3 * Compilation and object files:
5 - If a source file is placed in a subdirectory, the corresponding compiled
6 object will *always* be put into the subdirectory named after the source
7 file, rather than in the current directory. For instance, 'src/file.c'
8 and 'src/file.f90' will be compiled to 'src/file.o', and 'sub/dir/mu.cc'
9 will be compiled to 'sub/dir/mu.o'. Put in another way, Automake 2.0
10 and later will *unconditionally* behave as older Automake versions did
11 when the 'subdir-objects' option was given.
15 - Automake used to implement an undocumented hack causing '.info' files
16 that appeared to be cleaned (by e.g. being listed in the CLEANFILES
17 variable) to also be built in the builddir rather than in the srcdir;
18 this was for backward compatibility with packages such as Texinfo,
19 which did things like:
21 info_TEXINFOS = texinfo.txi info-stnd.texi info.texi
22 DISTCLEANFILES = texinfo texinfo-* info*.info*
23 # Do not create info files for distribution.
27 in order not to distribute .info files.
29 Now that we have the 'info-in-builddir' option that explicitly causes
30 generated '.info' files to be placed in the builddir, this hack is no
31 longer necessary. We have thus removed\ it.
33 * Aclocal search path:
35 - Third-party m4 files located in the system-wide aclocal directory,
36 as well as in any directory listed in the ACLOCAL_PATH environment
37 variable, now take precedence over "built-in" Automake macros.
38 For example, assuming Automake is installed in the '/usr/local'
39 hierarchy, a definition of the AM_PROG_VALAC macro found in file
40 (say) '/usr/local/share/aclocal/my-vala.m4' should take precedence
41 over the same-named automake-provided macro, as defined in file
42 '/usr/local/share/aclocal-2.0/vala.m4'.
44 * Obsolescent features flagged:
46 - Use of the special makefile variable 'ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS' is deprecated.
47 To specify locations of extra m4 files, the 'AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR' or
48 'AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIRS' (the latter introduced with autoconf 2.70)
49 should be used instead. And use of the '--install' aclocal option in
50 'ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS' has proved to be a bad idea anyway -- see automake
53 * Obsolete features removed:
55 - Support for the long-deprecated name 'configure.in' for the Autoconf
56 input file has been removed altogether. Just use the modern name
57 'configure.ac' instead.
59 - Support for the long-obsolete variable $(ACLOCAL_M4_SOURCES) has
60 been removed. It should be safe to simply remove any definition
61 of it you have in your Makefiles.
63 * Removed support for obsolete platforms:
65 - Support for automatic dependency tracking with the SGI C/C++ compilers
66 on IRIX has been removed. The SGI depmode had been reported broken
67 "in the wild" already, and we don't think investing time in debugging
68 and fixing it would have been worthwhile, especially considering that
69 SGI has last updated those compilers in 2006, and is expected to retire
70 support for them in December 2013:
71 <http://www.sgi.com/services/support/irix_mips_support.html>
73 - Support for DJGPP on MS-DOS and/or Windows 95/98/ME has been removed.
74 Note that both Cygwin and MSYS/MinGW on modern Windows versions will
75 continue to be fully supported.
77 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
79 * WARNING: Future backward-incompatibilities!
81 - Makefile recipes generated by Automake 2.0 will expect to use an
82 'rm' program that doesn't complain when called without any non-option
83 argument if the '-f' option is given (so that commands like "rm -f"
84 and "rm -rf" will act as a no-op, instead of raising usage errors).
85 This behavior of 'rm' is very widespread in the wild, and it will be
86 required in the next POSIX version:
88 <http://austingroupbugs.net/view.php?id=542>
90 Accordingly, AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE now expands some shell code that checks
91 that the default 'rm' program in PATH satisfies this requirement,
92 aborting the configure process if this is not the case. For the
93 moment, it's still possible to force the configuration process to
94 succeed even with a broken 'rm', that that will no longer be the case
97 - Automake 2.0 will require Autoconf 2.70 or later (which is still
98 unreleased at the moment of writing, but is planned to be released
99 before Automake 2.0 is).
101 - Automake 2.0 will drop support for the long-deprecated 'configure.in'
102 name for the Autoconf input file. You are advised to start using the
103 recommended name 'configure.ac' instead, ASAP.
105 - The ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS special make variable will be fully deprecated in
106 Automake 2.0: it will raise warnings in the "obsolete" category (but
107 still no hard error of course, for compatibilities with the many, many
108 packages that still relies on that variable). You are advised to
109 start relying on the new Automake support for AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIRS
110 instead (which was introduced in Automake 1.13).
112 - Automake 2.0 will remove support for automatic dependency tracking
113 with the SGI C/C++ compilers on IRIX. The SGI depmode has been
114 reported broken "in the wild" already, and we don't think investing
115 time in debugging and fixing is worthwhile, especially considering
116 that SGI has last updated those compilers in 2006, and retired
117 support for them in December 2013:
118 <http://www.sgi.com/services/support/irix_mips_support.html>
120 - Automake 2.0 will remove support for MS-DOS and Windows 95/98/ME
121 (support for them was offered by relying on the DJGPP project).
122 Note however that both Cygwin and MSYS/MinGW on modern Windows
123 versions will continue to be fully supported.
125 - Automake-provided scripts and makefile recipes might (finally!)
126 start assuming a POSIX shell in Automake 2.0. There still is no
127 certainty about this though: we'd first like to wait and see
128 whether future Autoconf versions will be enhanced to guarantee
129 that such a shell is always found and provided by the checks in
132 - Starting from Automake 2.0, third-party m4 files located in the
133 system-wide aclocal directory, as well as in any directory listed
134 in the ACLOCAL_PATH environment variable, will take precedence
135 over "built-in" Automake macros. For example (assuming Automake
136 is installed in the /usr/local hierarchy), a definition of the
137 AM_PROG_VALAC macro found in '/usr/local/share/aclocal/my-vala.m4'
138 should take precedence over the same-named automake-provided macro
139 (defined in '/usr/local/share/aclocal-2.0/vala.m4').
141 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
147 - Automatic dependency tracking has been fixed to work also when the
148 'subdir-object' option is used and some 'foo_SOURCES' definition
149 contains unexpanded references to make variables, as in, e.g.:
151 a_src = sources/libs/aaa
153 foo_SOURCES = $(a_src)/bar.c $(b_src)/baz.c
155 With such a setup, the created makefile fragment containing dependency
156 tracking information will be correctly placed under the directories
157 named 'sources/libs/aaa/.deps' and 'sources/bbb/.deps', rather than
158 mistakenly under directories named (literally!) '$(src_a)/.deps' and
159 '$(src_b)/.deps' (this was the first part of automake bug#13928).
161 Notice that in order to fix this bug we had to slightly change the
162 semantics of how config.status bootstraps the makefile fragments
163 required for the dependency tracking to work: rather than attempting
164 to parse the Makefiles via grep and sed trickeries only, we actually
165 invoke 'make' on a slightly preprocessed version of those Makefiles,
166 using a private target that is only meant to bootstrap the required
169 - The 'subdir-object' option no longer causes object files corresponding
170 to source files specified with an explicit '$(srcdir)' component to be
171 placed in the source tree rather than in the build tree.
173 For example, if Makefile.am contains:
175 AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = subdir-objects
176 foo_SOURCES = $(srcdir)/foo.c $(srcdir)/s/bar.c $(top_srcdir)/baz.c
178 then "make all" will create 'foo.o' and 's/bar.o' in $(builddir) rather
179 than in $(srcdir), and will create 'baz.o' in $(top_builddir) rather
180 than in $(top_srcdir).
182 This was the second part of automake bug#13928.
184 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
188 * Miscellaneous changes:
190 - Support the Windows version of the Intel C Compiler (icl) in the
191 'compile' script in the same way the (compatible) Microsoft C Compiler
194 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
198 * Improvements and refactorings in the install-sh script:
200 - It has been modernized, and now makes the following assumptions
202 (1) a working 'dirname' program is available;
203 (2) the ${var:-value} shell parameters substitution works;
204 (3) the "set -f" and "set +f" shell commands work, and, respectively,
205 disable and enable shell globbing.
207 - The script implements stricter error checking, and now it complains
208 and bails out if any of the following expectations is not met:
209 (1) the options -d and -t are never used together;
210 (2) the argument passed to option -t is a directory;
211 (3) if there are two or more SOURCEFILE arguments, the
212 DESTINATION argument must be a directory.
214 * Automake-generated testsuites:
216 - The default test-driver used by the Automake-generated testsuites
217 now appends the result and exit status of each "plain" test to the
218 associated log file (automake bug#11814).
220 - The perl implementation of the TAP testsuite driver is no longer
221 installed in the Automake's scripts directory, and is instead just
222 distributed as a "contrib" addition. There should be no reason to
223 use this implementation anyway in real packages, since the awk+shell
224 implementation of the TAP driver (which is documented in the manual)
225 is more portable and has feature parity with the perl implementation.
227 - The rule generating 'test-suite.log' no longer risk incurring in an
228 extra useless "make all" recursive invocation in some corner cases
229 (automake bug#16302).
233 - Automake bug#18286: "make distcheck" could sometimes fail to detect
234 files missing from the distribution tarball, especially in those cases
235 where both the generated files and their dependencies are explicitly
236 in $(srcdir). An important example of this are *generated* makefile
237 fragments included at Automake time in Makefile.am; e.g.:
240 $(srcdir)/fragment.am: $(srcdir)/data.txt $(srcdir)/preproc.sh
241 cd $(srcdir) && $(SHELL) preproc.sh <data.txt >fragment.am
242 include $(srcdir)/fragment.am
245 If the use forgot to add data.txt and/or preproc.sh in the distribution
246 tarball, "make distcheck" would have erroneously succeeded! This issue
249 - As a consequence of the previous change, "make distcheck" will run
250 using '$(distdir)/_build/sub' as the build directory, rather than
251 simply '$(distdir)/_build' (as it was the case for Automake 1.14 and
252 earlier). Consequently, the './configure' and 'make' invocations
253 issued by the distcheck recipe now have $(srcdir) equal to '../..',
254 rather than to just '..'. Dependent and similar variables (e.g.,
255 '$(top_srcdir)') are also changed accordingly.
257 Thus, Makefiles that made assumptions about the exact values of the
258 build and source directories used by "make distcheck" will have to
259 be adjusted. Notice that making such assumptions was a bad and
260 unsupported practice anyway, since the exact locations of those
261 directories should be considered implementation details, and we
262 reserve the right to change them at any time.
264 * Miscellaneous bugs fixed:
266 - The expansion of AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE ends once again with a trailing
267 newline (bug#16841). Regression introduced in Automake 1.14.
269 - We no longer risk to use '$ac_aux_dir' before it's defined (see
270 automake bug#15981). Bug introduced in Automake 1.14.
272 - The code used to detect whether the currently used make is GNU make
273 or not (relying on the private macro 'am__is_gnu_make') no longer
274 risks causing "Arg list too long" for projects using automatic
275 dependency tracking and having a ton of source files (bug#18744).
277 - Automake tries to offer a more deterministic output for generated
278 Makefiles, in the face of the newly-introduced randomization for
279 hash keys order in Perl 5.18.
281 - In older Automake versions, if a user defined one single Makefile
282 fragment (say 'foo.am') to be included via Automake includes in
283 his main Makefile.am, and defined a custom make rule to generate that
284 file from other data, Automake used to spuriously complain with some
285 message like "... overrides Automake target '$(srcdir)/foo.am".
286 This bug is now fixed.
288 - The user can now extend the special .PRECIOUS target, the same way
289 he could already do with the .MAKE .and .PHONY targets.
291 - Some confusing typos have been fixed in the manual and in few warning
292 messages (automake bug#16827 and bug#16997).
294 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
300 - The user is no longer allowed to override the --srcdir nor the --prefix
301 configure options used by "make distcheck" (bug#14991).
303 - Fixed a gross inefficiency in the recipes for installing byte-compiled
304 python files, that was causing an O(N^2) performance on the number N of
305 files, instead of the expected O(N) performance. Note that this bug
306 was only relevant when the number of python files was high (which is
307 unusual in practice).
309 - Automake try to offer a more deterministic output for warning messages,
310 in the face of the newly-introduced randomization for hash keys order
313 - The 'test-driver' script now actually error out with a clear error
314 message on the most common invalid usages.
316 - Several spurious failures/hangs in the testsuite (bugs #14706, #14707,
317 #14760, #14911, #15181, #15237).
319 * Documentation fixes:
321 - Fixed typos in the 'fix-timestamp.sh' example script that made it
324 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
328 * C compilation, and the AC_PROG_CC and AM_PROG_CC_C_O macros:
330 - The 'compile' script is now unconditionally required for all packages
331 that perform C compilation (if you are using the '--add-missing'
332 option, automake will fetch that script for you, so you shouldn't
333 need any explicit adjustment). This new behaviour is needed to avoid
334 obscure errors when the 'subdir-objects' option is used, and the
335 compiler is an inferior one that doesn't grasp the combined use of
336 both the "-c -o" options; see discussion about automake bug#13378 for
338 <http://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=13378#35>
339 <http://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=13378#44>
341 - The next major Automake version (2.0) will unconditionally activate
342 the 'subdir-objects' option. In order to smooth out the transition,
343 we now give a warning (in the category 'unsupported') whenever a
344 source file is present in a subdirectory but the 'subdir-object' is
345 not enabled. For example, the following usage will trigger such a
348 bin_PROGRAMS = sub/foo
349 sub_foo_SOURCES = sub/main.c sub/bar.c
351 - Automake will automatically enhance the autoconf-provided macro
352 AC_PROG_CC to force it to check, at configure time, that the
353 C compiler supports the combined use of both the '-c' and '-o'
354 options. The result of this check is saved in the cache variable
355 'am_cv_prog_cc_c_o', and said result can be overridden by
356 pre-defining that variable.
358 - The AM_PROG_CC_C_O macro can still be called, albeit that should no
359 longer be necessary. This macro is now just a thin wrapper around the
360 Automake-enhanced AC_PROG_CC. This means, among the other things,
361 that its behaviour is changed in three ways:
363 1. It no longer invokes the Autoconf-provided AC_PROG_CC_C_O
364 macro behind the scenes.
