3 * Obsolete features removed:
5 - Support for automatic de-ANSI-fication has been removed.
7 - The support for the "obscure" multilib feature has been removed
8 from Automake core (but remains available in the 'contrib/'
9 directory of the Automake distribution).
11 - Support for ".log -> .html" conversion and the check-html and
12 recheck-html targets has been removed from Automake core (but
13 remains available in the 'contrib/' directory of the Automake
16 - The deprecated `lzma' compression format for distribution archives
17 has been removed, in favor of `xz' and `lzip'.
19 - The obsolete AM_WITH_REGEX macro has been removed.
21 - The deprecated options `--output-dir', `--Werror' and `--Wno-error'
26 - New `cscope' target to build a cscope database for the source tree.
28 * Changes to Automake-generated testsuite harnesses:
30 - Test scripts that exit with status 99 to signal an "hard error" (e.g.,
31 and unexpected or internal error, or a failure to set up the test case
32 scenario) have their outcome reported as an 'ERROR' now. Previous
33 versions of automake reported such an outcome as a 'FAIL' (the only
34 difference with normal failures being that hard errors were counted
35 as failures even when the test originating them was listed in
38 - The testsuite summary displayed by the parallel-test harness has a
39 completely new format, that always list the numbers of passed, failed,
40 xfailed, xpassed, skipped and errored tests, even when these numbers
41 are zero (but using smart coloring when the color-tests option is in
44 - The default testsuite driver offered by the 'parallel-tests' option is
45 now implemented (partly at least) with the help of automake-provided
46 auxiliary scripts (e.g., `test-driver'), instead of relying entirely
47 on code in the generated Makefile.in.
48 This has two noteworthy implications. The first one is that projects
49 using the `parallel-tests' option should now either run automake with
50 the `--add-missing' option, or manually copy the `test-driver' script
51 into their tree. The second, and more important, implication is that
52 now, when the `parallel-tests' option is in use, TESTS_ENVIRONMENT can
53 not be used anymore to define a test runner, and the command specified
54 in LOG_COMPILER (and <ext>_LOG_COMPILER) must be a *real* executable
55 program or script. For example, this is still a valid usage (albeit
59 if test -n '$(STRICT_TESTS)'; then \
64 LOG_COMPILER = $(SHELL) $$maybe_errexit
66 while this is not anymore:
69 $(SHELL) `test -n '$(STRICT_TESTS_CHECKING)' && echo ' -e'`
74 run_with_perl_or_shell () \
76 if grep -q '^#!.*perl' $$1; then
82 LOG_COMPILER = run_with_per_or_shell
84 - The package authors can now use customary testsuite drivers within
85 the framework provided by the 'parallel-tests' testsuite harness.
86 Consistently with the existing syntax, this can be done by defining
87 special makefile variables `LOG_DRIVER' and `<ext>_LOG_DRIVER'.
89 - A new developer-reserved variable `AM_TESTS_FD_REDIRECT' can be used
90 to redirect/define file descriptors used by the test scripts.
92 - The parallel-tests harness generates now, in addition the `.log' files
93 holding the output produced by the test scripts, a new set of `.trs'
94 files, holding "metadata" derived by the execution of the test scripts;
95 among such metadata are the outcomes of the test cases run by a script.
97 - Initial and still experimental support for the TAP test protocol is
100 * Miscellaneous changes:
102 - The `dist' and `dist-all' targets now can run compressors in parallel.
104 - Automake can now generate silenced rules for texinfo outputs.
106 - Some auxiliary files that are automatically distributed by Automake
107 (e.g., `install-sh', or the `depcomp' script for packages compiling
108 C sources) might now be listed in the DIST_COMMON variable in many
109 Makefile.in files, rather than in the top-level one.
111 - Messages of types warning or error from `automake' and `aclocal'
112 are now prefixed with the respective type, and presence of -Werror
115 - Automake's early configure-time sanity check now tries to avoid
116 sleeping for a second, which slowed down cached configure runs
117 noticeably. In that case, it will check back at the end of the
118 configure script to ensure that at least one second has passed, to
119 avoid time stamp issues with makefile rules rerunning autotools
122 - For programs and libraries, automake now detect EXTRA_foo_DEPENDENCIES
123 and adds them to the normal list of dependencies, but without
124 overwriting the foo_DEPENDENCIES variable, which is normally computed
127 - C source and header files derived from non-distributed Yacc sources
128 are now removed by "make clean", not only by "make maintainer-clean".
130 - The warnings in the category `extra-portability' are now enabled by
131 `-Wall'. In previous versions, one has to use `-Wextra-portability'
136 - Various minor bugfixes.
138 * Bugs introduced by 1.11:
140 - The AM_COND_IF macro also works if the shell expression for the
141 conditional is no longer valid for the condition.
143 * Long-standing bugs:
145 - Automake's own build system finally have a real "installcheck" target.
147 - Files listed with the AC_REQUIRE_AUX_FILE macro in configure.ac are
148 now automatically distributed also if the directory of the auxiliary
149 files coincides with the top-level directory.
151 - Automake now detects the presence of the `-d' flag in the various
152 `*YFLAGS' variables even when their definitions involve indirections
153 through other variables, such as in:
155 AM_YFLAGS = $(foo_opts)
157 - Automake now complains if a `*YFLAGS' variable has any conditional
158 content, not only a conditional definition.
160 - Explicit enabling and/or disabling of Automake warning categories
161 through the `-W...' options now always takes precedence over the
162 implicit warning level implied by Automake strictness (foreign, gnu
163 or gnits), regardless of the order in which such strictness and
164 warning flags appear. For example, a setting like:
165 AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = -Wall --foreign
166 will cause the warnings in category `portability' to be enabled, even
167 if those warnings are by default disabled in `foreign' strictness.
172 * WARNING: Future backward-incompatibilities!
174 - The obsolescent AM_WITH_REGEX macro has been deprecated, since the
175 GNU rx library has been decommissioned.
177 - The `lzma' compression format for distribution archives has been
178 deprecated in favor of `xz' and `lzip'.
180 - The `--acdir' option of aclocal is deprecated, and will probably be
181 removed in the next major Automake release (1.12). [FIXME]
183 - The exact order in which the directories in the aclocal macro
184 search path are looked up is probably going to be changed in the
185 next Automake release (1.12). [FIXME]
187 * Miscellaneous changes:
189 - Automake's own build system is more silent by default, making use of
190 the 'silent-rules' option.
192 - The master copy of the `gnupload' script is now maintained in gnulib,
195 - The `missing' script doesn't try to wrap calls to `tar' anymore.
197 - "make dist" doesn't wrap `tar' invocations with the `missing' script
198 anymore. Similarly, the obsolescent variable `$(AMTAR)' (which you
199 shouldn't be using BTW ;-) does not invoke the missing script anymore
200 to wrap tar, but simply invokes the `tar' program itself.
202 - "make dist" can now create lzip-compressed tarballs.
204 - In the Automake info documentation, the Top node and the nodes about
205 the invocation of the automake and aclocal programs have been renamed;
206 now, calling "info automake" will open the Top node, while calling
207 "info automake-invocation" and "info aclocal-invocation" will access
208 the nodes about the invocation of respectively automake and aclocal.
210 - Automake is now distributed as a gzip-compressed and an xz-compressed
211 tarball. Previously, bzip2 was used instead of xz.
213 - The last relics of Python 1.5 support have been removed from the
214 AM_PATH_PYTHON macro.
216 Bugs fixed in 1.11.2a:
218 * Long-standing bugs:
220 - The "deleted header file problem" for *.am files is avoided by stub
221 rules. This allows `make' to trigger a rerun of `automake' also if
222 some previously needed `.am' file has been removed.
224 - The `silent-rules' option now generates working makefiles even
225 for the uncommon `make' implementations that do not support the
226 nested-variables extension to POSIX 2008. For such `make'
227 implementations, whether a build is silent is determined at
228 configure time, and cannot be overridden at make time with
229 `make V=0' or `make V=1'.
231 - Vala support now works better in VPATH setups.
236 * Changes to aclocal:
238 - The `--acdir' option is deprecated. Now you should use the new options
239 `--automake-acdir' and `--system-acdir' instead.
241 - The `ACLOCAL_PATH' environment variable is now interpreted as a
242 colon-separated list of additional directories to search after the
243 automake internal acdir (by default ${prefix}/share/aclocal-APIVERSION)
244 and before the system acdir (by default ${prefix}/share/aclocal).
246 * Miscellaneous changes:
248 - The Automake support for automatic de-ANSI-fication has been
251 - The `lzma' compression scheme and associated automake option `dist-lzma'
252 is obsoleted by `xz' and `dist-xz' due to upstream changes.
254 - You may adjust the compression options used in dist-xz and dist-bzip2.
255 The default is now merely -e for xz, but still -9 for bzip; you may
256 specify a different level via the XZ_OPT and BZIP2 envvars respectively.
257 E.g., "make dist-xz XZ_OPT=-7" or "make dist-bzip2 BZIP2=-5"
259 - The `compile' script now converts some options for MSVC for a better
260 user experience. Similarly, the new `ar-lib' script wraps Microsoft lib.
262 - The py-compile script now accepts empty arguments passed to the options
263 `--destdir' and `--basedir', and complains about unrecognized options.
