly.
* A new option, std-options, tests that programs support --help and --version
  when `make installcheck' is run.  This is enabled by --gnits.
* Texinfo rules now support the `ps' and `pdf' targets.
* Info files are now created in the build directory, not the source directory.
* info_TEXINFOS supports files in subdirectories (this requires Texinfo 4.1
  or greater).
* `make distcheck' will enforce DESTDIR support by attempting
  a DESTDIR install.
* `+=' can be used in conditionals, even if the augmented variable
  was defined for another condition.
* Makefile fragments (inserted with `include') are always distributed.
* Use Autoconf's --trace interface to inspect configure.ac and get
  a more accurate view of it.
* Add support for extending aclocal's default macro search path
  using a `dirlist' file within the aclocal directory.
* automake --output-dir is deprecated.
* The part of the distcheck target that checks whether uninstall actually
  removes all installed files has been moved in a separate target,
  distuninstallcheck, so it can be overridden easily.
* Many bug fixes.
\f
New in 1.6.3:
* Support for AM_INIT_GETTEXT([external])
* Bug fixes, including:
  - Fix Automake's own `make install' so it works even if `ln' doesn't.
  - nobase_ programs and scripts honor --program-transform correctly.
  - Erase configure.lineno during `make distclean'.
  - Erase YACC and LEX outputs during `make maintainer-clean'.
\f
New in 1.6.2:
* Many bug fixes, including:
  - Requiring the current version works.
  - Fix "$@" portability issues (for Zsh).
  - Fix output of dummy dependency files in presence of post-processed
    Makefile.in's.
  - Don't compute dependencies in background to avoid races with libtool.
  - Fix handling of _OBJECTS variables for targets sharing source variables.
  - Check dependency mode for Java when AM_PROG_GCJ is used.
\f
New in 1.6.1:
* automake --output-dir is deprecated
* Many bug fixes, including:
  - Don't choke on AM_LDFLAGS definitions.
  - Clean libtool objects from subdirectories.
  - Allow configure variables with reserved suffix and unknown prefix
    (e.g. AC_SUBST(mumble_LDFLAGS) when 'mumble' is not a target).
  - Fix the definition of AUTOMAKE and ACLOCAL in configure.
\f
New in 1.6:
* Autoconf 2.52 is required.
* automake no longer run libtoolize.
  This is the job of autoreconf (from GNU Autoconf).
* `dist' generates all the archive flavors, as did `dist-all'.
* `dist-gzip' generates the Gzip tar file only.
* Combining Automake Makefile conditionals no longer lead to a combinatorial
  explosion.  Makefile.in's keep a reasonable size.
* AM_FUNC_ERROR_AT_LINE, AM_FUNC_STRTOD, AM_FUNC_OBSTACK, AM_PTRDIFF_T
  are no longer shipped, since Autoconf 2.52 provides them (both as AM_
  and AC_).
* `#line' of Lex and Yacc files are properly set.
* EXTRA_DIST can contain generated directories.
* Support for dot-less extensions in suffix rules.
* The part of the distcheck target that checks whether distclean actually
  cleans all built files has been moved in a separate target, distcleancheck,
  so it can be overridden easily.
* `make distcheck' will pass additional options defined in
  $(DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS) to configure.
* Fixed CDPATH portability problems, in particular for MacOS X.
* Fixed handling of nobase_ targets.
* Fixed support of implicit rules leading to .lo objects.
* Fixed late inclusion of --add-missing files (e.g. depcomp) in DIST_COMMON
* Added uninstall-hook target
* `AC_INIT AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE(tarname,version)' is an obsolete construct.
  You can now use `AC_INIT(pkgname,version) AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE' instead.
  (Note that "pkgname" is not "tarname", see the manual for details.)
  It is also possible to pass a list of global Automake options as
  first argument to this new form of AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE.
* Compiler-based assembler is now called `CCAS'; people expected `AS'
  to be a real assembler.
* AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE will set STRIP itself when it needs it.  Adding
  AC_CHECK_TOOL([STRIP], [strip]) manually is no longer required.