366 2. It caches the check result in the 'am_cv_prog_cc_c_o' variable,
367 and not in a 'ac_cv_prog_cc_*_c_o' variable whose exact name is
368 dynamically computed only at configure runtime (really!) from
369 the content of the '$CC' variable.
371 3. It no longer automatically AC_DEFINE the C preprocessor
372 symbol 'NO_MINUS_C_MINUS_O'.
376 - Automake can now be instructed to place '.info' files generated from
377 Texinfo input in the builddir rather than in the srcdir; this is done
378 specifying the new automake option 'info-in-builddir'. This feature
379 was requested by the developers of GCC, GDB, GNU binutils and the GNU
380 bfd library. See the extensive discussion about automake bug#11034
383 - For quite a long time, Automake has been implementing an undocumented
384 hack which ensured that '.info' files which appeared to be cleaned
385 (by being listed in the CLEANFILES or DISTCLEANFILES variables) were
386 built in the builddir rather than in the srcdir; this hack was
387 introduced to ensure better backward-compatibility with package
388 such as Texinfo, which do things like:
390 info_TEXINFOS = texinfo.txi info-stnd.texi info.texi
391 DISTCLEANFILES = texinfo texinfo-* info*.info*
392 # Do not create info files for distribution.
396 in order not to distribute generated '.info' files.
398 Now that we have the 'info-in-builddir' option that explicitly causes
399 generated '.info' files to be placed in the builddir, this hack should
400 be longer necessary, so we deprecate it with runtime warnings.
401 It will be removed altogether in Automake 2.0.
403 * Relative directory in Makefile fragments:
405 - The special Automake-time substitutions '%reldir%' and '%canon_reldir%'
406 (and their short versions, '%D%' and '%C%' respectively) can now be used
407 in an included Makefile fragment. The former is substituted with the
408 relative directory of the included fragment (compared to the top-level
409 including Makefile), and the latter with the canonicalized version of
410 the same relative directory.
413 bin_PROGRAMS = # will be updated by included Makefile fragments
414 include src/Makefile.inc
416 # in 'src/Makefile.inc':
417 bin_PROGRAMS += %reldir%/foo
418 %canon_reldir%_foo_SOURCES = %reldir%/bar.c
420 This should be especially useful for packages using a non-recursive
423 * Deprecated distribution formats:
425 - The 'shar' and 'compress' distribution formats are deprecated, and
426 scheduled for removal in Automake 2.0. Accordingly, the use of the
427 'dist-shar' and 'dist-tarZ' will cause warnings at automake runtime
428 (in the 'obsolete' category), and the recipes of the Automake-generated
429 targets 'dist-shar' and 'dist-tarZ' will unconditionally display
430 (non-fatal) warnings at make runtime.
432 * New configure runtime warnings about "rm -f" support:
434 - To simplify transition to Automake 2.0, the shell code expanded by
435 AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE now checks (at configure runtime) that the default
436 'rm' program in PATH doesn't complain when called without any
437 non-option argument if the '-f' option is given (so that commands like
438 "rm -f" and "rm -rf" act as a no-op, instead of raising usage errors).
439 If this is not the case, the configure script is aborted, to call the
440 attention of the user on the issue, and invite him to fix his PATH.
441 The checked 'rm' behavior is very widespread in the wild, and will be
442 required by future POSIX versions:
444 <http://austingroupbugs.net/view.php?id=542>
446 The user can still force the configure process to complete even in the
447 presence of a broken 'rm' by defining the ACCEPT_INFERIOR_RM_PROGRAM
448 environment variable to "yes". And the generated Makefiles should
449 still work correctly even when such broken 'rm' is used. But note
450 that this will no longer be the case with Automake 2.0 though, so, if
451 you encounter the warning, please report it to us ASAP (and try to fix
452 your environment as well).
454 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
460 - Fix a minor regression introduced in Automake 1.13.3: when two or more
461 user-defined suffix rules were present in a single Makefile.am,
462 automake would needlessly include definition of some make variables
463 related to C compilation in the generated Makefile.in (bug#14560).
465 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
469 * Documentation fixes:
471 - The documentation no longer mistakenly reports that the obsolete
472 'AM_MKDIR_PROG_P' macro and '$(mkdir_p)' make variable are going
473 to be removed in Automake 2.0.
477 - Byte-compilation of Emacs lisp files could fail spuriously on
478 Solaris, when /bin/ksh or /usr/xpg4/bin/sh were used as shell.
480 - If the same user-defined suffixes were transformed into different
481 Automake-known suffixes in different Makefile.am files in the same
482 project, automake could get confused and generate inconsistent
483 Makefiles (automake bug#14441).
484 For example, if 'Makefile.am' contained a ".ext.cc:" suffix rule,
485 and 'sub/Makefile.am' contained a ".ext.c:" suffix rule, automake
486 would have mistakenly placed into 'Makefile.in' rules to compile
487 "*.c" files into object files, and into 'sub/Makefile.in' rules to
488 compile "*.cc" files into object files --- rather than the other
489 way around. This is now fixed.
493 - The test cases no longer have the executable bit set. This should
494 make it clear that they are not meant to be run directly; as
495 explained in t/README, they can only be run through the custom
496 'runtest' script, or by a "make check" invocation.
498 - The testsuite has seen the introduction of a new helper function
499 'run_make', and several related changes. These serve a two-fold
502 1. Remove brittleness due to the use of "make -e" in test cases.
504 2. Seamlessly allow the use of parallel make ("make -j...") in the
505 test cases, even where redirection of make output is involved
506 (see automake bug#11413 for a description of the subtle issues
509 - Several spurious failures have been fixed (they hit especially
510 MinGW/MSYS builds). See automake bugs #14493, #14494, #14495,
511 #14498, #14499, #14500, #14501, #14517 and #14528.
513 - Some other minor miscellaneous changes and fixlets.
515 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
519 * Documentation fixes:
521 - The long-deprecated but still supported two-arguments invocation form
522 of AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE is documented once again. This seems the sanest
523 thing to do, given that support for such usage might need to remain
524 in place for an unspecified amount of time in order to cater to people
525 who want to define the version number for their package dynamically at
526 configure runtime (unfortunately, Autoconf does not yet support this
527 scenario, so we cannot delegate the work to it).
529 - The serial testsuite harness is no longer reported as "deprecated",
530 but as "discouraged". We have no plan to remove it, nor to make its
531 use cause runtime warnings.
533 - The parallel testsuite is no longer reported as "experimental"; it
534 is well tested, and should be stable now.
536 - The 'shar' and 'tarZ' distribution formats and the 'dist-shar' and
537 'dist-tarZ' options are obsolescent, and their use is deprecated
538 in the documentation.
540 - Other minor miscellaneous fixes and improvements; in particular,
541 some improvements in cross-references.
543 * Obsolescent features:
545 - Use of suffix-less info files (that can be specified through the
546 '@setfilename' macro in Texinfo input files) is discouraged, and
547 its use will raise warnings in the 'obsolete' category. Simply
548 use the '.info' extension for all your info files, transforming
551 @setfilename myprogram
555 @setfilename myprogram.info
557 - Use of Texinfo input files with '.txi' or '.texinfo' extensions
558 is discouraged, and its use will raise warnings in the 'obsolete'
559 category. You are advised to simply use the '.texi' extension
564 - When the 'ustar' option is used, the generated configure script no
565 longer risks hanging during the tests for the availability of the
566 'pax' utility, even if the user running configure has a UID or GID
567 that requires more than 21 bits to be represented.
568 See automake bug#8343 and bug#13588.
570 - The obsolete macros AM_CONFIG_HEADER or AM_PROG_CC_STDC work once
571 again, as they did in Automake 1.12.x (albeit printing runtime
572 warnings in the 'obsolete' category). Removing them has turned
573 out to be a very bad idea, because it complicated distro packing
574 enormously. Making them issue fatal warnings, as we did in
575 Automake 1.13, has turned out to be a similarly very bad idea,
576 for exactly the same reason.
578 - aclocal will no longer error out if the first local m4 directory
579 (as specified by the '-I' option or the 'AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIRS' or
580 'AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR' macros) doesn't exist; it will merely report
581 a warning in the 'unsupported' category. This is done to support
582 some pre-existing real-world usages. See automake bug#13514.
584 - aclocal will no longer consider directories for extra m4 files more
585 than once, even if they are specified multiple times. This ensures
586 packages that specify both
588 AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR([m4]) in configure.ac
589 ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS = -I m4 in Makefile.am
591 will work correctly, even when the 'm4' directory contains no
592 package-specific files, but is used only to install third-party
593 m4 files (as can happen with e.g., "libtoolize --install").
594 See automake bug#13514.
596 - Analysis of make flags in Automake-generated rules has been made more
597 robust, and more future-proof. For example, in presence of make that
598 (like '-I') take an argument, the characters in said argument will no
599 longer be spuriously considered as a set of additional make options.
600 In particular, automake-generated rules will no longer spuriously
601 believe to be running in dry mode ("make -n") if run with an invocation
602 like "make -I noob"; nor will they believe to be running in keep-going
603 mode ("make -k") if run with an invocation like "make -I kool"
604 (automake bug#12554).
606 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
612 - Use of the obsolete macros AM_CONFIG_HEADER or AM_PROG_CC_STDC now
613 causes a clear and helpful error message, instead of obscure ones
614 (issue introduced in Automake 1.13).
616 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
622 - ylwrap renames properly header guards in generated header files
623 (*.h), instead of leaving Y_TAB_H.
625 - ylwrap now also converts header guards in implementation files
626 (*.c). Because ylwrap failed to rename properly #include in the
627 implementation files, current versions of Bison (e.g., 2.7)
628 duplicate the generated header file in the implementation file.
629 The header guard then protects the implementation file from
630 duplicate definitions from the header file.
632 * Version requirements:
634 - Autoconf 2.65 or greater is now required.
636 - The rules to build PDF and DVI output from Texinfo input now
637 require Texinfo 4.9 or later.
641 - Support for the "Cygnus-style" trees (once enabled by the 'cygnus'
642 option) has been removed. See discussion about automake bug#11034
643 for more background: <http://debbugs.gnu.org/11034>.
645 - The deprecated aclocal option '--acdir' has been removed. You
646 should use the options '--automake-acdir' and '--system-acdir'
647 instead (which have been introduced in Automake 1.11.2).
649 - The following long-obsolete m4 macros have been removed:
651 AM_PROG_CC_STDC: superseded by AC_PROG_CC since October 2002
652 fp_PROG_CC_STDC: broken alias for AM_PROG_CC_STDC
653 fp_WITH_DMALLOC: old alias for AM_WITH_DMALLOC
654 AM_CONFIG_HEADER: superseded by AC_CONFIG_HEADERS since July 2002
655 ud_PATH_LISPDIR: old alias for AM_PATH_LISPDIR
656 jm_MAINTAINER_MODE: old alias for AM_MAINTAINER_MODE
657 ud_GNU_GETTEXT: old alias for AM_GNU_GETTEXT
658 gm_PROG_LIBTOOL: old alias for AC_PROG_LIBTOOL
659 fp_C_PROTOTYPES: old alias for AM_C_PROTOTYPES (which was part
660 of the now-removed automatic de-ANSI-fication
663 - All the "old alias" macros in 'm4/obsolete.m4' have been removed.
665 - Use of the long-deprecated two- and three-arguments invocation forms
666 of the AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE is no longer documented. It's still supported
667 though (albeit with a warning in the 'obsolete' category), to cater
668 for people who want to define the version number for their package
669 dynamically (e.g., from the current VCS revision). We'll have to
670 continue this support until Autoconf itself is fixed to allow better
671 support for such dynamic version numbers.
673 * Elisp byte-compilation:
675 - The byte compilation of '.el' files into '.elc' files is now done
676 with a suffix rule. This has simplified the compilation process, and
677 more importantly made it less brittle. The downside is that emacs is
678 now invoked once for each '.el' files, which cause some noticeable
679 slowdowns. These should however be mitigated on multicore machines
680 (which are becoming the norm today) if concurrent make ("make -j")
683 - Elisp files placed in a subdirectory are now byte-compiled to '.elc'
684 files in the same subdirectory; for example, byte-compiling of file
685 'sub/foo.el' file will result in 'sub/foo.elc' rather than in
686 'foo.elc'. This behaviour is backward-incompatible with older
687 Automake versions, but it is more natural and more sane. See also
690 - The Emacs invocation performing byte-compilation of '.el' files honors
691 the $(AM_ELCFLAGS) and $(ELCFLAGS) variables; as typical, the former
692 one is developer-reserved and the latter one user-reserved.
694 - The 'elisp-comp' script, once provided by Automake, has been rendered
695 obsoleted by the just-described changes, and thus removed.
697 * Changes to Automake-generated testsuite harnesses:
699 - The parallel testsuite harness (previously only enabled by the
700 'parallel-tests' option) is the default one; the older serial
701 testsuite harness will still be available through the use of the
702 'serial-tests' option (introduced in Automake 1.12).
704 - The 'color-tests' option is now unconditionally activated by default.
705 In particular, this means that testsuite output is now colorized by
706 default if the attached terminal seems to support ANSI escapes, and
707 that the user can force output colorization by setting the variable
708 AM_COLOR_TESTS to "always". The 'color-tests' is still recognized
709 for backward-compatibility, although it's a handled as a no-op now.
711 * Silent rules support:
713 - Support for silent rules is now always active in Automake-generated
714 Makefiles. So, although the verbose output is still the default,
715 the user can now always use "./configure --enable-silent-rules" or
716 "make V=0" to enable quieter output in the package he's building.
718 - The 'silent-rules' option has now become a no-op, preserved for
719 backward-compatibility only. In particular, its use no longer
720 disables the warnings in the 'portability-recursive' category.
724 - The rules to build PDF and DVI files from Texinfo input now require
725 Texinfo 4.9 or later.
727 - The rules to build PDF and DVI files from Texinfo input now use the
728 '--build-dir' option, to keep the auxiliary files used by texi2dvi
729 and texi2pdf around without cluttering the build directory, and to
730 make it possible to run the "dvi" and "pdf" recipes in parallel.
732 * Automatic remake rules and 'missing' script:
734 - The 'missing' script no longer tries to update the timestamp of
735 out-of-date files that require a maintainer-specific tool to be
736 remade, in case the user lacks such a tool (or has a too-old version
737 of it). It just gives a useful warning, and in some cases also a
738 tip about how to obtain such a tool.