264 Moreover, a non-option argument or a special `--' argument terminates
267 - A developer that needs to pass specific flags to configure at "make
268 distcheck" time can now, and indeed is advised to, do so by defining
269 the developer-reserved makefile variable AM_DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS,
270 instead of the old DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS.
271 The DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS variable should now be reserved for the
272 user; still, the old Makefile.am files that used to define it will
273 still continue to work as before.
275 - New macro AM_PROG_AR that looks for an archiver and wraps it in the new
276 'ar-lib' auxiliary script if the selected archiver is Microsoft lib.
277 This new macro is required for LIBRARIES and LTLIBRARIES when automake
278 is run with -Wextra-portability and -Werror.
280 - When using DejaGnu-based testsuites, the user can extend the `site.exp'
281 file generated by automake-provided rules by defining the special make
282 variable `$(EXTRA_DEJAGNU_SITE_CONFIG)'.
284 - The `install-info' rule can now be instructed not to create/update
285 the `${infodir}/dir' file, by exporting the new environment variable
286 `AM_UPDATE_INFO_DIR' to the value "no".
288 Bugs fixed in 1.11.2:
290 * Bugs introduced by 1.11.2:
292 - Automake now correctly recognizes the prefix/primary combination
293 `pkglibexec_SCRIPTS' as valid.
295 * Bugs introduced by 1.11:
297 - The parallel-tests driver no longer produces erroneous results with
298 Tru64/OSF 5.1 sh upon unreadable log files.
300 - The `parallel-tests' test driver does not report spurious successes
301 when used with concurrent FreeBSD make (e.g., "make check -j3").
303 - When the parallel-tests driver is in use, automake now explicitly
304 rejects invalid entries and conditional contents in TEST_EXTENSIONS,
305 instead of issuing confusing and apparently unrelated error messages
306 (e.g., "non-POSIX variable name", "bad characters in variable name",
307 or "redefinition of TEST_EXTENSIONS), or even, in some situations,
308 silently producing broken `Makefile.in' files.
310 - The `silent-rules' option now truly silences all compile rules, even
311 when dependency tracking is disabled. Also, when `silent-rules' is
312 not used, `make' output no longer contains spurious backslash-only
313 lines, thus once again matching what Automake did before 1.11.
315 - The AM_COND_IF macro also works if the shell expression for the
316 conditional is no longer valid for the condition.
318 * Long-standing bugs:
320 - The order of Yacc and Lex flags is fixed to be consistent with other
321 languages: $(AM_YFLAGS) comes before $(YFLAGS), and $(AM_LFLAGS) before
322 $(LFLAGS), so that the user variables override the developer variables.
324 - "make distcheck" now correctly complains also when "make uninstall"
325 leaves one and only one file installed in $(prefix).
327 - A "make uninstall" issued before a "make install", or after a mere
328 "make install-data" or a mere "make install-exec" does not spuriously
331 - Automake now warns about more primary/directory invalid combinations,
332 such as "doc_LIBRARIES" or "pkglib_PROGRAMS".
334 - Rules generated by Automake now try harder to not change any files when
335 `make -n' is invoked. Fixes include compilation of Emacs Lisp, Vala, or
336 Yacc source files and the rule to update config.h.
338 - Several scripts and the parallel-tests testsuite driver now exit with
339 the right exit status upon receiving a signal.
341 - A per-Makefile.am setting of -Werror does not erroneously carry over
342 to the handling of other Makefile.am files.
344 - The code for automatic dependency tracking works around a Solaris
345 make bug triggered by sources containing repeated slashes when the
346 `subdir-objects' option was used.
348 - The makedepend and hp depmodes now work better with VPATH builds.
350 - Java sources specified with check_JAVA are no longer compiled for
351 "make all", but only for "make check".
353 - An usage like "java_JAVA = foo.java" will now cause Automake to warn
354 and error out if `javadir' is undefined, instead of silently producing
355 a broken Makefile.in.
357 - aclocal and automake now honour the configure-time definitions of
358 AUTOCONF and AUTOM4TE when they spawn autoconf or autom4te processes.
360 - The `install-info' recipe no longer tries to guess whether the
361 `install-info' program is from Debian or from GNU, and adaptively
362 change its behaviour; this has proven to be frail and easy to
365 Bugs fixed in 1.11.1:
367 - Lots of minor bugfixes.
369 * Bugs introduced by 1.11:
371 - The `parallel-tests' test driver works around a GNU make 3.80 bug with
372 trailing white space in the test list (`TESTS = foo $(EMPTY)').
374 * Long standing bugs:
376 - On Darwin 9, `pythondir' and `pyexecdir' pointed below `/Library/Python'
377 even if the `--prefix' argument pointed outside of a system directory.
378 AM_PATH_PYTHON has been fixed to ignore the value returned from python's
379 `get_python_lib' function if it points outside the configured prefix,
380 unless the `--prefix' argument was either `/usr' or below `/System'.
382 - The testsuite does not try to change the mode of `ltmain.sh' files from
383 a Libtool installation (symlinked to test directories) any more.
385 - AM_PROG_GCJ uses AC_CHECK_TOOLS to look for `gcj' now, so that prefixed
386 tools are preferred in a cross-compile setup.
388 - The distribution is tarred up with mode 755 now by the `dist*' targets.
389 This fixes a race condition where untrusted users could modify files
390 in the $(PACKAGE)-$(VERSION) distdir before packing if the toplevel
391 build directory was world-searchable. This is CVE-2009-4029.
395 * Version requirements:
397 - Autoconf 2.62 or greater is required.
399 * Changes to aclocal:
401 - The autoconf version check implemented by aclocal in aclocal.m4
402 (and new in Automake 1.10) is degraded to a warning. This helps
403 in the common case where the Autoconf versions used are compatible.
405 * Changes to automake:
407 - The automake program can run multiple threads for creating most
408 Makefile.in files concurrently, if at least Perl 5.7.2 is available
409 with interpreter-based threads enabled. Set the environment variable
410 AUTOMAKE_JOBS to the maximum number of threads to use, in order to
411 enable this experimental feature.
413 * Changes to Libtool support:
415 - Libtool generic flags are now passed to the install and uninstall
418 - distcheck works with Libtool 2.x even when LT_OUTPUT is used, as
419 config.lt is removed correctly now.
423 - subdir-object mode works now with Fortran (F77, FC, preprocessed
424 Fortran, and Ratfor).
426 - For files with extension .f90, .f95, .f03, or .f08, the flag
427 $(FCFLAGS_f[09]x) computed by AC_FC_SRCEXT is now used in compile rules.
429 - Files with extension .sx are also treated as preprocessed assembler.
431 - The default source file extension (.c) can be overridden with
432 AM_DEFAULT_SOURCE_EXT now.
434 - Python 3.0 is supported now, Python releases prior to 2.0 are no
437 - AM_PATH_PYTHON honors python's idea about the site directory.
439 - There is initial support for the Vala programming language, when using
442 * Miscellaneous changes:
444 - Automake development is done in a git repository on Savannah now, see
446 http://git.sv.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=automake.git
448 A read-only CVS mirror is provided at
450 cvs -d :pserver:anonymous@pserver.git.sv.gnu.org:/automake.git \
451 checkout -d automake HEAD
453 - "make dist" can now create xz-compressed tarballs,
454 as well as (deprecated?) lzma-compressed tarballs.
456 - `automake --add-missing' will by default install the GPLv3 file as
457 COPYING if it is missing. It will also warn that the license file
458 should be added to source control. Note that Automake will never
459 overwrite an existing COPYING file, even when the `--force-missing'
462 - The manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL 1.3.
464 - Automake ships and installs man pages for automake and aclocal now.
466 - New shorthand `$(pkglibexecdir)' for `$(libexecdir)/@PACKAGE@'.
468 - install-sh supports -C, which does not update the installed file
469 (and its time stamps) if the contents did not change.
471 - The `gnupload' script has been revamped.
473 - The `depcomp' and `compile' scripts now work with MSVC under MSYS.
475 - The targets `install' and `uninstall' are more efficient now, in that
476 for example multiple files from one Automake variable such as
477 `bin_SCRIPTS' are copied in one `install' (or `libtool --mode=install')
478 invocation if they do not have to be renamed.
480 Both install and uninstall may sometimes enter (`cd' into) the target
481 installation directory now, when no build-local scripts are used.
483 Both install and uninstall do not fail anymore but do nothing if an
484 installation directory variable like `bindir' is set to the empty string.
486 For built-in rules, `make install' now fails reliably if installation
487 of a file failed. Conversely, `make uninstall' even succeeds when
488 issued multiple times.
490 These changes may need some adjustments from users: For example,
491 some `install' programs refuse to install multiple copies of the
492 same file in one invocation, so you may need to remove duplicate
493 entries from file lists.
495 Also, within one set of files, say, nobase_data_DATA, the order of
496 installation may be changed, or even unstable among different hosts,
497 due to the use of associative arrays in awk. The increased use of
498 awk matches a similar move in Autoconf to provide for better scaling.
500 Further, most undocumented per-rule install command variables such as
501 binSCRIPT_INSTALL have been removed because they are not needed any
502 more. Packages which use them should be using the appropriate one of
503 INSTALL_{DATA,PROGRAM,SCRIPT} or their install_sh_{DATA,PROGRAM,SCRIPT}
504 counterpart, depending on the type of files and the need for automatic
505 target directory creation.