* aclocal and automake are also installed with the version number
  appended, and some of the install directory names have changed.
  This lets you have multiple versions installed simultaneously.
* Support for parsers and lexers in subdirectories.
\f
New in 1.5:
* Support for `configure.ac'.
* Support for `else COND', `endif COND' and negated conditions `!COND'.
* `make dist-all' is much faster.
* Allows '@' AC_SUBSTs in macro names.
* Faster AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE (requires update of `missing' script)
* User-side dependency tracking.  Developers no longer need GNU make
* Python support
* Uses DIST_SUBDIRS in some situations when SUBDIRS is conditional
* Most files are correctly handled if they appear in subdirs
  For instance, a _DATA file can appear in a subdir
* GNU tar is no longer required for `make dist'
* Added support for `dist_' and `nodist_' prefixes
* Added support for `nobase_' prefix
* Compiled Java support
* Support for per-executable and per-library compilation flags
* Many bug fixes
\f
New in 1.4:
* Added support for the Fortran 77 programming language.
* Re-indexed the Automake Texinfo manual.
* Added `AM_FOOFLAGS' variable for each compiler invocation;
  e.g. AM_CFLAGS can be used in Makefile.am to set C compiler flags
* Support for latest autoconf, including support for objext
* Can now put `.' in SUBDIRS to control build order
* `include' command and `+=' support for macro assignment
* Dependency tracking no long susceptible to deleted header file problem
* Maintainer mode now a conditional.  @MAINT@ is now an anachronism.
* Bug fixes
\f
New in 1.3:
* Bug fixes
* Better Cygwin32 support
* Support for suffix rules with _SOURCES variables
* New options `readme-alpha' and `check-news'; Gnits mode sets these
* @LEXLIB@ no longer required when lex source seen
  Lex support in `missing', and new lex macro.  Update your missing script.
* Built-in support for assembly
* aclocal gives error if `AM_' macro not found
* Passed YFLAGS, not YACCFLAGS, to yacc
* AM_PROG_CC_STDC does not have to come before AC_PROG_CPP
* Dependencies computed as a side effect of compilation
* Preliminary support for Java
* DESTDIR support at "make install" time
* Improved ansi2knr support; you must use the latest ansi2knr.c (included)
\f
New in 1.2:
* Bug fixes
* Better DejaGnu support
* Added no-installinfo option
* Added Emacs Lisp support
* Added --no-force option
* Included `aclocal' program
* Automake will now generate rules to regenerate aclocal.m4, if appropriate
* Now uses `AM_' macro names everywhere
* ansi2knr option can have directory prefix (eg `../lib/ansi2knr')
  ansi2knr now works correctly on K&R sources
* Better C++, yacc, lex support
* Will compute _DEPENDENCIES variables automatically if not supplied
* Will interpolate $(...) and ${...} when examining contents of a variable
* .deps files now in build directory, not source directory; dependency
  handling generally rewritten
* DATA, MANS and BUILT_SOURCES no longer included in distribution
* can now put config.h into a subdir
* Added dist-all target
* Support for install-info program (see texinfo 3.9)
* Support for "yacc -d"
* configure substitutions are automatically discovered and included
  in generated Makefile.in
* Special --cygnus mode
* OMIT_DEPENDENCIES can now hold list of dependencies to be omitted
  when making distribution.  Some dependencies are auto-ignored.
* Changed how libraries are specified in _LIBRARIES variable
* Full libtool support, from Gord Matzigkeit
* No longer have to explicitly touch stamp-h when using AC_CONFIG_HEADER;
  AM_CONFIG_HEADER handles it automatically
* Texinfo output files no longer need .info extension
* Added `missing' support
* Cygwin32 support
* Conditionals in Makefile.am, from Ian Taylor
\f
New in 1.0:
* Bug fixes
* distcheck target runs install and installcheck targets
* Added preliminary support for DejaGnu.