740 - The missing script has thus become useless as a (poor) way to work
741 around the sketched-timestamps issues that can happen for projects
742 that keep generated files committed in their VCS repository. Such
743 projects are now encouraged to write a custom "fix-timestamps.sh"
744 script to avoid such issues; a simple example is provided in the
745 "CVS and generated files" chapter of the automake manual.
749 - The user can now define his own recursive targets that recurse
750 in the directories specified in $(SUBDIRS). This can be done by
751 specifying the name of such targets in invocations of the new
752 'AM_EXTRA_RECURSIVE_TARGETS' m4 macro.
756 - Any failure in the recipe of the "tags", "ctags", "cscope" or
757 "cscopelist" targets in a subdirectory is now propagated to the
758 top-level make invocation.
760 - Tags are correctly computed also for files in _SOURCES variables that
761 only list files with non-standard suffixes (see automake bug#12372).
763 * Improvements to aclocal and related rebuilds rules:
765 - Autoconf-provided macros AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR and AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIRS
766 are now traced by aclocal, and can be used to declare the local m4
767 include directories. Formerly, one had to specify it with an explicit
768 '-I' option to the 'aclocal' invocation.
770 - The special make variable ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS is deprecated; future
771 Automake versions will warn about its use, and later version will
772 remove support for it altogether.
774 * The depcomp script:
776 - Dropped support for libtool 1.4.
778 - Various internal refactorings. They should cause no visible change,
779 but the chance for regression is there anyway, so please report any
780 unexpected or suspicious behaviour.
782 - Support for pre-8.0 versions of the Intel C Compiler has been dropped.
783 This should cause no problem, since icc 8.0 has been released in
784 December 2003 -- almost nine years ago.
786 - Support for tcc (the Tiny C Compiler) has been improved, and is now
787 handled through a dedicated 'tcc' mode.
791 - ylwrap generates header guards with a single '_' for series of non
792 alphabetic characters, instead of several. This is what Bison >=
795 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
797 Bugs fixed in 1.12.6:
799 * Python-related bugs:
801 - The default installation location for python modules has been improved
802 for Python 3 on Debian and Ubuntu systems, changing from:
804 ${prefix}/lib/python3/dist-packages
808 ${prefix}/lib/python3.x/site-packages
810 This change should ensure modules installed using the default ${prefix}
811 "/usr/local" are found by default by system python 3.x installations.
812 See automake bug#10227.
814 - Python byte-compilation supports the new layout mandated by PEP-3147,
815 with its __pycache__ directory (automake bug#8847).
817 * Build system issues:
819 - The maintainer rebuild rules for Makefiles and aclocal.m4 in
820 Automake's own build system works correctly again (bug introduced
825 - The Vala-related tests has been changed to adjust to the removal of
826 the 'posix' profile in the valac compiler. See automake bug#12934
829 - Some spurious testsuite failures related to older tools and systems
832 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
838 - The AM_PROG_VALAC macro has been enhanced to takes two further
839 optional arguments; it's signature now being
841 AM_PROG_VALAC([MINIMUM-VERSION], [ACTION-IF-FOUND],
842 [ACTION-IF-NOT-FOUND])
844 - By default, AM_PROG_VALAC no longer aborts the configure invocation
845 if the Vala compiler found is too old, but simply prints a warning
846 messages (as it did when the Vala compiler was not found). This
847 should avoid unnecessary difficulties for end users that just want
848 to compile the unmodified, distributed Vala-generated C sources,
849 but happens to have an old Vala compiler in their PATH. This fixes
852 - If no proper Vala compiler is found at configure runtime, AM_PROG_VALAC
853 will set the AC_SUBST'd variable 'VALAC' to 'valac' rather than to ':'.
854 This is a better default, because with it a triggered makefile rule
855 invoking a Vala compilation will clearly fail with an informative error
856 message like "valac: command not found", rather than silently, with
857 the error possibly going unnoticed or triggering harder-to-diagnose
858 fallout failures in later steps.
860 * Miscellaneous changes:
862 - automake and aclocal no longer honours the 'perllibdir' environment
863 variable. That had always been intended only as an hack required in
864 the testsuite, not meant for any use beyond that.
866 Bugs fixed in 1.12.5:
868 * Long-standing bugs:
870 - Automake no longer generates spurious remake rules invoking autoheader
871 to regenerate the template corresponding to header files specified after
872 the first one in AC_CONFIG_HEADERS (automake bug#12495).
874 - When wrapping Microsoft tools, the 'compile' script falls back to
875 finding classic 'libname.a' style libraries when 'name.lib' and
876 'name.dll.lib' aren't available.
878 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
882 * Warnings and deprecations:
884 - Warnings in the 'obsolete' category are enabled by default both in
885 automake and aclocal.
887 * Miscellaneous changes:
889 - Some testsuite weaknesses and spurious failures have been fixed.
891 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
895 * Miscellaneous changes:
897 - The '.m4' files provided by Automake no longer define serial numbers.
898 This should cause no difference in the behaviour of aclocal though.
900 - Some testsuite weaknesses and spurious failures have been fixed.
902 - There is initial support for automatic dependency tracking with the
903 Portland Group C/C++ compilers, thanks to the new new depmode 'pgcc'.
905 Bugs fixed in 1.12.3:
907 * Long-standing bugs:
909 - Instead of renaming only self-references of files (typically for
910 #lines), ylwrap now also renames references to the other generated
911 files. This fixes support for GLR and C++ parsers from Bison (PR
912 automake/491 and automake bug#7648): 'parser.c' now properly
913 #includes 'parser.h' instead of 'y.tab.h'.
915 - Generated files unknown to ylwrap are now preserved. This fixes
916 C++ support for Bison (automake bug#7648): location.hh and the
917 like are no longer discarded.
919 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
923 * Warnings and deprecations:
925 - Automake now issues a warning (in the 'portability' category) if
926 'configure.in' is used instead of 'configure.ac' as the Autoconf
927 input file. Such a warning will also be present in the next
928 Autoconf version (2.70).
932 - Recursive cleaning rules descends into the $(SUBDIRS) in the natural
933 order (as done by the other recursive rules), rather than in the
934 inverse order. They used to do that in order to work a round a
935 limitation in an older implementation of the automatic dependency
936 tracking support, but that limitation had been lifted years ago
937 already, when the automatic dependency tracking based on side-effects
938 of compilation had been introduced.
940 - Cleaning rules for compiled objects (both "plain" and libtool) work
941 better when subdir objects are involved, not triggering a distinct
942 'rm' invocation for each such object. They do so by removing *any*
943 compiled object file that is in the same directory of a subdir
944 object. See automake bug#10697.
946 * Silent rules support:
948 - A new predefined $(AM_V_P) make variable is provided; it expands
949 to a shell conditional that can be used in recipes to know whether
950 make is being run in silent or verbose mode.
952 Bugs fixed in 1.12.2:
954 * SECURITY VULNERABILITIES!
956 - The 'distcheck' recipe no longer grants temporary world-write
957 permissions on the extracted distdir. Even if such rights were
958 only granted for a vanishingly small time window, the implied
959 race condition proved to be enough to allow a local attacker
960 to run arbitrary code with the privileges of the user running
961 "make distcheck". This is CVE-2012-3386.
963 * Long-standing bugs:
965 - The "recheck" targets behaves better in the face of build failures
966 related to previously failed tests. For example, if a test is a
967 compiled program that must be rerun by "make recheck", and its
968 compilation fails, it will still be rerun by further "make recheck"
969 invocations. See automake bug#11791.
971 * Bugs introduced by 1.12.1:
973 - Automake provides once again the '$(mkdir_p)' make variable and the
974 '@mkdir_p@' substitution (both as simple aliases for '$(MKDIR_P)'),
975 for better backward-compatibility.
977 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
981 * New supported languages:
983 - Support for Objective C++ has been added; it should work similarly to
984 the support for Objective C.
986 * Deprecated obsolescent features:
988 - Use of the long-deprecated two- and three-arguments invocation forms
989 of the AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE macro now elicits a warning in the 'obsolete'
990 category. Starting from some future major Automake release (likely
991 post-1.13), such usages will no longer be allowed.
993 - Support for the "Cygnus-style" trees (enabled by the 'cygnus' option) is
994 now deprecated (its use triggers a warning in the 'obsolete' category).
995 It will be removed in the next major Automake release (1.13).
997 - The long-obsolete (since 1.10) automake-provided $(mkdir_p) make
998 variable, @mkdir_p@ configure-time substitution and AM_PROG_MKDIR
999 m4 macro are deprecated, eliciting a warning in the 'obsolete'
1002 * Miscellaneous changes:
1004 - The Automake test cases now require a proper POSIX-conforming shell.
1005 Older non-POSIX Bourne shells (like Solaris 10 /bin/sh) will no longer
1006 be accepted. In most cases, the user shouldn't have to specify such
1007 POSIX shell explicitly, since it will be looked up at configure time.
1008 Still, when this lookup fails, or when the user wants to override its
1009 conclusion, the variable 'AM_TEST_RUNNER_SHELL' can be used (pointing
1010 to the shell that will be used to run the Automake test cases).
1012 Bugs fixed in 1.12.1:
1014 * Bugs introduced by 1.12:
1016 - Several weaknesses in Automake's own build system and test suite
1019 * Bugs introduced by 1.11.3:
1021 - When given non-option arguments, aclocal rejects them, instead of
1022 silently ignoring them.
1024 * Long-standing bugs:
1026 - When the 'color-tests' option is in use, forcing of colored testsuite
1027 output through "AM_COLOR_TESTS=always" works even if the terminal is
1028 a non-ANSI one, i.e., if the TERM environment variable has a value of
1031 - Several inefficiencies and poor performances in the implementation
1032 of the parallel-tests 'check' and 'recheck' targets have been fixed.
1034 - The post-processing of output "#line" directives done the ylwrap
1035 script is more faithful w.r.t. files in a subdirectory; for example,
1036 if the processed file is "src/grammar.y", ylwrap will correctly
1037 produce directives like:
1038 #line 7 "src/grammar.y"
1043 * Bugs with new Perl versions:
1045 - Aclocal works correctly with perl 5.16.0 (automake bug#11543).
1047 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1051 * Obsolete features removed:
1053 - The never documented nor truly used script 'acinstall' has been
1056 - Support for automatic de-ANSI-fication has been removed.
1058 - The support for the "obscure" multilib feature has been removed
1059 from Automake core (but remains available in the 'contrib/'
1060 directory of the Automake distribution).
1062 - Support for ".log -> .html" conversion and the check-html and
1063 recheck-html targets has been removed from Automake core (but
1064 remains available in the 'contrib/' directory of the Automake
1067 - The deprecated 'lzma' compression format for distribution archives
1068 has been removed, in favor of 'xz' and 'lzip'.
1070 - The obsolete AM_WITH_REGEX macro has been removed.
1072 - The long-deprecated options '--output-dir', '--Werror' and
1073 '--Wno-error' have been removed.
1075 - The chapter on the history of Automake has been moved out of the
1076 reference manual, into a new dedicated Texinfo file.
1080 - New 'cscope' target to build a cscope database for the source tree.
1082 * Changes to Automake-generated testsuite harnesses:
1084 - The new automake option 'serial-tests' has been introduced. It can
1085 be used to explicitly instruct automake to use the older serial
1086 testsuite harness. This is still the default at the moment, but it
1087 might change in future versions.
1089 - The 'recheck' target (provided by the parallel testsuite harness) now
1090 depends on the 'all' target. This allows for a better user-experience
1091 in test-driven development. See automake bug#11252.
1093 - Test scripts that exit with status 99 to signal an "hard error" (e.g.,
1094 and unexpected or internal error, or a failure to set up the test case
1095 scenario) have their outcome reported as an 'ERROR' now. Previous
1096 versions of automake reported such an outcome as a 'FAIL' (the only
1097 difference with normal failures being that hard errors were counted
1098 as failures even when the test originating them was listed in
1101 - The testsuite summary displayed by the parallel-test harness has a
1102 completely new format, that always list the numbers of passed, failed,
1103 xfailed, xpassed, skipped and errored tests, even when these numbers
1104 are zero (but using smart coloring when the color-tests option is in
1107 - The default testsuite driver offered by the 'parallel-tests' option is
1108 now implemented (partly at least) with the help of automake-provided
1109 auxiliary scripts (e.g., 'test-driver'), instead of relying entirely
1110 on code in the generated Makefile.in.
1111 This has two noteworthy implications. The first one is that projects
1112 using the 'parallel-tests' option should now either run automake with
1113 the '--add-missing' option, or manually copy the 'test-driver' script
1114 into their tree. The second, and more important, implication is that
1115 now, when the 'parallel-tests' option is in use, TESTS_ENVIRONMENT can
1116 no longer be used to define a test runner, and the command specified
1117 in LOG_COMPILER (and <ext>_LOG_COMPILER) must be a *real* executable
1118 program or script. For example, this is still a valid usage (albeit
1119 a little contorted):
1121 TESTS_ENVIRONMENT = \
1122 if test -n '$(STRICT_TESTS)'; then \
1123 maybe_errexit='-e'; \
1127 LOG_COMPILER = $(SHELL) $$maybe_errexit
1129 OTOH, this is no longer a valid usage:
1131 TESTS_ENVIRONMENT = \
1132 $(SHELL) `test -n '$(STRICT_TESTS_CHECKING)' && echo ' -e'`
1136 TESTS_ENVIRONMENT = \
1137 run_with_perl_or_shell () \
1139 if grep -q '^#!.*perl' $$1; then
1145 LOG_COMPILER = run_with_perl_or_shell
1147 - The package authors can now use customary testsuite drivers within
1148 the framework provided by the 'parallel-tests' testsuite harness.
1149 Consistently with the existing syntax, this can be done by defining
1150 special makefile variables 'LOG_DRIVER' and '<ext>_LOG_DRIVER'.
1152 - A new developer-reserved variable 'AM_TESTS_FD_REDIRECT' can be used
1153 to redirect/define file descriptors used by the test scripts.
1155 - The parallel-tests harness generates now, in addition the '.log' files
1156 holding the output produced by the test scripts, a new set of '.trs'
1157 files, holding "metadata" derived by the execution of the test scripts;
1158 among such metadata are the outcomes of the test cases run by a script.