507 - The "deleted header file problem" for *.m4 files is avoided by
508 stub rules. This allows `make' to trigger a rerun of `aclocal'
509 also if some previously needed macro file has been removed.
511 - Rebuild rules now also work for a removed `subdir/Makefile.in' in
512 an otherwise up to date tree.
514 - The `color-tests' option causes colored test result output on terminals.
516 - The `parallel-tests' option enables a new test driver that allows for
517 parallel test execution, inter-test dependencies, lazy test execution
518 for unit-testing, re-testing only failed tests, and formatted result output
519 as RST (reStructuredText) and HTML. Enabling this option may require some
520 changes to your test suite setup; see the manual for details.
522 - The `silent-rules' option enables Linux kernel-style silent build output.
523 This option requires the widely supported but non-POSIX `make' feature
524 of recursive variable expansion, so do not use it if your package needs
525 to build with `make' implementations that do not support it.
527 To enable less verbose build output, the developer has to use the Automake
528 option `silent-rules' in `AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE', or call the `AM_SILENT_RULES'
529 macro. The user may then set the default verbosity by passing the
530 `--enable-silent-rules' option to `configure'. At `make' run time, this
531 default may be overridden using `make V=0' for less verbose, and `make V=1'
532 for backward-compatible verbose output.
534 - New prefix `notrans_' for manpages which should not be transformed
535 by --program-transform.
537 - New macro AM_COND_IF for conditional evaluation and conditional
540 - For AC_CONFIG_LINKS, if source and destination are equal, do not
541 remove the file in a non-VPATH build. Such setups work with Autoconf
544 - AM_MAINTAINER_MODE now allows for an optional argument specifying
547 - AM_SUBST_NOTMAKE may prevent substitution of AC_SUBSTed variables,
548 useful especially for multi-line values.
550 - Automake's early configure-time sanity check now diagnoses an
551 unsafe absolute source directory name and makes configure fail.
553 - The Automake macros and rules cope better with whitespace in the
554 current directory name, as long as the relative path to `configure'
555 does not contain whitespace. To this end, the values of `$(MISSING)'
556 and `$(install_sh)' may contain suitable quoting, and their expansion
557 might need `eval'uation if used outside of a makefile. These
558 undocumented variables may be used in several documented macros such
559 as $(AUTOCONF) or $(MAKEINFO).
563 * Long-standing bugs:
565 - Fix aix dependency tracking for libtool objects.
567 - Work around AIX sh quoting issue in AC_PROG_CC_C_O, leading to
568 unnecessary use of the `compile' script.
570 - For nobase_*_LTLIBRARIES with nonempty directory components, the
571 correct `-rpath' argument is used now.
573 - `config.status --file=Makefile depfiles' now also works with the
574 extra quoting used internally by Autoconf 2.62 and newer
575 (it used to work only without the `--file=' bit).
577 - The `missing' script works better with versioned tool names.
579 - Semantics for `missing help2man' have been revamped:
581 Previously, if `help2man' was not present, `missing help2man' would have
582 the following semantics: if some man page was out of date but present, then
583 a warning would be printed, but the exit status was 0. If the man page was
584 not present at all, then `missing' would create a replacement man page
585 containing an error message, and exit with a status of 2. This does not play
586 well with `make': the next run will see this particular man page as being up
587 to date, and will only error out on the next generated man page, if any;
588 repeat until all pages are done. This was not desirable.
590 These are the new semantics: if some man page is not present, and help2man
591 is not either, then `missing' will warn and generate the replacement page
592 containing the error message, but exit successfully. However, `make dist'
593 will ensure that no such bogus man pages are packaged into a tarball.
595 - Targets provided by automake behave better with `make -n', in that they
596 take care not to create files.
598 - `config.status Makefile... depfiles' works fine again in the presence of
599 disabled dependency tracking.
601 - The default no-op recursive rules for these targets also work with BSD make
602 now: html, install-html, install-dvi, install-pdf, install-pdf, install-info.
604 - `make distcheck' works also when both a directory and some file below it
605 have been added to a distribution variable, such as EXTRA_DIST or *_SOURCES.
607 - Texinfo dvi, ps, pdf, and html output files are not removed upon
608 `make mostlyclean' any more; only the LaTeX by-products are.
610 - Renamed objects also work with the `subdir-objects' option and
611 source file languages which Automake does not know itself.
613 - `automake' now correctly complains about variable assignments which are
614 preceded by a comment, extend over multiple lines with backslash-escaped
615 newlines, and end in a comment sign. Previous versions would silently
616 and wrongly ignore such assignments completely.
618 * Bugs introduced by 1.10:
620 - Fix output of dummy dependency files in presence of post-processed
621 Makefile.in's again, but also cope with long lines.
623 - $(EXEEXT) is automatically appended to filenames of XFAIL_TESTS
624 that have been declared as programs in the same Makefile.
625 This is for consistency with the analogous change to TESTS in 1.10.
627 - Fix order of standard includes to again be `-I. -I$(srcdir)',
628 followed by directories containing config headers.
632 * Version requirements:
634 - Autoconf 2.60 or greater is required.
636 - Perl 5.6 or greater is required.
638 * Changes to aclocal:
640 - aclocal now also supports -Wmumble and -Wno-mumble options.
642 - `dirlist' entries (for the aclocal search path) may use shell
643 wildcards such as `*', `?', or `[...]'.
645 - aclocal supports an --install option that will cause system-wide
646 third-party macros to be installed in the local directory
647 specified with the first -I flag. This option also uses #serial
648 lines in M4 files to upgrade local macros.
650 The new aclocal options --dry-run and --diff help to review changes
651 before they are installed.
653 - aclocal now outputs an autoconf version check in aclocal.m4 in
654 projects using automake.
656 For a few years, automake and aclocal have been calling autoconf
657 (or its underlying engine autom4te) to accurately retrieve the
658 data they need from configure.ac and its siblings. Doing so can
659 only work if all autotools use the same version of autoconf. For
660 instance a Makefile.in generated by automake for one version of
661 autoconf may stop working if configure is regenerated with another
662 version of autoconf, and vice versa.
664 This new version check ensures that the whole build system has
665 been generated using the same autoconf version.
667 * Support for new Autoconf macros:
669 - The new AC_REQUIRE_AUX_FILE Autoconf macro is supported.
671 - If `subdir-objects' is set, and AC_CONFIG_LIBOBJ_DIR is specified,
672 $(LIBOBJS), $(LTLIBOBJS), $(ALLOCA), and $(LTALLOCA) can be used
673 in different directories. However, only one instance of such a
674 library objects directory is supported.
676 * Change to Libtool support:
678 - Libtool generic flags (those that go before the --mode=MODE option)
679 can be specified using AM_LIBTOOLFLAGS and target_LIBTOOLFLAGS.
681 * Yacc and Lex changes:
683 - The rebuild rules for distributed Yacc and Lex output will avoid
684 overwriting existing files if AM_MAINTAINER_MODE and maintainer-mode
687 - ylwrap is now always used for lex and yacc source files,
688 regardless of whether there is more than one source per directory.
692 - Preprocessed assembler (*.S) compilation now honors CPPFLAGS,
693 AM_CPPFLAGS and per-target _CPPFLAGS, and supports dependency
694 tracking, unlike non-preprocessed assembler (*.s).
696 - subdir-object mode works now with Assembler. Automake assumes
697 that the compiler understands `-c -o'.
699 - Preprocessed assembler (*.S) compilation now also honors
700 $(DEFS) $(DEFAULT_INCLUDES) $(INCLUDES).
702 - Improved support for Objective C:
703 - Autoconf's new AC_PROG_OBJC will enable automatic dependency tracking.
704 - A new section of the manual documents the support.
706 - New support for Unified Parallel C:
707 - AM_PROG_UPC looks for a UPC compiler.
708 - A new section of the manual documents the support.
710 - Per-target flags are now correctly handled in link rules.
712 For instance maude_CFLAGS correctly overrides AM_CFLAGS; likewise
713 for maude_LDFLAGS and AM_LDFLAGS. Previous versions bogusly
714 preferred AM_CFLAGS over maude_CFLAGS while linking, and they
715 used both AM_LDFLAGS and maude_LDFLAGS on the same link command.
717 The fix for compiler flags (i.e., using maude_CFLAGS instead of
718 AM_CFLAGS) should not hurt any package since that is how _CFLAGS
719 is expected to work (and actually works during compilation).
721 However using maude_LDFLAGS "instead of" AM_LDFLAGS rather than
722 "in addition to" breaks backward compatibility with older versions.
723 If your package used both variables, as in
725 AM_LDFLAGS = common flags
727 a_LDFLAGS = more flags
730 and assumed *_LDFLAGS would sum up, you should rewrite it as
732 AM_LDFLAGS = common flags
734 a_LDFLAGS = $(AM_LDFLAGS) more flags
737 This new behavior of *_LDFLAGS is more coherent with other
738 per-target variables, and the way *_LDFLAGS variables were
739 considered internally.
741 * New installation targets:
743 - New targets mandated by GNU Coding Standards:
748 By default they will only install Texinfo manuals.
749 You can customize them with *-local variants:
755 - The undocumented recursive target `uninstall-info' no longer exists.