\f
New in 0.33:
* More bug fixes
* More checking
* More libtool fixes from Gord Matzigkeit; libtool support is still
  preliminary however
* Added support for jm_MAINTAINER_MODE
* dist-zip support
* New "distcheck" target
\f
New in 0.32:
* Many bug fixes
* mkinstalldirs and mdate-sh now appear in directory specified by
  AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR.
* Removed DIST_SUBDIRS, DIST_OTHER
* AC_ARG_PROGRAM only required when an actual program exists
* dist-hook target now run before distribution packaged up; idea from
  Dieter Baron.  Other hooks exist, too.
* Preliminary (unfinished) support for libtool
* Added short option names.
* Better "dist" support when gluing together multiple packages
\f
New in 0.31:
* Bug fixes
* Documentation updates (many from François Pinard)
* strictness `normal' now renamed to `foreign'
* Renamed --install-missing to --add-missing
* Now handles AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR
* Now handles TESTS macro
* DIST_OTHER renamed to EXTRA_DIST
* DIST_SUBDIRS is deprecated
* @ALLOCA@ and @LIBOBJS@ now work in _LDADD variables
* Better error messages in many cases
* Program names are canonicalized
* Added "check" prefix; from Gord Matzigkeit
\f
New in 0.30:
* Bug fixes
* configure.in scanner knows about AC_PATH_XTRA, AC_OUTPUT ":" syntax
* Beginnings of a test suite
* Automatically adds -I options for $(srcdir), ".", and path to config.h
* Doesn't print anything when running
* Beginnings of MAINT_CHARSET support
* Can specify version in AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS
* Most errors recognizable by Emacs' M-x next-error
* Added --verbose option
* All "primary" variables now obsolete; use EXTRA_PRIMARY to supply
  configure-generated names
* Required macros now distributed in aclocal.m4
* New documentation
* --strictness=gnu is default
\f
New in 0.29:
* Many bug fixes
* More sophisticated configure.in scanning; now understands ALLOCA and
  LIBOBJS directly, handles AC_CONFIG_HEADER more precisely, etc.
* TEXINFOS and MANS now obsolete; use info_TEXINFOS and man_MANS instead.
* CONFIG_HEADER variable now obsolete
* Can handle multiple Texinfo sources
* Allow hierarchies deeper than 2.  From Gord Matzigkeit.
* HEADERS variable no longer needed; now can put .h files directly into
  foo_SOURCES variable.
* Automake automatically rebuilds files listed in AC_OUTPUT.  The
  corresponding ".in" files are included in the distribution.
\f
New in 0.28:
* Added --gnu and --gnits options
* More standards checking
* Bug fixes
* Cleaned up 'dist' targets
* Added AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS variable and several options
* Now scans configure.in to get some information (preliminary)
\f
New in 0.27:
* Works with Perl 4 again
\f
New in 0.26:
* Added --install-missing option.
* Pretty-prints generated macros and rules
* Comments in Makefile.am are placed more intelligently in Makefile.in
* Generates .PHONY target
* Rule or macro in Makefile.am now overrides contents of Automake file
* Substantial cleanups from François Pinard
\f
New in 0.25:
* Bug fixes.
* Works with Perl 4 again.
\f
New in 0.24:
* New uniform naming scheme.
* --strictness option
* Works with Perl 5
* '.c' files corresponding to '.y' or '.l' files are automatically
  distributed.
* Many bug fixes and cleanups
\f
New in 0.23:
* Allow objects to be conditionally included in libraries via lib_LIBADD.
\f
New in 0.22:
* Bug fixes in 'clean' code.
* Now generates 'installdirs' target.
* man page installation reworked.
* 'make dist' no longer re-creates all Makefile.in's.
\f
New in 0.21:
* Reimplemented in Perl
* Added --amdir option (for debugging)
* Texinfo support cleaned up.
* Automatic de-ANSI-fication cleaned up.
* Cleaned up 'clean' targets.
\f
New in 0.20:
* Automatic dependency tracking
* More documentation
* New variables DATA and PACKAGEDATA
* SCRIPTS installed using $(INSTALL_SCRIPT)
* No longer uses double-colon rules
* Bug fixes
* Changes in advance of internationalization

-----

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