1160 - Initial and still experimental support for the TAP test protocol is
1163 * Changes to Yacc and Lex support:
1165 - C source and header files derived from non-distributed Yacc and/or
1166 Lex sources are now removed by a simple "make clean" (while they were
1167 previously removed only by "make maintainer-clean").
1169 - Slightly backward-incompatible change, relevant only for use of Yacc
1170 with C++: the extensions of the header files produced by the Yacc
1171 rules are now modelled after the extension of the corresponding
1172 sources. For example, yacc files named "foo.y++" and "bar.yy" will
1173 produce header files named "foo.h++" and "bar.hh" respectively, where
1174 they would have previously produced header files named simply "foo.h"
1175 and "bar.h". This change offers better compatibility with 'bison -o'.
1177 * Miscellaneous changes:
1179 - The AM_PROG_VALAC macro now causes configure to exit with status 77,
1180 rather than 1, if the vala compiler found is too old.
1182 - The build system of Automake itself now avoids the use of make
1183 recursion as much as possible.
1185 - Automake now prefers to quote 'like this' or "like this", rather
1186 than `like this', in diagnostic message and generated Makefiles,
1187 to accommodate the new GNU Coding Standards recommendations.
1189 - Automake has a new option '--print-libdir' that prints the path of the
1190 directory containing the Automake-provided scripts and data files.
1192 - The 'dist' and 'dist-all' targets now can run compressors in parallel.
1194 - The rules to create pdf, dvi and ps output from Texinfo files now
1195 works better with modern 'texi2dvi' script, by explicitly passing
1196 it the '--clean' option to ensure stray auxiliary files are not
1197 left to clutter the build directory.
1199 - Automake can now generate silenced rules for texinfo outputs.
1201 - Some auxiliary files that are automatically distributed by Automake
1202 (e.g., 'install-sh', or the 'depcomp' script for packages compiling
1203 C sources) might now be listed in the DIST_COMMON variable in many
1204 Makefile.in files, rather than in the top-level one.
1206 - Messages of types warning or error from 'automake' and 'aclocal'
1207 are now prefixed with the respective type, and presence of -Werror
1210 - Automake's early configure-time sanity check now tries to avoid
1211 sleeping for a second, which slowed down cached configure runs
1212 noticeably. In that case, it will check back at the end of the
1213 configure script to ensure that at least one second has passed, to
1214 avoid time stamp issues with makefile rules rerunning autotools
1217 - The warnings in the category 'extra-portability' are now enabled by
1218 '-Wall'. In previous versions, one has to use '-Wextra-portability'
1223 - Various minor bugfixes for recent or long-standing bugs.
1225 * Bugs introduced by 1.11:
1227 - The AM_COND_IF macro also works if the shell expression for the
1228 conditional is no longer valid for the condition.
1230 - The automake-provided parallel testsuite harness no longer fails
1231 with BSD make used in parallel mode when there are test scripts in
1232 a subdirectory, like in:
1234 TESTS = sub/foo.test sub/bar.test
1236 * Long-standing bugs:
1238 - Automake's own build system finally have a real "installcheck" target.
1240 - Vala-related cleanup rules are now more complete, and work better in
1243 - Files listed with the AC_REQUIRE_AUX_FILE macro in configure.ac are
1244 now automatically distributed also if the directory of the auxiliary
1245 files coincides with the top-level directory.
1247 - Automake now detects the presence of the '-d' flag in the various
1248 '*YFLAGS' variables even when their definitions involve indirections
1249 through other variables, such as in:
1251 AM_YFLAGS = $(foo_opts)
1253 - Automake now complains if a '*YFLAGS' variable has any conditional
1254 content, not only a conditional definition.
1256 - Explicit enabling and/or disabling of Automake warning categories
1257 through the '-W...' options now always takes precedence over the
1258 implicit warning level implied by Automake strictness (foreign, gnu
1259 or gnits), regardless of the order in which such strictness and
1260 warning flags appear. For example, a setting like:
1261 AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = -Wall --foreign
1262 will cause the warnings in category 'portability' to be enabled, even
1263 if those warnings are by default disabled in 'foreign' strictness.
1265 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1267 Bugs fixed in 1.11.5:
1269 * Bugs introduced by 1.11.3:
1271 - Vala files with '.vapi' extension are now recognized and handled
1272 correctly again. See automake bug#11222.
1274 - Vala support work again for projects that contain some program
1275 built from '.vala' (and possibly '.c') sources and some other
1276 program built from '.c' sources *only*. See automake bug#11229.
1278 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1282 * Miscellaneous changes:
1284 - The 'ar-lib' script now ignores the "s" (symbol index) and "S" (no
1285 symbol index) modifiers as well as the "s" action, as the symbol index
1286 is created unconditionally by Microsoft lib. Also, the "q" (quick)
1287 action is now a synonym for "r" (replace). Also, the script has been
1288 ignoring the "v" (verbose) modifier already since Automake 1.11.3.
1290 - When the 'compile' script is used to wrap MSVC, it now accepts an
1291 optional space between the -I, -L and -l options and their respective
1292 arguments, for better POSIX compliance.
1294 - There is an initial, experimental support for automatic dependency
1295 tracking with tcc (the Tiny C Compiler). Its associated depmode is
1296 currently recognized as "icc" (but this and other details are likely
1297 to change in future versions).
1299 - Automatic dependency tracking now works also with the IBM XL C/C++
1300 compilers, thanks to the new new depmode 'xlc'.
1302 Bugs fixed in 1.11.4:
1304 * Bugs introduced by 1.11.2:
1306 - A definition of 'noinst_PYTHON' before 'python_PYTHON' (or similar)
1307 no longer cause spurious failures upon "make install".
1309 - The user can now instruct the 'uninstall-info' rule not to update
1310 the '${infodir}/dir' file by exporting the environment variable
1311 'AM_UPDATE_INFO_DIR' to the value "no". This is done for consistency
1312 with how the 'install-info' rule operates since automake 1.11.2.
1314 * Long-standing bugs:
1316 - It is now possible for a foo_SOURCES variable to hold Vala sources
1317 together with C header files, as well as with sources and headers for
1318 other supported languages (e.g., C++). Previously, only mixing C and
1319 Vala sources was supported.
1321 - If "aclocal --install" is used, and the first directory specified with
1322 '-I' is non-existent, aclocal will now create it before trying to copy
1325 - An empty declaration of a "foo_PRIMARY" no longer cause the generated
1326 install rules to create an empty $(foodir) directory; for example, if
1327 Makefile.am contains something like:
1329 pkglibexec_SCRIPTS =
1331 pkglibexec_SCRIPTS += bar.sh
1334 the $(pkglibexec) directory will not be created upon "make install".
1336 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1340 * Miscellaneous changes:
1342 - Automake's own build system is more silent by default, making use of
1343 the 'silent-rules' option.
1345 - The master copy of the 'gnupload' script is now maintained in gnulib,
1348 - The 'missing' script no longer tries to wrap calls to 'tar'.
1350 - "make dist" no longer wraps 'tar' invocations with the 'missing'
1351 script. Similarly, the obsolescent variable '$(AMTAR)' (which you
1352 shouldn't be using BTW ;-) no longer invokes the 'missing' script
1353 to wrap tar, but simply invokes the 'tar' program itself.
1355 - "make dist" can now create lzip-compressed tarballs.
1357 - In the Automake info documentation, the Top node and the nodes about
1358 the invocation of the automake and aclocal programs have been renamed;
1359 now, calling "info automake" will open the Top node, while calling
1360 "info automake-invocation" and "info aclocal-invocation" will access
1361 the nodes about the invocation of respectively automake and aclocal.
1363 - Automake is now distributed as a gzip-compressed and an xz-compressed
1364 tarball. Previously, bzip2 was used instead of xz.
1366 - The last relics of Python 1.5 support have been removed from the
1367 AM_PATH_PYTHON macro.
1369 - For programs and libraries, automake now detects EXTRA_foo_DEPENDENCIES
1370 and adds them to the normal list of dependencies, but without
1371 overwriting the foo_DEPENDENCIES variable, which is normally computed
1374 Bugs fixed in 1.11.3:
1376 * Bugs introduced by 1.11.2:
1378 - Automake now correctly recognizes the prefix/primary combination
1379 'pkglibexec_SCRIPTS' as valid.
1381 - The parallel-tests harness no longer trips on sed implementations
1382 with stricter limits on the length of input lines (problem seen at
1383 least on Solaris 8).
1385 * Long-standing bugs:
1387 - The "deleted header file problem" for *.am files is avoided by stub
1388 rules. This allows 'make' to trigger a rerun of 'automake' also if
1389 some previously needed '.am' file has been removed.
1391 - The 'silent-rules' option now generates working makefiles even
1392 for the uncommon 'make' implementations that do not support the
1393 nested-variables extension to POSIX 2008. For such 'make'
1394 implementations, whether a build is silent is determined at
1395 configure time, and cannot be overridden at make time with
1396 "make V=0" or "make V=1".
1398 - Vala support now works better in VPATH setups.
1400 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1404 * Changes to aclocal:
1406 - The `--acdir' option is deprecated. Now you should use the new options
1407 `--automake-acdir' and `--system-acdir' instead.
1409 - The `ACLOCAL_PATH' environment variable is now interpreted as a
1410 colon-separated list of additional directories to search after the
1411 automake internal acdir (by default ${prefix}/share/aclocal-APIVERSION)
1412 and before the system acdir (by default ${prefix}/share/aclocal).
1414 * Miscellaneous changes:
1416 - The Automake support for automatic de-ANSI-fication has been
1417 deprecated. It will probably be removed in the next major Automake
1420 - The `lzma' compression scheme and associated automake option `dist-lzma'
1421 is obsoleted by `xz' and `dist-xz' due to upstream changes.
1423 - You may adjust the compression options used in dist-xz and dist-bzip2.
1424 The default is now merely -e for xz, but still -9 for bzip; you may
1425 specify a different level via the XZ_OPT and BZIP2 envvars respectively.
1426 E.g., "make dist-xz XZ_OPT=-7" or "make dist-bzip2 BZIP2=-5"
1428 - The `compile' script now converts some options for MSVC for a better
1429 user experience. Similarly, the new `ar-lib' script wraps Microsoft lib.
1431 - The py-compile script now accepts empty arguments passed to the options
1432 `--destdir' and `--basedir', and complains about unrecognized options.
1433 Moreover, a non-option argument or a special `--' argument terminates
1434 the list of options.
1436 - A developer that needs to pass specific flags to configure at "make
1437 distcheck" time can now, and indeed is advised to, do so by defining
1438 the developer-reserved makefile variable AM_DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS,
1439 instead of the old DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS.
1440 The DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS variable should now be reserved for the
1441 user; still, the old Makefile.am files that used to define it will
1442 still continue to work as before.
1444 - New macro AM_PROG_AR that looks for an archiver and wraps it in the new
1445 'ar-lib' auxiliary script if the selected archiver is Microsoft lib.
1446 This new macro is required for LIBRARIES and LTLIBRARIES when automake
1447 is run with -Wextra-portability and -Werror.
1449 - When using DejaGnu-based testsuites, the user can extend the `site.exp'
1450 file generated by automake-provided rules by defining the special make
1451 variable `$(EXTRA_DEJAGNU_SITE_CONFIG)'.
1453 - The `install-info' rule can now be instructed not to create/update
1454 the `${infodir}/dir' file, by exporting the new environment variable
1455 `AM_UPDATE_INFO_DIR' to the value "no".
1457 Bugs fixed in 1.11.2:
1459 * Bugs introduced by 1.11:
1461 - The parallel-tests driver no longer produces erroneous results with
1462 Tru64/OSF 5.1 sh upon unreadable log files.
1464 - The `parallel-tests' test driver does not report spurious successes
1465 when used with concurrent FreeBSD make (e.g., "make check -j3").
1467 - When the parallel-tests driver is in use, automake now explicitly
1468 rejects invalid entries and conditional contents in TEST_EXTENSIONS,
1469 instead of issuing confusing and apparently unrelated error messages
1470 (e.g., "non-POSIX variable name", "bad characters in variable name",
1471 or "redefinition of TEST_EXTENSIONS), or even, in some situations,
1472 silently producing broken `Makefile.in' files.
1474 - The `silent-rules' option now truly silences all compile rules, even
1475 when dependency tracking is disabled. Also, when `silent-rules' is
1476 not used, `make' output no longer contains spurious backslash-only
1477 lines, thus once again matching what Automake did before 1.11.
1479 - The AM_COND_IF macro also works if the shell expression for the
1480 conditional is no longer valid for the condition.
1482 * Long-standing bugs:
1484 - The order of Yacc and Lex flags is fixed to be consistent with other
1485 languages: $(AM_YFLAGS) comes before $(YFLAGS), and $(AM_LFLAGS) before
1486 $(LFLAGS), so that the user variables override the developer variables.
1488 - "make distcheck" now correctly complains also when "make uninstall"
1489 leaves one and only one file installed in $(prefix).
1491 - A "make uninstall" issued before a "make install", or after a mere
1492 "make install-data" or a mere "make install-exec" does not spuriously
1495 - Automake now warns about more primary/directory invalid combinations,
1496 such as "doc_LIBRARIES" or "pkglib_PROGRAMS".
1498 - Rules generated by Automake now try harder to not change any files when
1499 `make -n' is invoked. Fixes include compilation of Emacs Lisp, Vala, or
1500 Yacc source files and the rule to update config.h.
1502 - Several scripts and the parallel-tests testsuite driver now exit with
1503 the right exit status upon receiving a signal.
1505 - A per-Makefile.am setting of -Werror does not erroneously carry over
1506 to the handling of other Makefile.am files.
1508 - The code for automatic dependency tracking works around a Solaris
1509 make bug triggered by sources containing repeated slashes when the
1510 `subdir-objects' option was used.
1512 - The makedepend and hp depmodes now work better with VPATH builds.
1514 - Java sources specified with check_JAVA are no longer compiled for
1515 "make all", but only for "make check".
1517 - An usage like "java_JAVA = foo.java" will now cause Automake to warn
1518 and error out if `javadir' is undefined, instead of silently producing
1519 a broken Makefile.in.