756 (`uninstall' is in charge of removing all possible documentation
757 flavors, including optional formats such as dvi, ps, or info even
758 when `no-installinfo' is used.)
760 * Miscellaneous changes:
762 - Automake no longer complains if input files for AC_CONFIG_FILES
763 are specified using shell variables.
765 - clean, distribution, or rebuild rules are normally disabled for
766 inputs and outputs of AC_CONFIG_FILES, AC_CONFIG_HEADERS, and
767 AC_CONFIG_LINK specified using shell variables. However, if these
768 variables are used as ${VAR}, and AC_SUBSTed, then Automake will
769 be able to output rules anyway.
770 (See the Automake documentation for AC_CONFIG_FILES.)
772 - $(EXEEXT) is automatically appended to filenames of TESTS
773 that have been declared as programs in the same Makefile.
774 This is mostly useful when some check_PROGRAMS are listed in TESTS.
776 - `-Wportability' has finally been turned on by default for `gnu' and
777 `gnits' strictness. This means, automake will complain about %-rules
778 or $(GNU Make functions) unless you switch to `foreign' strictness or
779 use `-Wno-portability'.
781 - Automake now uses AC_PROG_MKDIR_P (new in Autoconf 2.60), and uses
782 $(MKDIR_P) instead of $(mkdir_p) to create directories. The
783 $(mkdir_p) variable is still defined (to the same value as
784 $(MKDIR_P)) but should be considered obsolete. If you are using
785 $(mkdir_p) in some of your rules, please plan to update them to
786 $(MKDIR_P) at some point.
788 - AM_C_PROTOTYPES and ansi2knr are now documented as being obsolete.
789 They still work in this release, but may be withdrawn in a future one.
791 - Inline compilation rules for gcc3-style dependency tracking are
794 - Automake installs a "Hello World!" example package in $(docdir).
795 This example is used throughout the new "Autotools Introduction"
796 chapter of the manual.
800 * Makefile.in bloat reduction:
802 - Inference rules are used to compile sources in subdirectories when
803 the `subdir-objects' option is used and no per-target flags are
804 used. This should reduce the size of some projects a lot, because
805 Automake used to output an explicit rule for each such object in
808 - Automake no longer outputs three rules (.o, .obj, .lo) for each
809 object that must be built with explicit rules. It just outputs
810 the rules required to build the kind of object considered: either
811 the two .o and .obj rules for usual objects, or the .lo rule for
814 * Change to Libtool support:
816 - Libtool tags are used with libtool versions that support them.
817 (I.e., with Libtool 1.5 or greater.)
819 - Automake is now able to handle setups where a libtool library is
820 conditionally installed in different directories, as in
823 lib_LTLIBRARIES = liba.la
825 pkglib_LTLIBRARIES = liba.la
827 liba_la_SOURCES = ...
829 * Changes to aclocal:
831 - aclocal now ensures that AC_DEFUNs and AU_DEFUNs it discovers are
832 really evaluated, before it decides to include them in aclocal.m4.
833 This solves nasty problems with conditional redefinitions of
834 Autoconf macros in /usr/share/aclocal/*.m4 files causing extraneous
835 *.m4 files to be included in any project using these macros.
836 (Calls to AC_PROG_EGREP causing libtool.m4 to be included is the
837 most famous instance of this bug.)
839 - Do not complain about missing conditionally AC_REQUIREd macros
840 that are not actually used. In 1.8.x aclocal would correctly
841 determine which of these macros were really needed (and include
842 only these in the package); unfortunately it would also require
843 all of them to be present in order to run. This created
844 situations were aclocal would not work on a tarball distributing
845 all the macros it uses. For instance running aclocal on a project
846 containing only the subset of the Gettext macros in use by the
847 project did not work, because gettext conditionally requires other
850 * Portability improvements:
852 - Tar format can be chosen with the new options tar-v7, tar-ustar, and
853 tar-pax. The new option filename-length-max=99 helps diagnosing
854 filenames that are too long for tar-v7. (PR/414)
856 - Variables aumented with `+=' are now automatically flattened (i.e.,
857 trailing backslashes removed) and then wrapped around 80 colummns
858 (adding trailing backslashes). In previous versions, a long series
864 would result in a single-line definition of VAR that could possibly
865 exceed the maximum line length of some make implementations.
867 Non-augmented variables are still output as they are defined in
872 - Support Fortran 90/95 with the new "fc" and "ppfc" languages.
873 Works the same as the old Fortran 77 implementation; just replace
874 F77 with FC everywhere (exception: FFLAGS becomes FCFLAGS).
875 Requires a version of autoconf which provides AC_PROG_FC (>=2.59).
877 - Support for conditional _LISP.
879 - Support for conditional -hook and -local rules (PR/428).
881 - Diagnose AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR calls following AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE. (PR/49)
883 - Automake will not write any Makefile.ins after the first error it
884 encounters. The previous Makefile.ins (if any) will be left in
885 place. (Warnings will not prevent output, but remember they can
886 be turned into errors with -Werror.)
888 - The restriction that SUBDIRS must contain direct children is gone.
891 - The manual tells more about SUBDIRS vs. DIST_SUBDIRS.
892 It also gives an example of nested packages using AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS.
896 * Long-standing bugs:
898 - Define DIST_SUBDIRS even when the `no-dist' or `cygnus' options are used
899 so that `make distclean' and `make maintainer-clean' can work.
901 - Define AR and ARFLAGS even when only EXTRA_LIBRARIES are defined.
903 - Fix many rules to please FreeBSD make, which runs commands with `sh -e'.
905 - Polish diagnostic when no input file is found.
909 * Long-standing bugs:
911 - Fix AM_PATH_PYTHON to correctly display $PYTHON when it has been
912 overridden by the user.
914 - Honor PATH_SEPARATOR in various places of the Automake package, for
917 - Adjust dependency tracking mode detection to ICC 8.0's new output.
920 - Fix install-sh so it can install the `mv' binary... using `mv'.
922 - Fix tru64 dependency tracking for libtool objects.
924 - Work around Exuberant Ctags when creating a TAGS files in a directory
925 without files to scan but with subdirectories to include.
927 * Bugs introduced by 1.8:
929 - Fix an "internal error" when @LIBOBJS@ is used in a variable that is
930 not defined in the same conditions as the _LDADD that uses it.
932 - Do not warn when JAVAROOT is overridden, this is legitimate.
936 * Long-standing bugs:
938 - Quote filenames in installation rules, in case $DESTDIR, $prefix,
939 or any of the other *dir variables contain a space.
941 Please note that Automake does not and cannot support spaces in
942 filenames that are involved during the build. This change affects
943 only installation paths, so that `make install' does not bomb out
944 in packages configured with
945 ./configure --prefix '/c/Program Files'
947 - Fix the depfiles output so it works with GNU sed (<4.1) even when
948 POSIXLY_CORRECT is set.
950 - Do not AC_SUBST(LIBOBJS) in AM_WITH_REGEX. This macro was unusable
951 since Autoconf 2.54, which defines LIBOBJS itself.
953 - Fix a potential (but unlikely) race condition in parallel elisp
954 builds. (Introduced in 1.7.3.)
956 - Do not assume that users override _DEPENDENCIES in all conditions
957 where Automake will try to define them.
959 - Do not use `mkdir -p' in mkinstalldirs, unless this is GNU mkdir.
960 Solaris 8's `mkdir -p' is not thread-safe and can break parallel
963 This fix also affects the $(mkdir_p) variable defined since
964 Automake 1.8. It will be set to `mkdir -p' only if mkdir is GNU
965 mkdir, and to `mkinstalldirs' or `install-sh -d' otherwise.
967 - Secure temporary directory creation in `make distcheck'. (PR/413)
969 - Do not generate two build rules for `parser.h' when the
970 parser appears in two different conditionals.
972 - Work around a Solaris 8 /bin/sh bug in the test for dependency
973 checking. Usually ./configure will not pick this shell; so this
974 fix only helps cases where the shell is forced to /bin/sh.
976 * Bugs introduced by 1.8:
978 - In some situations (hand-written `m4_include's), aclocal would
979 call the `File::Spec->rel2abs' method, which was only introduced
980 in Perl 5.6. This new version reestablish support Perl 5.005.
982 It is likely that the next major Automake releases will require at
983 least Perl 5.6. Consider upgrading your development environment
984 if you are still using the five-year-old Perl 5.005.
986 - Automake would sometimes fail to define rules for targets listed
987 in variables defined in multiple conditions. For instance on
993 it would define only the `a.$(OBJEXT): a.c' rule and omit the
994 `b.$(OBJEXT): b.c' rule.
996 * New sections in manual:
998 - Third-Party Makefiles: how to interface third party Makefiles.
999 - Upgrading: upgrading packages to newer Automake versions.
1000 - Multiple Outputs: handling tools that produce many outputs.
1004 * A (well known) portability bug slipped in the changes made to
1005 install-sh in Automake 1.8.1. The broken install-sh would refuse to
1006 install anything on Tru64.