1521 - aclocal and automake now honour the configure-time definitions of
1522 AUTOCONF and AUTOM4TE when they spawn autoconf or autom4te processes.
1524 - The `install-info' recipe no longer tries to guess whether the
1525 `install-info' program is from Debian or from GNU, and adaptively
1526 change its behaviour; this has proven to be frail and easy to
1529 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1531 Bugs fixed in 1.11.1:
1533 - Lots of minor bugfixes.
1535 * Bugs introduced by 1.11:
1537 - The `parallel-tests' test driver works around a GNU make 3.80 bug with
1538 trailing white space in the test list (`TESTS = foo $(EMPTY)').
1540 * Long standing bugs:
1542 - On Darwin 9, `pythondir' and `pyexecdir' pointed below `/Library/Python'
1543 even if the `--prefix' argument pointed outside of a system directory.
1544 AM_PATH_PYTHON has been fixed to ignore the value returned from python's
1545 `get_python_lib' function if it points outside the configured prefix,
1546 unless the `--prefix' argument was either `/usr' or below `/System'.
1548 - The testsuite does not try to change the mode of `ltmain.sh' files from
1549 a Libtool installation (symlinked to test directories) any more.
1551 - AM_PROG_GCJ uses AC_CHECK_TOOLS to look for `gcj' now, so that prefixed
1552 tools are preferred in a cross-compile setup.
1554 - The distribution is tarred up with mode 755 now by the `dist*' targets.
1555 This fixes a race condition where untrusted users could modify files
1556 in the $(PACKAGE)-$(VERSION) distdir before packing if the toplevel
1557 build directory was world-searchable. This is CVE-2009-4029.
1559 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1563 * Version requirements:
1565 - Autoconf 2.62 or greater is required.
1567 * Changes to aclocal:
1569 - The autoconf version check implemented by aclocal in aclocal.m4
1570 (and new in Automake 1.10) is degraded to a warning. This helps
1571 in the common case where the Autoconf versions used are compatible.
1573 * Changes to automake:
1575 - The automake program can run multiple threads for creating most
1576 Makefile.in files concurrently, if at least Perl 5.7.2 is available
1577 with interpreter-based threads enabled. Set the environment variable
1578 AUTOMAKE_JOBS to the maximum number of threads to use, in order to
1579 enable this experimental feature.
1581 * Changes to Libtool support:
1583 - Libtool generic flags are now passed to the install and uninstall
1586 - distcheck works with Libtool 2.x even when LT_OUTPUT is used, as
1587 config.lt is removed correctly now.
1589 * Languages changes:
1591 - subdir-object mode works now with Fortran (F77, FC, preprocessed
1592 Fortran, and Ratfor).
1594 - For files with extension .f90, .f95, .f03, or .f08, the flag
1595 $(FCFLAGS_f[09]x) computed by AC_FC_SRCEXT is now used in compile rules.
1597 - Files with extension .sx are also treated as preprocessed assembler.
1599 - The default source file extension (.c) can be overridden with
1600 AM_DEFAULT_SOURCE_EXT now.
1602 - Python 3.0 is supported now, Python releases prior to 2.0 are no
1605 - AM_PATH_PYTHON honors python's idea about the site directory.
1607 - There is initial support for the Vala programming language, when using
1608 Vala 0.7.0 or later.
1610 * Miscellaneous changes:
1612 - Automake development is done in a git repository on Savannah now, see
1614 http://git.sv.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=automake.git
1616 A read-only CVS mirror is provided at
1618 cvs -d :pserver:anonymous@pserver.git.sv.gnu.org:/automake.git \
1619 checkout -d automake HEAD
1621 - "make dist" can now create xz-compressed tarballs,
1622 as well as (deprecated?) lzma-compressed tarballs.
1624 - `automake --add-missing' will by default install the GPLv3 file as
1625 COPYING if it is missing. It will also warn that the license file
1626 should be added to source control. Note that Automake will never
1627 overwrite an existing COPYING file, even when the `--force-missing'
1630 - The manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL 1.3.
1632 - Automake ships and installs man pages for automake and aclocal now.
1634 - New shorthand `$(pkglibexecdir)' for `$(libexecdir)/@PACKAGE@'.
1636 - install-sh supports -C, which does not update the installed file
1637 (and its time stamps) if the contents did not change.
1639 - The `gnupload' script has been revamped.
1641 - The `depcomp' and `compile' scripts now work with MSVC under MSYS.
1643 - The targets `install' and `uninstall' are more efficient now, in that
1644 for example multiple files from one Automake variable such as
1645 `bin_SCRIPTS' are copied in one `install' (or `libtool --mode=install')
1646 invocation if they do not have to be renamed.
1648 Both install and uninstall may sometimes enter (`cd' into) the target
1649 installation directory now, when no build-local scripts are used.
1651 Both install and uninstall do not fail anymore but do nothing if an
1652 installation directory variable like `bindir' is set to the empty string.
1654 For built-in rules, `make install' now fails reliably if installation
1655 of a file failed. Conversely, `make uninstall' even succeeds when
1656 issued multiple times.
1658 These changes may need some adjustments from users: For example,
1659 some `install' programs refuse to install multiple copies of the
1660 same file in one invocation, so you may need to remove duplicate
1661 entries from file lists.
1663 Also, within one set of files, say, nobase_data_DATA, the order of
1664 installation may be changed, or even unstable among different hosts,
1665 due to the use of associative arrays in awk. The increased use of
1666 awk matches a similar move in Autoconf to provide for better scaling.
1668 Further, most undocumented per-rule install command variables such as
1669 binSCRIPT_INSTALL have been removed because they are not needed any
1670 more. Packages which use them should be using the appropriate one of
1671 INSTALL_{DATA,PROGRAM,SCRIPT} or their install_sh_{DATA,PROGRAM,SCRIPT}
1672 counterpart, depending on the type of files and the need for automatic
1673 target directory creation.
1675 - The "deleted header file problem" for *.m4 files is avoided by
1676 stub rules. This allows `make' to trigger a rerun of `aclocal'
1677 also if some previously needed macro file has been removed.
1679 - Rebuild rules now also work for a removed `subdir/Makefile.in' in
1680 an otherwise up to date tree.
1682 - The `color-tests' option causes colored test result output on terminals.
1684 - The `parallel-tests' option enables a new test driver that allows for
1685 parallel test execution, inter-test dependencies, lazy test execution
1686 for unit-testing, re-testing only failed tests, and formatted result output
1687 as RST (reStructuredText) and HTML. Enabling this option may require some
1688 changes to your test suite setup; see the manual for details.
1690 - The `silent-rules' option enables Linux kernel-style silent build output.
1691 This option requires the widely supported but non-POSIX `make' feature
1692 of recursive variable expansion, so do not use it if your package needs
1693 to build with `make' implementations that do not support it.
1695 To enable less verbose build output, the developer has to use the Automake
1696 option `silent-rules' in `AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE', or call the `AM_SILENT_RULES'
1697 macro. The user may then set the default verbosity by passing the
1698 `--enable-silent-rules' option to `configure'. At `make' run time, this
1699 default may be overridden using `make V=0' for less verbose, and `make V=1'
1700 for backward-compatible verbose output.
1702 - New prefix `notrans_' for manpages which should not be transformed
1703 by --program-transform.
1705 - New macro AM_COND_IF for conditional evaluation and conditional
1708 - For AC_CONFIG_LINKS, if source and destination are equal, do not
1709 remove the file in a non-VPATH build. Such setups work with Autoconf
1712 - AM_MAINTAINER_MODE now allows for an optional argument specifying
1713 the default setting.
1715 - AM_SUBST_NOTMAKE may prevent substitution of AC_SUBSTed variables,
1716 useful especially for multi-line values.
1718 - Automake's early configure-time sanity check now diagnoses an
1719 unsafe absolute source directory name and makes configure fail.
1721 - The Automake macros and rules cope better with whitespace in the
1722 current directory name, as long as the relative path to `configure'
1723 does not contain whitespace. To this end, the values of `$(MISSING)'
1724 and `$(install_sh)' may contain suitable quoting, and their expansion
1725 might need `eval'uation if used outside of a makefile. These
1726 undocumented variables may be used in several documented macros such
1727 as $(AUTOCONF) or $(MAKEINFO).
1731 * Long-standing bugs:
1733 - Fix aix dependency tracking for libtool objects.
1735 - Work around AIX sh quoting issue in AC_PROG_CC_C_O, leading to
1736 unnecessary use of the `compile' script.
1738 - For nobase_*_LTLIBRARIES with nonempty directory components, the
1739 correct `-rpath' argument is used now.
1741 - `config.status --file=Makefile depfiles' now also works with the
1742 extra quoting used internally by Autoconf 2.62 and newer
1743 (it used to work only without the `--file=' bit).
1745 - The `missing' script works better with versioned tool names.
1747 - Semantics for `missing help2man' have been revamped:
1749 Previously, if `help2man' was not present, `missing help2man' would have
1750 the following semantics: if some man page was out of date but present, then
1751 a warning would be printed, but the exit status was 0. If the man page was
1752 not present at all, then `missing' would create a replacement man page
1753 containing an error message, and exit with a status of 2. This does not play
1754 well with `make': the next run will see this particular man page as being up
1755 to date, and will only error out on the next generated man page, if any;
1756 repeat until all pages are done. This was not desirable.
1758 These are the new semantics: if some man page is not present, and help2man
1759 is not either, then `missing' will warn and generate the replacement page
1760 containing the error message, but exit successfully. However, `make dist'
1761 will ensure that no such bogus man pages are packaged into a tarball.
1763 - Targets provided by automake behave better with `make -n', in that they
1764 take care not to create files.
1766 - `config.status Makefile... depfiles' works fine again in the presence of
1767 disabled dependency tracking.
1769 - The default no-op recursive rules for these targets also work with BSD make
1770 now: html, install-html, install-dvi, install-pdf, install-pdf, install-info.
1772 - `make distcheck' works also when both a directory and some file below it
1773 have been added to a distribution variable, such as EXTRA_DIST or *_SOURCES.
1775 - Texinfo dvi, ps, pdf, and html output files are not removed upon
1776 `make mostlyclean' any more; only the LaTeX by-products are.
1778 - Renamed objects also work with the `subdir-objects' option and
1779 source file languages which Automake does not know itself.
1781 - `automake' now correctly complains about variable assignments which are
1782 preceded by a comment, extend over multiple lines with backslash-escaped
1783 newlines, and end in a comment sign. Previous versions would silently
1784 and wrongly ignore such assignments completely.
1786 * Bugs introduced by 1.10:
1788 - Fix output of dummy dependency files in presence of post-processed
1789 Makefile.in's again, but also cope with long lines.
1791 - $(EXEEXT) is automatically appended to filenames of XFAIL_TESTS
1792 that have been declared as programs in the same Makefile.
1793 This is for consistency with the analogous change to TESTS in 1.10.
1795 - Fix order of standard includes to again be `-I. -I$(srcdir)',
1796 followed by directories containing config headers.
1798 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1802 * Version requirements:
1804 - Autoconf 2.60 or greater is required.
1806 - Perl 5.6 or greater is required.
1808 * Changes to aclocal:
1810 - aclocal now also supports -Wmumble and -Wno-mumble options.
1812 - `dirlist' entries (for the aclocal search path) may use shell
1813 wildcards such as `*', `?', or `[...]'.
1815 - aclocal supports an --install option that will cause system-wide
1816 third-party macros to be installed in the local directory
1817 specified with the first -I flag. This option also uses #serial
1818 lines in M4 files to upgrade local macros.
1820 The new aclocal options --dry-run and --diff help to review changes
1821 before they are installed.
1823 - aclocal now outputs an autoconf version check in aclocal.m4 in
1824 projects using automake.
1826 For a few years, automake and aclocal have been calling autoconf
1827 (or its underlying engine autom4te) to accurately retrieve the
1828 data they need from configure.ac and its siblings. Doing so can
1829 only work if all autotools use the same version of autoconf. For
1830 instance a Makefile.in generated by automake for one version of
1831 autoconf may stop working if configure is regenerated with another
1832 version of autoconf, and vice versa.
1834 This new version check ensures that the whole build system has
1835 been generated using the same autoconf version.
1837 * Support for new Autoconf macros:
1839 - The new AC_REQUIRE_AUX_FILE Autoconf macro is supported.
1841 - If `subdir-objects' is set, and AC_CONFIG_LIBOBJ_DIR is specified,
1842 $(LIBOBJS), $(LTLIBOBJS), $(ALLOCA), and $(LTALLOCA) can be used
1843 in different directories. However, only one instance of such a
1844 library objects directory is supported.
1846 * Change to Libtool support:
1848 - Libtool generic flags (those that go before the --mode=MODE option)
1849 can be specified using AM_LIBTOOLFLAGS and target_LIBTOOLFLAGS.
1851 * Yacc and Lex changes:
1853 - The rebuild rules for distributed Yacc and Lex output will avoid
1854 overwriting existing files if AM_MAINTAINER_MODE and maintainer-mode
1857 - ylwrap is now always used for lex and yacc source files,
1858 regardless of whether there is more than one source per directory.
1860 * Languages changes:
1862 - Preprocessed assembler (*.S) compilation now honors CPPFLAGS,
1863 AM_CPPFLAGS and per-target _CPPFLAGS, and supports dependency
1864 tracking, unlike non-preprocessed assembler (*.s).
1866 - subdir-object mode works now with Assembler. Automake assumes
1867 that the compiler understands `-c -o'.
1869 - Preprocessed assembler (*.S) compilation now also honors
1870 $(DEFS) $(DEFAULT_INCLUDES) $(INCLUDES).
1872 - Improved support for Objective C:
1873 - Autoconf's new AC_PROG_OBJC will enable automatic dependency tracking.
1874 - A new section of the manual documents the support.
1876 - New support for Unified Parallel C:
1877 - AM_PROG_UPC looks for a UPC compiler.
1878 - A new section of the manual documents the support.
1880 - Per-target flags are now correctly handled in link rules.
1882 For instance maude_CFLAGS correctly overrides AM_CFLAGS; likewise
1883 for maude_LDFLAGS and AM_LDFLAGS. Previous versions bogusly
1884 preferred AM_CFLAGS over maude_CFLAGS while linking, and they
1885 used both AM_LDFLAGS and maude_LDFLAGS on the same link command.