1008 * Fix install rules for conditionally built python files. (This never
1013 * Bugs introduced by 1.8:
1015 - Fix Config.pm import error with old Perl versions (at least
1016 5.005_03). One symptom is that aclocal could not find its macro
1019 - Automake 1.8 used `mkdir -m 0755 -p --' to ensure that directories
1020 created by `make install' are always world readable, even if the
1021 installer happens to have an overly restrictive umask (e.g. 077).
1022 This was a mistake and has been reverted. There are at least two
1023 reasons why we must not use `-m 0755':
1024 - it causes special bits like SGID to be ignored,
1025 - it may be too restrictive (some setups expect 775 directories).
1027 - Fix aclocal to honor definitions located in files which have been
1028 m4_included manually. aclocal 1.8 had been updated to check
1029 m4_included files for new requirements, but forgot that these
1030 m4_included files can also provide new definitions.
1032 Note that if you have such a setup, we recommend you get rid of
1033 it. In the past, there was a reason to m4_include files manually:
1034 aclocal used to duplicate entire M4 files into aclocal.m4, even
1035 files that were distributed. Some packages were therefore
1036 m4_including the distributed file directly, and playing some
1037 tricks to ensure aclocal would not copy that file to aclocal.m4,
1038 in order to limit the amount of duplication. Since aclocal 1.8.x
1039 will precisely output m4_includes for local M4 files, we recommend
1040 that you clean up your setup, removing all manual m4_includes and
1041 letting aclocal output them.
1043 - Output detailed menus in the Info version if the Automake manual,
1044 so that Emacs can locate the indexes.
1046 - configure.ac and configure were listed twice in DIST_COMMON (an
1047 internal variable where Automake lists configury files to
1048 distribute). This was harmless, but unaesthetic.
1050 - Use `chmod a-w' instead of `chmod -w' as the latter honors umask.
1051 This was an issue only in the Automake package itself, not in
1054 - Automake assumed that all AC_CONFIG_LINKS arguments had the form
1055 DEST:SRC. This was wrong, as some packages do
1056 AC_CONFIG_LINKS($computedlinks). This version no longer abort in
1059 - Contrary to mkinstalldirs, $(mkdir_p) was expecting exactly one
1060 argument. This caused two kinds of failures:
1061 - Rules installing data in a conditionally defined directory
1062 failed when that directory was undefined. In this case no
1063 argument was supplied.
1064 - `make installdirs' failed, because several directories were
1065 passed to $(mkdir_p). This was an issue only on platform
1066 were $(mkdir_p) is implemented with `install-sh -d'.
1067 $(mkdir_p) as been changed to accept 0 or more arguments, as
1070 * Long-standing bugs:
1072 - Fix an unexpected diagnostic occurring when users attempt
1073 to override some internal variables that Automake appends to.
1075 - aclocal now scans configure.ac for macro definitions (PR/319).
1077 - Fix a portability issue with OSF1/Tru64 Make. If a directory
1078 distributes files which are outside itself (this usually occurs
1079 when using AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR([../dir]) to use auxiliary files
1080 from a parent package), then `make distcheck' fails due to an
1081 optimization performed by OSF1/Tru64 Make in its VPATH handling.
1082 (tests/subpkg2.test failure)
1084 - Fix another portability issue with Sun and OSF1/Tru64 Make.
1085 In a VPATH-build configuration, `make install' would install
1086 nobase_ files to wrong locations.
1088 - Fix a Perl `uninitialized value' diagnostic occurring when
1089 automake complains that a Texinfo file does not have a
1090 @setfilename statement.
1092 - Erase config.status.lineno during `make distclean'. This file
1093 can be created by config.status. Automake already knew about
1094 configure.lineno, but forgot config.status.lineno.
1096 - Distribute all files, even those which are built and installed
1097 conditionally. This change affects files listed in conditionally
1098 defined *_HEADERS and *_PYTHON variable (unless they are nodist_*)
1099 as well as those listed in conditionally defined dist_*_DATA,
1100 dist_*_JAVA, dist_*_LISP, and dist_*_SCRIPTS variables.
1102 - Fix AM_PATH_LISPDIR to avoid \? in sed regular expressions; it
1103 doesn't conform to POSIX.
1105 - Normalize help strings for configure variables and options added
1110 - Check for python2.4 in AM_PATH_PYTHON.
1112 * Spurious failures in test suite:
1114 - tests/libtool5.test, tests/ltcond.test, tests/ltcond2.test,
1115 tests/ltconv.test: fix failures with CVS Libtool.
1116 - tests/aclocal6.test: fix failure if autom4te.cache is disabled.
1117 - tests/txinfo24.test, tests/txinfo25.test, tests/txinfo28.test:
1118 fix failures with old Texinfo versions.
1124 - The NEWS file is more verbose.
1128 - Autoconf 2.58 or greater is required.
1132 - Default source file names in the absence of a _SOURCES declaration
1133 are made by removing any target extension before appending `.c', so
1134 to make the libtool module `foo.la' from `foo.c', you only need to
1137 lib_LTLIBRARIES = foo.la
1138 foo_la_LDFLAGS = -module
1140 For backward compatibility, foo_la.c will be used instead of
1141 foo.c if this file exists or is the explicit target of a rule.
1142 However -Wobsolete will warn about this deprecated naming.
1144 - AR's `cru' flags are now set in a global ARFLAGS variable instead
1145 of being hard-coded in each $(AR) invocation, so they can be
1146 substituted from configure.ac. This has been requested by people
1147 dealing with non-POSIX ar implementations.
1149 - New warning option: -Woverride. This will warn about any user
1150 target or variable definitions which override Automake
1153 - Texinfo rules back up and restore info files when makeinfo fails.
1155 - Texinfo rules now support the `html' target.
1156 Running this requires Texinfo 4.0 or greater.
1158 `html' is a new recursive target, so if your package mixes
1159 hand-crafted `Makefile.in's with Automake-generated
1160 `Makefile.in's, you should adjust the former to support (or
1161 ignore) this target so that `make html' recurses successfully. If
1162 you had a custom `html' rule in your `Makefile.am', it's better to
1163 rename it as `html-local', otherwise your rule will override
1164 Automake's new rule (you can check that by running `automake
1165 -Woverride') and that will stop the recursion to subdirectories.
1167 Last but not least, this `html' rule is declared PHONY, even when
1168 overridden. Fortunately, it appears that few packages use a
1169 non-PHONY `html' rule.
1171 - Any file which is m4_included from configure.ac will appear as a
1172 configure and Makefile.in dependency, and will be automatically
1175 - The rules for rebuilding Makefiles and Makefile.ins will now
1176 rebuild all Makefiles and all Makefile.ins at once when one of
1177 configure's dependencies has changed. This is considerably faster
1178 than previous implementations, where config.status and automake
1179 were run separately in each directory (this still happens when you
1180 change a Makefile.am locally, without touching configure.ac or
1181 friends). Doing this also solves a longstanding issue: these
1182 rebuild rules failed to work when adding new directories to the
1183 tree, forcing you to run automake manually.
1185 - For similar reasons, the rules to rebuild configure,
1186 config.status, and aclocal.m4 are now defined in all directories.
1187 Note that if you were using the CONFIG_STATUS_DEPENDENCIES and
1188 CONFIGURE_DEPENDENCIES (formerly undocumented) variables, you
1189 should better define them in all directories. This is easily done
1190 using an AC_SUBST (make sure you prefix these dependencies with
1191 $(top_srcdir) since this variable will appear at different
1192 levels of the build tree).
1194 - aclocal will now use `m4_include' instead of copying local m4
1195 files into aclocal.m4. (Local m4 files are those you ship with
1196 your project, other files will be copied as usual.)
1198 Because m4_included files are automatically distributed, it means
1199 for most projects there is no point in EXTRA_DISTing the list of
1200 m4 files which are used. (You can probably get rid of
1201 m4/Makefile.am if you had one.)
1203 - aclocal will avoid touching aclocal.m4 when possible, so that
1204 Autom4te's cache isn't needlessly invalidated. This behavior can
1205 be switched off with the new `--force' option.
1207 - aclocal now uses Autoconf's --trace to detect macros which are
1208 actually used and will no longer include unused macros simply
1209 because they where mentioned. This was often the case for macros
1210 called conditionally.
1212 - New options no-dist and no-dist-gzip.
1214 - compile, depcomp, elisp-comp, install-sh, mdate-sh, mkinstalldirs,
1215 py-compile, and ylwrap, now all understand --version and --help.
1217 - Automake will now recognize AC_CONFIG_LINKS so far as removing created
1218 links as part of the distclean target and including source files in
1221 - AM_PATH_PYTHON now supports ACTION-IF-FOUND and ACTION-IF-NOT-FOUND
1222 argument. The latter can be used to override the default behavior
1223 (which is to abort).
1225 - Automake will exit with $? = 63 on version mismatch. (So does
1226 Autoconf 2.58) missing knows this, and in this case it will
1227 emulate the tools as if they were absent. Because older versions
1228 of Automake and Autoconf did not use this exit code, this change
1229 will only be useful in projects generated with future versions of
1232 - When using AC_CONFIG_FILES with multiple input files, Automake
1233 generates the first ".in" input file for which a ".am" exists.
1234 (Former versions would try to use only the first input file.)
1236 - lisp_DATA is now allowed. If you are using the empty ELCFILES
1237 idiom to disable byte-compilation of lisp_LISP files, it is
1238 recommended that you switch to using lisp_DATA. Note that
1239 this is not strictly equivalent: lisp_DATA will install elisp
1240 files even if emacs is not installed, while *_LISP do not
1241 install anything unless emacs is found.
1243 - Makefiles will prefer `mkdir -p' over mkinstalldirs if it is
1244 available. This selection is achieved through the Makefile
1245 variable $(mkdir_p) that is set by AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE to either
1246 `mkdir -m 0755 -p --', `$(mkinstalldirs) -m 0755', or
1247 `$(install_sh) -m 0755 -d'.
1251 - Because `mkdir -p' is available on most platforms, and we can use
1252 `install-sh -d' when it is not, the use of the mkinstalldirs
1253 script is being phased out. `automake --add-missing' no longer
1254 installs it, and if you remove mkinstalldirs from your package,
1255 automake will define $(mkinstalldirs) as an alias for $(mkdir_p).
1257 Gettext 0.12.1 still requires mkinstalldirs. Fortunately
1258 gettextize and autopoint will install it when needed. Automake
1259 will continue to define the $(mkinstalldirs) and to distribute
1260 mkinstalldirs when this script is in the source tree.
1262 - AM_PROG_CC_STDC is now empty. The content of this macro was
1263 merged in AC_PROG_CC. If your code uses $am_cv_prog_cc_stdc, you
1264 should adjust it to use $ac_cv_prog_cc_stdc instead. (This
1265 renaming should be safe, even if you have to support several,
1266 versions of Automake, because AC_PROG_CC defines this variable
1267 since Autoconf 2.54.)
1269 - Some users where using the undocumented ACLOCAL_M4_SOURCES
1270 variable to override the aclocal.m4 dependencies computed
1271 (inaccurately) by older versions of Automake. Because Automake
1272 now tracks configure's m4 dependencies accurately (see m4_include
1273 above), the use of ACLOCAL_M4_SOURCES should be considered
1274 obsolete and will be flagged as such when running `automake
1279 - Defining programs conditionally using Automake conditionals no
1280 longer leads to a combinatorial explosion. The following
1281 construct used to be troublesome when used with dozens of
1296 Likewise for _SOURCES, _LDADD, and _LIBADD variables.
1298 - Due to implementation constraints, previous versions of Automake
1299 proscribed multiple conditional definitions of some variables
1309 All _PROGRAMS, _LDADD, and _LIBADD variables were affected.
1310 This restriction has been lifted, and these variables now
1311 support multiple conditional definitions as do other variables.
1313 - Cleanup the definitions of $(distdir) and $(top_distdir).
1314 $(top_distdir) now points to the root of the distribution
1315 directory created during `make dist', as it did in Automake 1.4,
1316 not to the root of the build tree as it did in intervening
1317 versions. Furthermore these two variables are now only defined in
1318 the top level Makefile, and passed to sub-directories when running
1321 - The --no-force option now correctly checks the Makefile.in's
1322 dependencies before deciding not to update it.
1324 - Do not assume that make files are called Makefile in cleaning rules.
1326 - Update .info files in the source tree, not in the build tree. This
1327 is what the GNU Coding Standard recommend. Only Automake 1.7.x
1328 used to update these files in the build tree (previous versions did
1329 it in the source tree too), and it caused several problems, varying
1330 from mere annoyance to portability issues.
1332 - COPYING, COPYING.LIB, and COPYING.LESSER are no longer overwritten
1333 when --add-missing and --force-missing are used. For backward
1334 compatibility --add-missing will continue to install COPYING (in
1335 `gnu' strictness) when none of these three files exist, but this
1336 use is deprecated: you should better choose a license yourself and
1337 install it once for all in your source tree (and in your code
1340 - Fix ylwrap so that it does not overwrite header files that haven't
1341 changed, as the inline rule already does.
1343 - User-defined rules override automake-defined rules for the same
1344 targets, even when rules do not have commands. This is not new
1345 (and was documented), however some of the automake-generated
1346 rules have escaped this principle in former Automake versions.
1347 Rules for the following targets are affected by this fix:
1349 clean, clean-am, dist-all, distclean, distclean-am, dvi, dvi-am,
1350 info, info-am, install-data-am, install-exec-am, install-info,
1351 install-info-am, install-man, installcheck-am, maintainer-clean,
1352 maintainer-clean-am, mostlyclean, mostlyclean-am, pdf, pdf-am,
1353 ps, ps-am, uninstall-am, uninstall-info, uninstall-man
1355 Practically it means that an attempt to supplement the dependencies
1356 of some target, as in
1358 clean: my-clean-rule
1360 will now *silently override* the automake definition of the
1361 rule for this target. Running `automake -Woverride' will diagnose
1362 all such overriding definitions.
1364 It should be noted that almost all these targets support a *-local
1365 variant that is meant to supplement the automake-defined rule
1366 (See node `Extending' in the manual). The above rule should
1369 clean-local: my-clean-rule
1371 These *-local targets have been documented since at least
1372 Automake 1.2, so you should not fear the change if you have
1373 to support multiple automake versions.
1377 - The Automake manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
1379 - Targets dist-gzip, dist-bzip2, dist-tarZ, dist-zip are always defined.
1381 - core dumps are no longer removed by the cleaning rules. There are
1382 at least three reasons for this:
1383 1. These files should not be created by any build step,
1384 so their removal do not fit any of the cleaning rules.
1385 Actually, they may be precious to the developer.
1386 2. If such file is created during a build, then it's clearly a
1387 bug Automake should not hide. Not removing the file will
1388 cause `make distcheck' to complain about its presence.
1389 3. Operating systems have different naming conventions for
1390 core dump files. A core file on one system might be a
1391 completely legitimate data file on another system.
1393 - RUNTESTFLAGS, CTAGSFLAGS, ETAGSFLAGS, JAVACFLAGS are no longer
1394 defined by Automake. This means that any definition in the
1395 environment will be used, unless overridden in the Makefile.am or
1396 on the command line. The old behavior, where these variables were
1397 defined empty in each Makefile, can be obtained by AC_SUBSTing or
1398 AC_ARG_VARing each variable from configure.ac.
1400 - CONFIGURE_DEPENDENCIES and CONFIG_STATUS_DEPENDENCIES are now
1401 documented. (The is not a new feature, these variables have
1402 been there since at least Automake 1.4.)
1404 Bugs fixed in 1.7.9:
1405 * Fix install-strip to work with nobase_ binaries.
1406 * Fix renaming of #line directives in ylwrap.
1407 * Rebuild with Autoconf 2.59. (1.7.8 was not installable with pdksh.)
1409 Bugs fixed in 1.7.8:
1410 * Remove spurious blank lines in cleaning rules introduced in 1.7.7.
1411 * Fix detection of Debian's install-info, broken since version 1.5.
1412 (Debian bug #213524).
1413 * Honor -module if it appears in AM_LDFLAGS (i.e., relax name checking)
1414 This was only done for libfoo_LDFLAGS and LDFLAGS in previous versions.
1416 Bugs fixed in 1.7.7:
1417 * The implementation of automake's --no-force option is unreliable,
1418 so this option is ignored in this version. A real fix will appear in
1419 Automake 1.8. (Debian Bug #206299)
1420 * AM_PATH_PYTHON: really check the whole list of interpreters if no
1421 argument is given. (PR/399)
1422 * Do not warn about leading `_' in variable names, even with -Wportability.
1423 * Support user redefinitions of TEXINFO_TEX.
1424 * depcomp: support AIX Compiler version 6.
1425 * Fix missing rebuilds during `make dist' with BSD make.
1426 (Could produce tarballs containing out-of-date files.)
1427 * Resurrect multilib support.
1428 * Noteworthy manual updates:
1429 - Extending aclocal: how to write m4 macros that won't trigger warnings
1431 - A Shared Library: Rewrite and split into subsections.
1433 Bugs fixed in 1.7.6:
1434 * Fix depcomp's icc mode for ICC 7.1.
1435 * Diagnose calls to AC_CONFIG_FILES and friends with not enough arguments.
1436 * Fix maintainer-clean's removal of autom4te.cache in VPATH builds.
1437 * Fix AM_PATH_LISPDIR to work with POSIXLY_CORRECT=1.
1438 * Fix the location reported in some diagnostics related to AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS.
1439 * Remove Latin-1 characters from elisp-comp.
1440 * Update the manual's @dircategory to match the Free Software Directory.
1442 Bugs fixed in 1.7.5:
1443 * Update install-sh's license to remove an advertising clause.
1444 (Debian bug #191717)
1445 * Fix a bug introduced in 1.7.4, related to BUILT_SOURCE handling,
1446 that caused invalid Makefile.ins to be generated.
1447 * Make sure AM_MAKE_INCLUDE doesn't fail when a `doit' file exists.
1448 * New FAQ entry: renamed objects.
1450 Bugs fixed in 1.7.4:
1451 * Tweak the TAGS rule to support Exuberant Ctags (in addition to
1452 the Emacs implementation)
1453 * Fix output of aclocal.m4 dependencies in subdirectories.
1454 * Use `mv -f' instead of `mv' in fastdep rules.
1455 * Upgrade mdate-sh to work on OS/2.
1456 * Don't byte-compile elisp files when ELCFILES is set empty.
1457 (this documented feature was broken by 1.7.3)
1458 * Diagnose trailing backslashes on last line of Makefile.am.