1887 The fix for compiler flags (i.e., using maude_CFLAGS instead of
1888 AM_CFLAGS) should not hurt any package since that is how _CFLAGS
1889 is expected to work (and actually works during compilation).
1891 However using maude_LDFLAGS "instead of" AM_LDFLAGS rather than
1892 "in addition to" breaks backward compatibility with older versions.
1893 If your package used both variables, as in
1895 AM_LDFLAGS = common flags
1896 bin_PROGRAMS = a b c
1897 a_LDFLAGS = more flags
1900 and assumed *_LDFLAGS would sum up, you should rewrite it as
1902 AM_LDFLAGS = common flags
1903 bin_PROGRAMS = a b c
1904 a_LDFLAGS = $(AM_LDFLAGS) more flags
1907 This new behavior of *_LDFLAGS is more coherent with other
1908 per-target variables, and the way *_LDFLAGS variables were
1909 considered internally.
1911 * New installation targets:
1913 - New targets mandated by GNU Coding Standards:
1918 By default they will only install Texinfo manuals.
1919 You can customize them with *-local variants:
1925 - The undocumented recursive target `uninstall-info' no longer exists.
1926 (`uninstall' is in charge of removing all possible documentation
1927 flavors, including optional formats such as dvi, ps, or info even
1928 when `no-installinfo' is used.)
1930 * Miscellaneous changes:
1932 - Automake no longer complains if input files for AC_CONFIG_FILES
1933 are specified using shell variables.
1935 - clean, distribution, or rebuild rules are normally disabled for
1936 inputs and outputs of AC_CONFIG_FILES, AC_CONFIG_HEADERS, and
1937 AC_CONFIG_LINK specified using shell variables. However, if these
1938 variables are used as ${VAR}, and AC_SUBSTed, then Automake will
1939 be able to output rules anyway.
1940 (See the Automake documentation for AC_CONFIG_FILES.)
1942 - $(EXEEXT) is automatically appended to filenames of TESTS
1943 that have been declared as programs in the same Makefile.
1944 This is mostly useful when some check_PROGRAMS are listed in TESTS.
1946 - `-Wportability' has finally been turned on by default for `gnu' and
1947 `gnits' strictness. This means, automake will complain about %-rules
1948 or $(GNU Make functions) unless you switch to `foreign' strictness or
1949 use `-Wno-portability'.
1951 - Automake now uses AC_PROG_MKDIR_P (new in Autoconf 2.60), and uses
1952 $(MKDIR_P) instead of $(mkdir_p) to create directories. The
1953 $(mkdir_p) variable is still defined (to the same value as
1954 $(MKDIR_P)) but should be considered obsolete. If you are using
1955 $(mkdir_p) in some of your rules, please plan to update them to
1956 $(MKDIR_P) at some point.
1958 - AM_C_PROTOTYPES and ansi2knr are now documented as being obsolete.
1959 They still work in this release, but may be withdrawn in a future one.
1961 - Inline compilation rules for gcc3-style dependency tracking are
1964 - Automake installs a "Hello World!" example package in $(docdir).
1965 This example is used throughout the new "Autotools Introduction"
1966 chapter of the manual.
1968 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1972 * Makefile.in bloat reduction:
1974 - Inference rules are used to compile sources in subdirectories when
1975 the `subdir-objects' option is used and no per-target flags are
1976 used. This should reduce the size of some projects a lot, because
1977 Automake used to output an explicit rule for each such object in
1980 - Automake no longer outputs three rules (.o, .obj, .lo) for each
1981 object that must be built with explicit rules. It just outputs
1982 the rules required to build the kind of object considered: either
1983 the two .o and .obj rules for usual objects, or the .lo rule for
1986 * Change to Libtool support:
1988 - Libtool tags are used with libtool versions that support them.
1989 (I.e., with Libtool 1.5 or greater.)
1991 - Automake is now able to handle setups where a libtool library is
1992 conditionally installed in different directories, as in
1995 lib_LTLIBRARIES = liba.la
1997 pkglib_LTLIBRARIES = liba.la
1999 liba_la_SOURCES = ...
2001 * Changes to aclocal:
2003 - aclocal now ensures that AC_DEFUNs and AU_DEFUNs it discovers are
2004 really evaluated, before it decides to include them in aclocal.m4.
2005 This solves nasty problems with conditional redefinitions of
2006 Autoconf macros in /usr/share/aclocal/*.m4 files causing extraneous
2007 *.m4 files to be included in any project using these macros.
2008 (Calls to AC_PROG_EGREP causing libtool.m4 to be included is the
2009 most famous instance of this bug.)
2011 - Do not complain about missing conditionally AC_REQUIREd macros
2012 that are not actually used. In 1.8.x aclocal would correctly
2013 determine which of these macros were really needed (and include
2014 only these in the package); unfortunately it would also require
2015 all of them to be present in order to run. This created
2016 situations were aclocal would not work on a tarball distributing
2017 all the macros it uses. For instance running aclocal on a project
2018 containing only the subset of the Gettext macros in use by the
2019 project did not work, because gettext conditionally requires other
2022 * Portability improvements:
2024 - Tar format can be chosen with the new options tar-v7, tar-ustar, and
2025 tar-pax. The new option filename-length-max=99 helps diagnosing
2026 filenames that are too long for tar-v7. (PR/414)
2028 - Variables augmented with `+=' are now automatically flattened (i.e.,
2029 trailing backslashes removed) and then wrapped around 80 columns
2030 (adding trailing backslashes). In previous versions, a long series
2036 would result in a single-line definition of VAR that could possibly
2037 exceed the maximum line length of some make implementations.
2039 Non-augmented variables are still output as they are defined in
2044 - Support Fortran 90/95 with the new "fc" and "ppfc" languages.
2045 Works the same as the old Fortran 77 implementation; just replace
2046 F77 with FC everywhere (exception: FFLAGS becomes FCFLAGS).
2047 Requires a version of autoconf which provides AC_PROG_FC (>=2.59).
2049 - Support for conditional _LISP.
2051 - Support for conditional -hook and -local rules (PR/428).
2053 - Diagnose AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR calls following AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE. (PR/49)
2055 - Automake will not write any Makefile.ins after the first error it
2056 encounters. The previous Makefile.ins (if any) will be left in
2057 place. (Warnings will not prevent output, but remember they can
2058 be turned into errors with -Werror.)
2060 - The restriction that SUBDIRS must contain direct children is gone.
2063 - The manual tells more about SUBDIRS vs. DIST_SUBDIRS.
2064 It also gives an example of nested packages using AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS.
2066 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2068 Bugs fixed in 1.8.5:
2070 * Long-standing bugs:
2072 - Define DIST_SUBDIRS even when the `no-dist' or `cygnus' options are used
2073 so that `make distclean' and `make maintainer-clean' can work.
2075 - Define AR and ARFLAGS even when only EXTRA_LIBRARIES are defined.
2077 - Fix many rules to please FreeBSD make, which runs commands with `sh -e'.
2079 - Polish diagnostic when no input file is found.
2081 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2083 Bugs fixed in 1.8.4:
2085 * Long-standing bugs:
2087 - Fix AM_PATH_PYTHON to correctly display $PYTHON when it has been
2088 overridden by the user.
2090 - Honor PATH_SEPARATOR in various places of the Automake package, for
2093 - Adjust dependency tracking mode detection to ICC 8.0's new output.
2096 - Fix install-sh so it can install the `mv' binary... using `mv'.
2098 - Fix tru64 dependency tracking for libtool objects.
2100 - Work around Exuberant Ctags when creating a TAGS files in a directory
2101 without files to scan but with subdirectories to include.
2103 * Bugs introduced by 1.8:
2105 - Fix an "internal error" when @LIBOBJS@ is used in a variable that is
2106 not defined in the same conditions as the _LDADD that uses it.
2108 - Do not warn when JAVAROOT is overridden, this is legitimate.
2110 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2112 Bugs fixed in 1.8.3:
2114 * Long-standing bugs:
2116 - Quote filenames in installation rules, in case $DESTDIR, $prefix,
2117 or any of the other *dir variables contain a space.
2119 Please note that Automake does not and cannot support spaces in
2120 filenames that are involved during the build. This change affects
2121 only installation paths, so that `make install' does not bomb out
2122 in packages configured with
2123 ./configure --prefix '/c/Program Files'
2125 - Fix the depfiles output so it works with GNU sed (<4.1) even when
2126 POSIXLY_CORRECT is set.
2128 - Do not AC_SUBST(LIBOBJS) in AM_WITH_REGEX. This macro was unusable
2129 since Autoconf 2.54, which defines LIBOBJS itself.
2131 - Fix a potential (but unlikely) race condition in parallel elisp
2132 builds. (Introduced in 1.7.3.)
2134 - Do not assume that users override _DEPENDENCIES in all conditions
2135 where Automake will try to define them.
2137 - Do not use `mkdir -p' in mkinstalldirs, unless this is GNU mkdir.
2138 Solaris 8's `mkdir -p' is not thread-safe and can break parallel
2141 This fix also affects the $(mkdir_p) variable defined since
2142 Automake 1.8. It will be set to `mkdir -p' only if mkdir is GNU
2143 mkdir, and to `mkinstalldirs' or `install-sh -d' otherwise.
2145 - Secure temporary directory creation in `make distcheck'. (PR/413)
2147 - Do not generate two build rules for `parser.h' when the
2148 parser appears in two different conditionals.
2150 - Work around a Solaris 8 /bin/sh bug in the test for dependency
2151 checking. Usually ./configure will not pick this shell; so this
2152 fix only helps cases where the shell is forced to /bin/sh.
2154 * Bugs introduced by 1.8:
2156 - In some situations (hand-written `m4_include's), aclocal would
2157 call the `File::Spec->rel2abs' method, which was only introduced
2158 in Perl 5.6. This new version reestablish support Perl 5.005.
2160 It is likely that the next major Automake releases will require at
2161 least Perl 5.6. Consider upgrading your development environment
2162 if you are still using the five-year-old Perl 5.005.
2164 - Automake would sometimes fail to define rules for targets listed
2165 in variables defined in multiple conditions. For instance on
2171 it would define only the `a.$(OBJEXT): a.c' rule and omit the
2172 `b.$(OBJEXT): b.c' rule.
2174 * New sections in manual:
2176 - Third-Party Makefiles: how to interface third party Makefiles.
2177 - Upgrading: upgrading packages to newer Automake versions.
2178 - Multiple Outputs: handling tools that produce many outputs.
2180 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2184 * A (well known) portability bug slipped in the changes made to
2185 install-sh in Automake 1.8.1. The broken install-sh would refuse to
2186 install anything on Tru64.
2188 * Fix install rules for conditionally built python files. (This never
2191 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2195 * Bugs introduced by 1.8:
2197 - Fix Config.pm import error with old Perl versions (at least
2198 5.005_03). One symptom is that aclocal could not find its macro
2201 - Automake 1.8 used `mkdir -m 0755 -p --' to ensure that directories
2202 created by `make install' are always world readable, even if the
2203 installer happens to have an overly restrictive umask (e.g. 077).
2204 This was a mistake and has been reverted. There are at least two
2205 reasons why we must not use `-m 0755':
2206 - it causes special bits like SGID to be ignored,
2207 - it may be too restrictive (some setups expect 775 directories).
2209 - Fix aclocal to honor definitions located in files which have been
2210 m4_included manually. aclocal 1.8 had been updated to check
2211 m4_included files for new requirements, but forgot that these
2212 m4_included files can also provide new definitions.
2214 Note that if you have such a setup, we recommend you get rid of
2215 it. In the past, there was a reason to m4_include files manually:
2216 aclocal used to duplicate entire M4 files into aclocal.m4, even
2217 files that were distributed. Some packages were therefore
2218 m4_including the distributed file directly, and playing some
2219 tricks to ensure aclocal would not copy that file to aclocal.m4,
2220 in order to limit the amount of duplication. Since aclocal 1.8.x
2221 will precisely output m4_includes for local M4 files, we recommend
2222 that you clean up your setup, removing all manual m4_includes and
2223 letting aclocal output them.
2225 - Output detailed menus in the Info version if the Automake manual,
2226 so that Emacs can locate the indexes.
2228 - configure.ac and configure were listed twice in DIST_COMMON (an
2229 internal variable where Automake lists configury files to
2230 distribute). This was harmless, but unaesthetic.
2232 - Use `chmod a-w' instead of `chmod -w' as the latter honors umask.
2233 This was an issue only in the Automake package itself, not in
2236 - Automake assumed that all AC_CONFIG_LINKS arguments had the form
2237 DEST:SRC. This was wrong, as some packages do
2238 AC_CONFIG_LINKS($computedlinks). This version no longer abort in
2241 - Contrary to mkinstalldirs, $(mkdir_p) was expecting exactly one
2242 argument. This caused two kinds of failures:
2243 - Rules installing data in a conditionally defined directory
2244 failed when that directory was undefined. In this case no
2245 argument was supplied.
2246 - `make installdirs' failed, because several directories were
2247 passed to $(mkdir_p). This was an issue only on platform
2248 were $(mkdir_p) is implemented with `install-sh -d'.
2249 $(mkdir_p) as been changed to accept 0 or more arguments, as
2252 * Long-standing bugs:
2254 - Fix an unexpected diagnostic occurring when users attempt
2255 to override some internal variables that Automake appends to.
2257 - aclocal now scans configure.ac for macro definitions (PR/319).
2259 - Fix a portability issue with OSF1/Tru64 Make. If a directory
2260 distributes files which are outside itself (this usually occurs
2261 when using AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR([../dir]) to use auxiliary files
2262 from a parent package), then `make distcheck' fails due to an
2263 optimization performed by OSF1/Tru64 Make in its VPATH handling.
2264 (tests/subpkg2.test failure)
2266 - Fix another portability issue with Sun and OSF1/Tru64 Make.
2267 In a VPATH-build configuration, `make install' would install
2268 nobase_ files to wrong locations.
2270 - Fix a Perl `uninitialized value' diagnostic occurring when
2271 automake complains that a Texinfo file does not have a
2272 @setfilename statement.
2274 - Erase config.status.lineno during `make distclean'. This file
2275 can be created by config.status. Automake already knew about
2276 configure.lineno, but forgot config.status.lineno.