1459 * Diagnose whitespace following trailing backslashes.
1460 * Multiple tests are now correctly supported in DEJATOOL. (PR/388)
1461 * Fix rebuilt rules for AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile:Makefile.in:Makefile.bot])
1463 * `make install' will build `BUILT_SOURCES' first.
1464 * Minor documentation fixes.
1466 Bugs fixed in 1.7.3:
1467 * Fix stamp files numbering (when using multiple AC_CONFIG_HEADERS).
1468 * Query distutils for `pythondir' and `pythonexecdir', instead of
1469 using an hardcoded path. This should allow builds on 64-bit
1470 distributions that usually use lib64/ instead of lib/.
1471 * AM_PATH_PYTHON will also search for python2.3.
1472 * elisp files are now built all at once instead of one by one. Besides
1473 incurring a speed-up, this is required to support interdependent elisp files.
1474 * Support for DJGPP:
1475 - `make distcheck' will now work in `_inst/' and `_build' instead
1476 of `=inst/' and `=build/'
1477 - use `_dirstamp' when the file-system doesn't support `.dirstamp'
1478 - install/uninstall `*.i[0-9][0-9]'-style info files
1479 - more changes that affect only the Automake package (not its output)
1480 * Fix some incompatibilities with upcoming perl-5.10.
1481 * Properly quote AC_PACKAGE_TARNAME and AC_PACKAGE_VERSION when defining
1482 PACKAGE and VERSION.
1484 - dashmstdout and dashXmstdout modes: don't use `-o /dev/null', this
1485 is troublesome with gcc and Solaris compilers. (PR/385)
1486 - makedepend mode: work with Libtool. (PR/385 too)
1488 * better support for unusual gettext setups, such as multiple po/ directories
1490 - Flag missing po/ and intl/ directories as warnings, not errors.
1491 - Disable these warnings if po/ does not exist.
1492 * Noteworthy manual updates:
1494 - Document how AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR interacts with missing files.
1496 - Document `AM_YFLAGS = -d'. (PR/382)
1498 Bugs fixed in 1.7.2:
1499 * Fix installation and uninstallation of Info files built in subdirectories.
1500 * Do not run `./configure --with-included-gettext' during `make distcheck'
1501 if AM_GNU_GETTEXT([external]) is used.
1502 * Correctly uninstall renamed man pages.
1503 * Do not strip escaped newline in variables defined in one condition
1504 and augmented in another condition.
1505 * Fix ansi2knr rules for LIBOBJS sources.
1506 * Clean all known Texinfo index files, not only those which appear to
1507 be used, because we cannot know wich indexes are used in included files.
1508 (PR/375, Debian Bug #168671)
1509 * Honor only the first @setfilename seen in a Texinfo file.
1510 * Treat "required file X not found" diagnostics as errors (exit status 1).
1511 * Don't complain that a required file is not found when it is a Makefile
1513 * Don't use single suffix inference rules when building `.info'-less
1514 Info files, for the sake of Solaris make.
1515 * The `check' target now depends on `$(BUILT_SOURCES)'. (PR/359)
1516 * Recognize multiple inference rules such as `.a.b .c.d:'. (PR/371)
1517 * Warn about multiple inference rules when -Wportability is used. (PR/372)
1518 * Fix building of deansified files from subdirectories. (PR/370)
1519 * Add missing `fi' in the .c->.obj rules.
1520 * Improve install-sh to work even when names contain spaces or certain
1521 (but not all) shell metachars.
1522 * Fix the following spurious failures in the test suite:
1523 depcomp2.test, gnits2.test, gnits3.test, python3.test, texinfo13.test
1524 * Noteworthy manual updates:
1525 - Augment the section about BUILT_SOURCES.
1526 - Mention that AM_PROG_CC_STDC is a relic that is better avoided today.
1528 Bugs fixed in 1.7.1:
1529 * Honor `ansi2knr' for files built in subdirectories, or using per-targets
1531 * Aclocal should now recognize macro names containing parentheses, e.g.
1532 AC_DEFUN([AC_LANG_PREPROC(Fortran 90)], [...]).
1533 * Erase *.sum and *.log files created by DejaGnu, during `make distclean'.
1535 * Install Python files even if they were built. (PR/369)
1536 * Have stamp-vti dependent upon configure instead of configure.ac, as the
1537 version might not be defined in the latter. (PR/358)
1538 * Reorder arguments passed to a couple of commands, so things works
1539 when POSIXLY_CORRECT=1.
1540 * Fix a regex that can cause Perl to segfault on large input.
1542 * Fix distribution of packages that have some sources defined conditionally,
1543 as in the `Conditional compilation using Automake conditionals' example
1545 * Fix spurious test suite failures on IRIX.
1546 * Don't report a required variable as undefined if it has been
1547 defined conditionally for the "right" conditions.
1548 * Fix cleaning of the /tmp subdirectory used by `make distcheck', in case
1549 `make distcheck' fails.
1550 * Fix distribution of included Makefile fragment, so we don't create
1551 spurious directories in the distribution. (PR/366)
1552 * Don't complain that a target lacks `.$(EXEEXT)' when it has it.
1555 * Autoconf 2.54 is required.
1556 * `aclocal' and `automake' will no longer warn about obsolete
1557 configure macros. This is done by `autoconf -Wobsolete'.
1558 * AM_CONFIG_HEADER, AM_SYS_POSIX_TERMIOS and
1559 AM_HEADER_TIOCGWINSZ_NEEDS_SYS_IOCTL are obsolete (although still
1560 supported). You should use AC_CONFIG_HEADERS, AC_SYS_POSIX_TERMIOS,
1561 and AC_HEADER_TIOCGWINSZ instead. `autoupdate' can upgrade
1562 `configure.ac' for you.
1563 * Support for per-program and per-library `_CPPFLAGS'.
1564 * New `ctags' target (builds CTAGS files).
1565 * Support for -Wmumble and -Wno-mumble, where mumble is a warning category
1566 (see `automake --help' or the manual for a list of them).
1567 * Honor the WARNINGS environment variable.
1568 * Omit the call to depcomp when using gcc3: call the compiler directly.
1569 * A new option, std-options, tests that programs support --help and --version
1570 when `make installcheck' is run. This is enabled by --gnits.
1571 * Texinfo rules now support the `ps' and `pdf' targets.
1572 * Info files are now created in the build directory, not the source directory.
1573 * info_TEXINFOS supports files in subdirectories (this requires Texinfo 4.1
1575 * `make distcheck' will enforce DESTDIR support by attempting
1577 * `+=' can be used in conditionals, even if the augmented variable
1578 was defined for another condition.
1579 * Makefile fragments (inserted with `include') are always distributed.
1580 * Use Autoconf's --trace interface to inspect configure.ac and get
1581 a more accurate view of it.
1582 * Add support for extending aclocal's default macro search path
1583 using a `dirlist' file within the aclocal directory.
1584 * automake --output-dir is deprecated.
1585 * The part of the distcheck target that checks whether uninstall actually
1586 removes all installed files has been moved in a separate target,
1587 distuninstallcheck, so it can be overridden easily.
1591 * Support for AM_INIT_GETTEXT([external])
1592 * Bug fixes, including:
1593 - Fix Automake's own `make install' so it works even if `ln' doesn't.
1594 - nobase_ programs and scripts honor --program-transform correctly.
1595 - Erase configure.lineno during `make distclean'.
1596 - Erase YACC and LEX outputs during `make maintainer-clean'.
1599 * Many bug fixes, including:
1600 - Requiring the current version works.
1601 - Fix "$@" portability issues (for Zsh).
1602 - Fix output of dummy dependency files in presence of post-processed
1604 - Don't compute dependencies in background to avoid races with libtool.
1605 - Fix handling of _OBJECTS variables for targets sharing source variables.
1606 - Check dependency mode for Java when AM_PROG_GCJ is used.
1609 * automake --output-dir is deprecated
1610 * Many bug fixes, including:
1611 - Don't choke on AM_LDFLAGS definitions.
1612 - Clean libtool objects from subdirectories.
1613 - Allow configure variables with reserved suffix and unknown prefix
1614 (e.g. AC_SUBST(mumble_LDFLAGS) when 'mumble' is not a target).
1615 - Fix the definition of AUTOMAKE and ACLOCAL in configure.
1618 * Autoconf 2.52 is required.
1619 * automake no longer run libtoolize.
1620 This is the job of autoreconf (from GNU Autoconf).
1621 * `dist' generates all the archive flavors, as did `dist-all'.
1622 * `dist-gzip' generates the Gzip tar file only.
1623 * Combining Automake Makefile conditionals no longer lead to a combinatorial
1624 explosion. Makefile.in's keep a reasonable size.
1625 * AM_FUNC_ERROR_AT_LINE, AM_FUNC_STRTOD, AM_FUNC_OBSTACK, AM_PTRDIFF_T
1626 are no longer shipped, since Autoconf 2.52 provides them (both as AM_
1628 * `#line' of Lex and Yacc files are properly set.
1629 * EXTRA_DIST can contain generated directories.
1630 * Support for dot-less extensions in suffix rules.
1631 * The part of the distcheck target that checks whether distclean actually
1632 cleans all built files has been moved in a separate target, distcleancheck,
1633 so it can be overridden easily.
1634 * `make distcheck' will pass additional options defined in
1635 $(DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS) to configure.
1636 * Fixed CDPATH portability problems, in particular for MacOS X.
1637 * Fixed handling of nobase_ targets.
1638 * Fixed support of implicit rules leading to .lo objects.
1639 * Fixed late inclusion of --add-missing files (e.g. depcomp) in DIST_COMMON
1640 * Added uninstall-hook target
1641 * `AC_INIT AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE(tarname,version)' is an obsolete construct.
1642 You can now use `AC_INIT(pkgname,version) AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE' instead.
1643 (Note that "pkgname" is not "tarname", see the manual for details.)
1644 It is also possible to pass a list of global Automake options as
1645 first argument to this new form of AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE.
1646 * Compiler-based assembler is now called `CCAS'; people expected `AS'
1647 to be a real assembler.
1648 * AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE will set STRIP itself when it needs it. Adding
1649 AC_CHECK_TOOL([STRIP], [strip]) manually is no longer required.
1650 * aclocal and automake are also installed with the version number
1651 appended, and some of the install directory names have changed.
1652 This lets you have multiple versions installed simultaneously.
1653 * Support for parsers and lexers in subdirectories.
1656 * Support for `configure.ac'.
1657 * Support for `else COND', `endif COND' and negated conditions `!COND'.
1658 * `make dist-all' is much faster.
1659 * Allows '@' AC_SUBSTs in macro names.
1660 * Faster AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE (requires update of `missing' script)
1661 * User-side dependency tracking. Developers no longer need GNU make
1663 * Uses DIST_SUBDIRS in some situations when SUBDIRS is conditional
1664 * Most files are correctly handled if they appear in subdirs
1665 For instance, a _DATA file can appear in a subdir
1666 * GNU tar is no longer required for `make dist'
1667 * Added support for `dist_' and `nodist_' prefixes
1668 * Added support for `nobase_' prefix
1669 * Compiled Java support
1670 * Support for per-executable and per-library compilation flags
1674 * Added support for the Fortran 77 programming language.
1675 * Re-indexed the Automake Texinfo manual.
1676 * Added `AM_FOOFLAGS' variable for each compiler invocation;
1677 e.g. AM_CFLAGS can be used in Makefile.am to set C compiler flags
1678 * Support for latest autoconf, including support for objext
1679 * Can now put `.' in SUBDIRS to control build order
1680 * `include' command and `+=' support for macro assignment
1681 * Dependency tracking no long susceptible to deleted header file problem
1682 * Maintainer mode now a conditional. @MAINT@ is now an anachronism.
1687 * Better Cygwin32 support
1688 * Support for suffix rules with _SOURCES variables
1689 * New options `readme-alpha' and `check-news'; Gnits mode sets these
1690 * @LEXLIB@ no longer required when lex source seen
1691 Lex support in `missing', and new lex macro. Update your missing script.
1692 * Built-in support for assembly
1693 * aclocal gives error if `AM_' macro not found
1694 * Passed YFLAGS, not YACCFLAGS, to yacc
1695 * AM_PROG_CC_STDC does not have to come before AC_PROG_CPP
1696 * Dependencies computed as a side effect of compilation
1697 * Preliminary support for Java
1698 * DESTDIR support at "make install" time
1699 * Improved ansi2knr support; you must use the latest ansi2knr.c (included)
1703 * Better DejaGnu support
1704 * Added no-installinfo option
1705 * Added Emacs Lisp support
1706 * Added --no-force option
1707 * Included `aclocal' program
1708 * Automake will now generate rules to regenerate aclocal.m4, if appropriate
1709 * Now uses `AM_' macro names everywhere
1710 * ansi2knr option can have directory prefix (eg `../lib/ansi2knr')
1711 ansi2knr now works correctly on K&R sources
1712 * Better C++, yacc, lex support
1713 * Will compute _DEPENDENCIES variables automatically if not supplied
1714 * Will interpolate $(...) and ${...} when examining contents of a variable
1715 * .deps files now in build directory, not source directory; dependency
1716 handling generally rewritten
1717 * DATA, MANS and BUILT_SOURCES no longer included in distribution
1718 * can now put config.h into a subdir
1719 * Added dist-all target
1720 * Support for install-info program (see texinfo 3.9)
1721 * Support for "yacc -d"
1722 * configure substitutions are automatically discovered and included
1723 in generated Makefile.in
1724 * Special --cygnus mode
1725 * OMIT_DEPENDENCIES can now hold list of dependencies to be omitted
1726 when making distribution. Some dependencies are auto-ignored.
1727 * Changed how libraries are specified in _LIBRARIES variable
1728 * Full libtool support, from Gord Matzigkeit
1729 * No longer have to explicitly touch stamp-h when using AC_CONFIG_HEADER;
1730 AM_CONFIG_HEADER handles it automatically
1731 * Texinfo output files no longer need .info extension
1732 * Added `missing' support
1734 * Conditionals in Makefile.am, from Ian Taylor
1738 * distcheck target runs install and installcheck targets
1739 * Added preliminary support for DejaGnu.
1744 * More libtool fixes from Gord Matzigkeit; libtool support is still
1746 * Added support for jm_MAINTAINER_MODE
1748 * New "distcheck" target
1752 * mkinstalldirs and mdate-sh now appear in directory specified by
1754 * Removed DIST_SUBDIRS, DIST_OTHER
1755 * AC_ARG_PROGRAM only required when an actual program exists
1756 * dist-hook target now run before distribution packaged up; idea from
1757 Dieter Baron. Other hooks exist, too.
1758 * Preliminary (unfinished) support for libtool
1759 * Added short option names.
1760 * Better "dist" support when gluing together multiple packages
1764 * Documentation updates (many from François Pinard)
1765 * strictness `normal' now renamed to `foreign'
1766 * Renamed --install-missing to --add-missing
1767 * Now handles AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR
1768 * Now handles TESTS macro
1769 * DIST_OTHER renamed to EXTRA_DIST
1770 * DIST_SUBDIRS is deprecated
1771 * @ALLOCA@ and @LIBOBJS@ now work in _LDADD variables
1772 * Better error messages in many cases
1773 * Program names are canonicalized
1774 * Added "check" prefix; from Gord Matzigkeit
1778 * configure.in scanner knows about AC_PATH_XTRA, AC_OUTPUT ":" syntax
1779 * Beginnings of a test suite
1780 * Automatically adds -I options for $(srcdir), ".", and path to config.h
1781 * Doesn't print anything when running
1782 * Beginnings of MAINT_CHARSET support
1783 * Can specify version in AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS
1784 * Most errors recognizable by Emacs' M-x next-error
1785 * Added --verbose option
1786 * All "primary" variables now obsolete; use EXTRA_PRIMARY to supply
1787 configure-generated names
1788 * Required macros now distributed in aclocal.m4
1790 * --strictness=gnu is default
1794 * More sophisticated configure.in scanning; now understands ALLOCA and
1795 LIBOBJS directly, handles AC_CONFIG_HEADER more precisely, etc.
1796 * TEXINFOS and MANS now obsolete; use info_TEXINFOS and man_MANS instead.
1797 * CONFIG_HEADER variable now obsolete
1798 * Can handle multiple Texinfo sources
1799 * Allow hierarchies deeper than 2. From Gord Matzigkeit.
1800 * HEADERS variable no longer needed; now can put .h files directly into
1801 foo_SOURCES variable.
1802 * Automake automatically rebuilds files listed in AC_OUTPUT. The
1803 corresponding ".in" files are included in the distribution.
1806 * Added --gnu and --gnits options
1807 * More standards checking
1809 * Cleaned up 'dist' targets
1810 * Added AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS variable and several options
1811 * Now scans configure.in to get some information (preliminary)
1814 * Works with Perl 4 again
1817 * Added --install-missing option.
1818 * Pretty-prints generated macros and rules
1819 * Comments in Makefile.am are placed more intelligently in Makefile.in
1820 * Generates .PHONY target
1821 * Rule or macro in Makefile.am now overrides contents of Automake file
1822 * Substantial cleanups from François Pinard
1826 * Works with Perl 4 again.
1829 * New uniform naming scheme.
1830 * --strictness option
1832 * '.c' files corresponding to '.y' or '.l' files are automatically
1834 * Many bug fixes and cleanups
1837 * Allow objects to be conditionally included in libraries via lib_LIBADD.
1840 * Bug fixes in 'clean' code.
1841 * Now generates 'installdirs' target.
1842 * man page installation reworked.
1843 * 'make dist' no longer re-creates all Makefile.in's.
1846 * Reimplemented in Perl
1847 * Added --amdir option (for debugging)
1848 * Texinfo support cleaned up.
1849 * Automatic de-ANSI-fication cleaned up.
1850 * Cleaned up 'clean' targets.
1853 * Automatic dependency tracking
1854 * More documentation
1855 * New variables DATA and PACKAGEDATA
1856 * SCRIPTS installed using $(INSTALL_SCRIPT)
1857 * No longer uses double-colon rules
1859 * Changes in advance of internationalization
1863 Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003,
1864 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 Free Software
1867 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
1868 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
1869 the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
1872 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
1873 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
1874 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
1875 GNU General Public License for more details.
1877 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
1878 along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.