2278 - Distribute all files, even those which are built and installed
2279 conditionally. This change affects files listed in conditionally
2280 defined *_HEADERS and *_PYTHON variable (unless they are nodist_*)
2281 as well as those listed in conditionally defined dist_*_DATA,
2282 dist_*_JAVA, dist_*_LISP, and dist_*_SCRIPTS variables.
2284 - Fix AM_PATH_LISPDIR to avoid \? in sed regular expressions; it
2285 doesn't conform to POSIX.
2287 - Normalize help strings for configure variables and options added
2292 - Check for python2.4 in AM_PATH_PYTHON.
2294 * Spurious failures in test suite:
2296 - tests/libtool5.test, tests/ltcond.test, tests/ltcond2.test,
2297 tests/ltconv.test: fix failures with CVS Libtool.
2298 - tests/aclocal6.test: fix failure if autom4te.cache is disabled.
2299 - tests/txinfo24.test, tests/txinfo25.test, tests/txinfo28.test:
2300 fix failures with old Texinfo versions.
2302 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2308 - The NEWS file is more verbose.
2312 - Autoconf 2.58 or greater is required.
2316 - Default source file names in the absence of a _SOURCES declaration
2317 are made by removing any target extension before appending `.c', so
2318 to make the libtool module `foo.la' from `foo.c', you only need to
2321 lib_LTLIBRARIES = foo.la
2322 foo_la_LDFLAGS = -module
2324 For backward compatibility, foo_la.c will be used instead of
2325 foo.c if this file exists or is the explicit target of a rule.
2326 However -Wobsolete will warn about this deprecated naming.
2328 - AR's `cru' flags are now set in a global ARFLAGS variable instead
2329 of being hard-coded in each $(AR) invocation, so they can be
2330 substituted from configure.ac. This has been requested by people
2331 dealing with non-POSIX ar implementations.
2333 - New warning option: -Woverride. This will warn about any user
2334 target or variable definitions which override Automake
2337 - Texinfo rules back up and restore info files when makeinfo fails.
2339 - Texinfo rules now support the `html' target.
2340 Running this requires Texinfo 4.0 or greater.
2342 `html' is a new recursive target, so if your package mixes
2343 hand-crafted `Makefile.in's with Automake-generated
2344 `Makefile.in's, you should adjust the former to support (or
2345 ignore) this target so that `make html' recurses successfully. If
2346 you had a custom `html' rule in your `Makefile.am', it's better to
2347 rename it as `html-local', otherwise your rule will override
2348 Automake's new rule (you can check that by running `automake
2349 -Woverride') and that will stop the recursion to subdirectories.
2351 Last but not least, this `html' rule is declared PHONY, even when
2352 overridden. Fortunately, it appears that few packages use a
2353 non-PHONY `html' rule.
2355 - Any file which is m4_included from configure.ac will appear as a
2356 configure and Makefile.in dependency, and will be automatically
2359 - The rules for rebuilding Makefiles and Makefile.ins will now
2360 rebuild all Makefiles and all Makefile.ins at once when one of
2361 configure's dependencies has changed. This is considerably faster
2362 than previous implementations, where config.status and automake
2363 were run separately in each directory (this still happens when you
2364 change a Makefile.am locally, without touching configure.ac or
2365 friends). Doing this also solves a longstanding issue: these
2366 rebuild rules failed to work when adding new directories to the
2367 tree, forcing you to run automake manually.
2369 - For similar reasons, the rules to rebuild configure,
2370 config.status, and aclocal.m4 are now defined in all directories.
2371 Note that if you were using the CONFIG_STATUS_DEPENDENCIES and
2372 CONFIGURE_DEPENDENCIES (formerly undocumented) variables, you
2373 should better define them in all directories. This is easily done
2374 using an AC_SUBST (make sure you prefix these dependencies with
2375 $(top_srcdir) since this variable will appear at different
2376 levels of the build tree).
2378 - aclocal will now use `m4_include' instead of copying local m4
2379 files into aclocal.m4. (Local m4 files are those you ship with
2380 your project, other files will be copied as usual.)
2382 Because m4_included files are automatically distributed, it means
2383 for most projects there is no point in EXTRA_DISTing the list of
2384 m4 files which are used. (You can probably get rid of
2385 m4/Makefile.am if you had one.)
2387 - aclocal will avoid touching aclocal.m4 when possible, so that
2388 Autom4te's cache isn't needlessly invalidated. This behavior can
2389 be switched off with the new `--force' option.
2391 - aclocal now uses Autoconf's --trace to detect macros which are
2392 actually used and will no longer include unused macros simply
2393 because they where mentioned. This was often the case for macros
2394 called conditionally.
2396 - New options no-dist and no-dist-gzip.
2398 - compile, depcomp, elisp-comp, install-sh, mdate-sh, mkinstalldirs,
2399 py-compile, and ylwrap, now all understand --version and --help.
2401 - Automake will now recognize AC_CONFIG_LINKS so far as removing created
2402 links as part of the distclean target and including source files in
2405 - AM_PATH_PYTHON now supports ACTION-IF-FOUND and ACTION-IF-NOT-FOUND
2406 argument. The latter can be used to override the default behavior
2407 (which is to abort).
2409 - Automake will exit with $? = 63 on version mismatch. (So does
2410 Autoconf 2.58) missing knows this, and in this case it will
2411 emulate the tools as if they were absent. Because older versions
2412 of Automake and Autoconf did not use this exit code, this change
2413 will only be useful in projects generated with future versions of
2416 - When using AC_CONFIG_FILES with multiple input files, Automake
2417 generates the first ".in" input file for which a ".am" exists.
2418 (Former versions would try to use only the first input file.)
2420 - lisp_DATA is now allowed. If you are using the empty ELCFILES
2421 idiom to disable byte-compilation of lisp_LISP files, it is
2422 recommended that you switch to using lisp_DATA. Note that
2423 this is not strictly equivalent: lisp_DATA will install elisp
2424 files even if emacs is not installed, while *_LISP do not
2425 install anything unless emacs is found.
2427 - Makefiles will prefer `mkdir -p' over mkinstalldirs if it is
2428 available. This selection is achieved through the Makefile
2429 variable $(mkdir_p) that is set by AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE to either
2430 `mkdir -m 0755 -p --', `$(mkinstalldirs) -m 0755', or
2431 `$(install_sh) -m 0755 -d'.
2435 - Because `mkdir -p' is available on most platforms, and we can use
2436 `install-sh -d' when it is not, the use of the mkinstalldirs
2437 script is being phased out. `automake --add-missing' no longer
2438 installs it, and if you remove mkinstalldirs from your package,
2439 automake will define $(mkinstalldirs) as an alias for $(mkdir_p).
2441 Gettext 0.12.1 still requires mkinstalldirs. Fortunately
2442 gettextize and autopoint will install it when needed. Automake
2443 will continue to define the $(mkinstalldirs) and to distribute
2444 mkinstalldirs when this script is in the source tree.
2446 - AM_PROG_CC_STDC is now empty. The content of this macro was
2447 merged in AC_PROG_CC. If your code uses $am_cv_prog_cc_stdc, you
2448 should adjust it to use $ac_cv_prog_cc_stdc instead. (This
2449 renaming should be safe, even if you have to support several,
2450 versions of Automake, because AC_PROG_CC defines this variable
2451 since Autoconf 2.54.)
2453 - Some users where using the undocumented ACLOCAL_M4_SOURCES
2454 variable to override the aclocal.m4 dependencies computed
2455 (inaccurately) by older versions of Automake. Because Automake
2456 now tracks configure's m4 dependencies accurately (see m4_include
2457 above), the use of ACLOCAL_M4_SOURCES should be considered
2458 obsolete and will be flagged as such when running `automake
2463 - Defining programs conditionally using Automake conditionals no
2464 longer leads to a combinatorial explosion. The following
2465 construct used to be troublesome when used with dozens of
2480 Likewise for _SOURCES, _LDADD, and _LIBADD variables.
2482 - Due to implementation constraints, previous versions of Automake
2483 proscribed multiple conditional definitions of some variables
2493 All _PROGRAMS, _LDADD, and _LIBADD variables were affected.
2494 This restriction has been lifted, and these variables now
2495 support multiple conditional definitions as do other variables.
2497 - Cleanup the definitions of $(distdir) and $(top_distdir).
2498 $(top_distdir) now points to the root of the distribution
2499 directory created during `make dist', as it did in Automake 1.4,
2500 not to the root of the build tree as it did in intervening
2501 versions. Furthermore these two variables are now only defined in
2502 the top level Makefile, and passed to sub-directories when running
2505 - The --no-force option now correctly checks the Makefile.in's
2506 dependencies before deciding not to update it.
2508 - Do not assume that make files are called Makefile in cleaning rules.
2510 - Update .info files in the source tree, not in the build tree. This
2511 is what the GNU Coding Standard recommend. Only Automake 1.7.x
2512 used to update these files in the build tree (previous versions did
2513 it in the source tree too), and it caused several problems, varying
2514 from mere annoyance to portability issues.
2516 - COPYING, COPYING.LIB, and COPYING.LESSER are no longer overwritten
2517 when --add-missing and --force-missing are used. For backward
2518 compatibility --add-missing will continue to install COPYING (in
2519 `gnu' strictness) when none of these three files exist, but this
2520 use is deprecated: you should better choose a license yourself and
2521 install it once for all in your source tree (and in your code
2524 - Fix ylwrap so that it does not overwrite header files that haven't
2525 changed, as the inline rule already does.
2527 - User-defined rules override automake-defined rules for the same
2528 targets, even when rules do not have commands. This is not new
2529 (and was documented), however some of the automake-generated
2530 rules have escaped this principle in former Automake versions.
2531 Rules for the following targets are affected by this fix:
2533 clean, clean-am, dist-all, distclean, distclean-am, dvi, dvi-am,
2534 info, info-am, install-data-am, install-exec-am, install-info,
2535 install-info-am, install-man, installcheck-am, maintainer-clean,
2536 maintainer-clean-am, mostlyclean, mostlyclean-am, pdf, pdf-am,
2537 ps, ps-am, uninstall-am, uninstall-info, uninstall-man
2539 Practically it means that an attempt to supplement the dependencies
2540 of some target, as in
2542 clean: my-clean-rule
2544 will now *silently override* the automake definition of the
2545 rule for this target. Running `automake -Woverride' will diagnose
2546 all such overriding definitions.
2548 It should be noted that almost all of these targets support a *-local
2549 variant that is meant to supplement the automake-defined rule
2550 (See node `Extending' in the manual). The above rule should
2553 clean-local: my-clean-rule
2555 These *-local targets have been documented since at least
2556 Automake 1.2, so you should not fear the change if you have
2557 to support multiple automake versions.
2561 - The Automake manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
2563 - Targets dist-gzip, dist-bzip2, dist-tarZ, dist-zip are always defined.
2565 - core dumps are no longer removed by the cleaning rules. There are
2566 at least three reasons for this:
2567 1. These files should not be created by any build step,
2568 so their removal do not fit any of the cleaning rules.
2569 Actually, they may be precious to the developer.
2570 2. If such file is created during a build, then it's clearly a
2571 bug Automake should not hide. Not removing the file will
2572 cause `make distcheck' to complain about its presence.
2573 3. Operating systems have different naming conventions for
2574 core dump files. A core file on one system might be a
2575 completely legitimate data file on another system.
2577 - RUNTESTFLAGS, CTAGSFLAGS, ETAGSFLAGS, JAVACFLAGS are no longer
2578 defined by Automake. This means that any definition in the
2579 environment will be used, unless overridden in the Makefile.am or
2580 on the command line. The old behavior, where these variables were
2581 defined empty in each Makefile, can be obtained by AC_SUBSTing or
2582 AC_ARG_VARing each variable from configure.ac.
2584 - CONFIGURE_DEPENDENCIES and CONFIG_STATUS_DEPENDENCIES are now
2585 documented. (The is not a new feature, these variables have
2586 been there since at least Automake 1.4.)
2588 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2590 Bugs fixed in 1.7.9:
2591 * Fix install-strip to work with nobase_ binaries.
2592 * Fix renaming of #line directives in ylwrap.
2593 * Rebuild with Autoconf 2.59. (1.7.8 was not installable with pdksh.)
2595 Bugs fixed in 1.7.8:
2596 * Remove spurious blank lines in cleaning rules introduced in 1.7.7.
2597 * Fix detection of Debian's install-info, broken since version 1.5.
2598 (Debian bug #213524).
2599 * Honor -module if it appears in AM_LDFLAGS (i.e., relax name checking)
2600 This was only done for libfoo_LDFLAGS and LDFLAGS in previous versions.
2602 Bugs fixed in 1.7.7:
2603 * The implementation of automake's --no-force option is unreliable,
2604 so this option is ignored in this version. A real fix will appear in
2605 Automake 1.8. (Debian Bug #206299)
2606 * AM_PATH_PYTHON: really check the whole list of interpreters if no
2607 argument is given. (PR/399)
2608 * Do not warn about leading `_' in variable names, even with -Wportability.
2609 * Support user redefinitions of TEXINFO_TEX.
2610 * depcomp: support AIX Compiler version 6.
2611 * Fix missing rebuilds during `make dist' with BSD make.
2612 (Could produce tarballs containing out-of-date files.)
2613 * Resurrect multilib support.
2614 * Noteworthy manual updates:
2615 - Extending aclocal: how to write m4 macros that won't trigger warnings
2617 - A Shared Library: Rewrite and split into subsections.
2619 Bugs fixed in 1.7.6:
2620 * Fix depcomp's icc mode for ICC 7.1.
2621 * Diagnose calls to AC_CONFIG_FILES and friends with not enough arguments.
2622 * Fix maintainer-clean's removal of autom4te.cache in VPATH builds.
2623 * Fix AM_PATH_LISPDIR to work with POSIXLY_CORRECT=1.
2624 * Fix the location reported in some diagnostics related to AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS.
2625 * Remove Latin-1 characters from elisp-comp.
2626 * Update the manual's @dircategory to match the Free Software Directory.
2628 Bugs fixed in 1.7.5:
2629 * Update install-sh's license to remove an advertising clause.
2630 (Debian bug #191717)
2631 * Fix a bug introduced in 1.7.4, related to BUILT_SOURCE handling,
2632 that caused invalid Makefile.ins to be generated.
2633 * Make sure AM_MAKE_INCLUDE doesn't fail when a `doit' file exists.
2634 * New FAQ entry: renamed objects.
2636 Bugs fixed in 1.7.4:
2637 * Tweak the TAGS rule to support Exuberant Ctags (in addition to
2638 the Emacs implementation)
2639 * Fix output of aclocal.m4 dependencies in subdirectories.
2640 * Use `mv -f' instead of `mv' in fastdep rules.
2641 * Upgrade mdate-sh to work on OS/2.
2642 * Don't byte-compile elisp files when ELCFILES is set empty.
2643 (this documented feature was broken by 1.7.3)
2644 * Diagnose trailing backslashes on last line of Makefile.am.
2645 * Diagnose whitespace following trailing backslashes.
2646 * Multiple tests are now correctly supported in DEJATOOL. (PR/388)
2647 * Fix rebuilt rules for AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile:Makefile.in:Makefile.bot])
2649 * `make install' will build `BUILT_SOURCES' first.
2650 * Minor documentation fixes.
2652 Bugs fixed in 1.7.3:
2653 * Fix stamp files numbering (when using multiple AC_CONFIG_HEADERS).
2654 * Query distutils for `pythondir' and `pythonexecdir', instead of
2655 using an hardcoded path. This should allow builds on 64-bit
2656 distributions that usually use lib64/ instead of lib/.
2657 * AM_PATH_PYTHON will also search for python2.3.
2658 * elisp files are now built all at once instead of one by one. Besides
2659 incurring a speed-up, this is required to support interdependent elisp files.
2660 * Support for DJGPP:
2661 - `make distcheck' will now work in `_inst/' and `_build' instead
2662 of `=inst/' and `=build/'
2663 - use `_dirstamp' when the file-system doesn't support `.dirstamp'
2664 - install/uninstall `*.i[0-9][0-9]'-style info files
2665 - more changes that affect only the Automake package (not its output)
2666 * Fix some incompatibilities with upcoming perl-5.10.
2667 * Properly quote AC_PACKAGE_TARNAME and AC_PACKAGE_VERSION when defining
2668 PACKAGE and VERSION.
2670 - dashmstdout and dashXmstdout modes: don't use `-o /dev/null', this
2671 is troublesome with gcc and Solaris compilers. (PR/385)
2672 - makedepend mode: work with Libtool. (PR/385 too)
2674 * better support for unusual gettext setups, such as multiple po/ directories
2676 - Flag missing po/ and intl/ directories as warnings, not errors.
2677 - Disable these warnings if po/ does not exist.
2678 * Noteworthy manual updates:
2680 - Document how AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR interacts with missing files.
2682 - Document `AM_YFLAGS = -d'. (PR/382)
2684 Bugs fixed in 1.7.2:
2685 * Fix installation and uninstallation of Info files built in subdirectories.
2686 * Do not run `./configure --with-included-gettext' during `make distcheck'
2687 if AM_GNU_GETTEXT([external]) is used.
2688 * Correctly uninstall renamed man pages.
2689 * Do not strip escaped newline in variables defined in one condition
2690 and augmented in another condition.
2691 * Fix ansi2knr rules for LIBOBJS sources.
2692 * Clean all known Texinfo index files, not only those which appear to
2693 be used, because we cannot know which indexes are used in included files.
2694 (PR/375, Debian Bug #168671)
2695 * Honor only the first @setfilename seen in a Texinfo file.
2696 * Treat "required file X not found" diagnostics as errors (exit status 1).
2697 * Don't complain that a required file is not found when it is a Makefile
2699 * Don't use single suffix inference rules when building `.info'-less
2700 Info files, for the sake of Solaris make.
2701 * The `check' target now depends on `$(BUILT_SOURCES)'. (PR/359)
2702 * Recognize multiple inference rules such as `.a.b .c.d:'. (PR/371)
2703 * Warn about multiple inference rules when -Wportability is used. (PR/372)
2704 * Fix building of deansified files from subdirectories. (PR/370)
2705 * Add missing `fi' in the .c->.obj rules.
2706 * Improve install-sh to work even when names contain spaces or certain
2707 (but not all) shell metachars.
2708 * Fix the following spurious failures in the test suite:
2709 depcomp2.test, gnits2.test, gnits3.test, python3.test, texinfo13.test
2710 * Noteworthy manual updates:
2711 - Augment the section about BUILT_SOURCES.
2712 - Mention that AM_PROG_CC_STDC is a relic that is better avoided today.
2714 Bugs fixed in 1.7.1:
2715 * Honor `ansi2knr' for files built in subdirectories, or using per-targets
2717 * Aclocal should now recognize macro names containing parentheses, e.g.
2718 AC_DEFUN([AC_LANG_PREPROC(Fortran 90)], [...]).
2719 * Erase *.sum and *.log files created by DejaGnu, during `make distclean'.
2721 * Install Python files even if they were built. (PR/369)
2722 * Have stamp-vti dependent upon configure instead of configure.ac, as the
2723 version might not be defined in the latter. (PR/358)
2724 * Reorder arguments passed to a couple of commands, so things works
2725 when POSIXLY_CORRECT=1.
2726 * Fix a regex that can cause Perl to segfault on large input.
2728 * Fix distribution of packages that have some sources defined conditionally,
2729 as in the `Conditional compilation using Automake conditionals' example
2731 * Fix spurious test suite failures on IRIX.
2732 * Don't report a required variable as undefined if it has been
2733 defined conditionally for the "right" conditions.
2734 * Fix cleaning of the /tmp subdirectory used by `make distcheck', in case
2735 `make distcheck' fails.
2736 * Fix distribution of included Makefile fragment, so we don't create
2737 spurious directories in the distribution. (PR/366)
2738 * Don't complain that a target lacks `.$(EXEEXT)' when it has it.
2741 * Autoconf 2.54 is required.
2742 * `aclocal' and `automake' will no longer warn about obsolete
2743 configure macros. This is done by `autoconf -Wobsolete'.
2744 * AM_CONFIG_HEADER, AM_SYS_POSIX_TERMIOS and
2745 AM_HEADER_TIOCGWINSZ_NEEDS_SYS_IOCTL are obsolete (although still
2746 supported). You should use AC_CONFIG_HEADERS, AC_SYS_POSIX_TERMIOS,
2747 and AC_HEADER_TIOCGWINSZ instead. `autoupdate' can upgrade
2748 `configure.ac' for you.
2749 * Support for per-program and per-library `_CPPFLAGS'.
2750 * New `ctags' target (builds CTAGS files).
2751 * Support for -Wmumble and -Wno-mumble, where mumble is a warning category
2752 (see `automake --help' or the manual for a list of them).
2753 * Honor the WARNINGS environment variable.
2754 * Omit the call to depcomp when using gcc3: call the compiler directly.
2755 * A new option, std-options, tests that programs support --help and --version
2756 when `make installcheck' is run. This is enabled by --gnits.
2757 * Texinfo rules now support the `ps' and `pdf' targets.
2758 * Info files are now created in the build directory, not the source directory.
2759 * info_TEXINFOS supports files in subdirectories (this requires Texinfo 4.1
2761 * `make distcheck' will enforce DESTDIR support by attempting
2763 * `+=' can be used in conditionals, even if the augmented variable
2764 was defined for another condition.
2765 * Makefile fragments (inserted with `include') are always distributed.
2766 * Use Autoconf's --trace interface to inspect configure.ac and get
2767 a more accurate view of it.
2768 * Add support for extending aclocal's default macro search path
2769 using a `dirlist' file within the aclocal directory.
2770 * automake --output-dir is deprecated.
2771 * The part of the distcheck target that checks whether uninstall actually
2772 removes all installed files has been moved in a separate target,
2773 distuninstallcheck, so it can be overridden easily.
2777 * Support for AM_INIT_GETTEXT([external])
2778 * Bug fixes, including:
2779 - Fix Automake's own `make install' so it works even if `ln' doesn't.
2780 - nobase_ programs and scripts honor --program-transform correctly.
2781 - Erase configure.lineno during `make distclean'.
2782 - Erase YACC and LEX outputs during `make maintainer-clean'.
2785 * Many bug fixes, including:
2786 - Requiring the current version works.
2787 - Fix "$@" portability issues (for Zsh).
2788 - Fix output of dummy dependency files in presence of post-processed
2790 - Don't compute dependencies in background to avoid races with libtool.
2791 - Fix handling of _OBJECTS variables for targets sharing source variables.
2792 - Check dependency mode for Java when AM_PROG_GCJ is used.
2795 * automake --output-dir is deprecated
2796 * Many bug fixes, including:
2797 - Don't choke on AM_LDFLAGS definitions.
2798 - Clean libtool objects from subdirectories.
2799 - Allow configure variables with reserved suffix and unknown prefix
2800 (e.g. AC_SUBST(mumble_LDFLAGS) when 'mumble' is not a target).
2801 - Fix the definition of AUTOMAKE and ACLOCAL in configure.
2804 * Autoconf 2.52 is required.
2805 * automake no longer run libtoolize.
2806 This is the job of autoreconf (from GNU Autoconf).
2807 * `dist' generates all the archive flavors, as did `dist-all'.
2808 * `dist-gzip' generates the Gzip tar file only.
2809 * Combining Automake Makefile conditionals no longer lead to a combinatorial
2810 explosion. Makefile.in's keep a reasonable size.
2811 * AM_FUNC_ERROR_AT_LINE, AM_FUNC_STRTOD, AM_FUNC_OBSTACK, AM_PTRDIFF_T
2812 are no longer shipped, since Autoconf 2.52 provides them (both as AM_
2814 * `#line' of Lex and Yacc files are properly set.
2815 * EXTRA_DIST can contain generated directories.
2816 * Support for dot-less extensions in suffix rules.
2817 * The part of the distcheck target that checks whether distclean actually
2818 cleans all built files has been moved in a separate target, distcleancheck,
2819 so it can be overridden easily.
2820 * `make distcheck' will pass additional options defined in
2821 $(DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS) to configure.
2822 * Fixed CDPATH portability problems, in particular for MacOS X.
2823 * Fixed handling of nobase_ targets.
2824 * Fixed support of implicit rules leading to .lo objects.
2825 * Fixed late inclusion of --add-missing files (e.g. depcomp) in DIST_COMMON
2826 * Added uninstall-hook target
2827 * `AC_INIT AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE(tarname,version)' is an obsolete construct.
2828 You can now use `AC_INIT(pkgname,version) AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE' instead.
2829 (Note that "pkgname" is not "tarname", see the manual for details.)
2830 It is also possible to pass a list of global Automake options as
2831 first argument to this new form of AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE.
2832 * Compiler-based assembler is now called `CCAS'; people expected `AS'
2833 to be a real assembler.
2834 * AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE will set STRIP itself when it needs it. Adding
2835 AC_CHECK_TOOL([STRIP], [strip]) manually is no longer required.
2836 * aclocal and automake are also installed with the version number
2837 appended, and some of the install directory names have changed.
2838 This lets you have multiple versions installed simultaneously.
2839 * Support for parsers and lexers in subdirectories.
2842 * Support for `configure.ac'.
2843 * Support for `else COND', `endif COND' and negated conditions `!COND'.
2844 * `make dist-all' is much faster.
2845 * Allows '@' AC_SUBSTs in macro names.
2846 * Faster AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE (requires update of `missing' script)
2847 * User-side dependency tracking. Developers no longer need GNU make
2849 * Uses DIST_SUBDIRS in some situations when SUBDIRS is conditional
2850 * Most files are correctly handled if they appear in subdirs
2851 For instance, a _DATA file can appear in a subdir
2852 * GNU tar is no longer required for `make dist'
2853 * Added support for `dist_' and `nodist_' prefixes
2854 * Added support for `nobase_' prefix
2855 * Compiled Java support
2856 * Support for per-executable and per-library compilation flags
2860 * Added support for the Fortran 77 programming language.
2861 * Re-indexed the Automake Texinfo manual.
2862 * Added `AM_FOOFLAGS' variable for each compiler invocation;
2863 e.g. AM_CFLAGS can be used in Makefile.am to set C compiler flags
2864 * Support for latest autoconf, including support for objext
2865 * Can now put `.' in SUBDIRS to control build order
2866 * `include' command and `+=' support for macro assignment
2867 * Dependency tracking no long susceptible to deleted header file problem
2868 * Maintainer mode now a conditional. @MAINT@ is now an anachronism.
2873 * Better Cygwin32 support
2874 * Support for suffix rules with _SOURCES variables
2875 * New options `readme-alpha' and `check-news'; Gnits mode sets these
2876 * @LEXLIB@ no longer required when lex source seen
2877 Lex support in `missing', and new lex macro. Update your missing script.
2878 * Built-in support for assembly
2879 * aclocal gives error if `AM_' macro not found
2880 * Passed YFLAGS, not YACCFLAGS, to yacc
2881 * AM_PROG_CC_STDC does not have to come before AC_PROG_CPP
2882 * Dependencies computed as a side effect of compilation
2883 * Preliminary support for Java
2884 * DESTDIR support at "make install" time
2885 * Improved ansi2knr support; you must use the latest ansi2knr.c (included)
2889 * Better DejaGnu support
2890 * Added no-installinfo option
2891 * Added Emacs Lisp support
2892 * Added --no-force option
2893 * Included `aclocal' program
2894 * Automake will now generate rules to regenerate aclocal.m4, if appropriate
2895 * Now uses `AM_' macro names everywhere
2896 * ansi2knr option can have directory prefix (eg `../lib/ansi2knr')
2897 ansi2knr now works correctly on K&R sources
2898 * Better C++, yacc, lex support
2899 * Will compute _DEPENDENCIES variables automatically if not supplied
2900 * Will interpolate $(...) and ${...} when examining contents of a variable
2901 * .deps files now in build directory, not source directory; dependency
2902 handling generally rewritten
2903 * DATA, MANS and BUILT_SOURCES no longer included in distribution
2904 * can now put config.h into a subdir
2905 * Added dist-all target
2906 * Support for install-info program (see texinfo 3.9)
2907 * Support for "yacc -d"
2908 * configure substitutions are automatically discovered and included
2909 in generated Makefile.in
2910 * Special --cygnus mode
2911 * OMIT_DEPENDENCIES can now hold list of dependencies to be omitted
2912 when making distribution. Some dependencies are auto-ignored.
2913 * Changed how libraries are specified in _LIBRARIES variable
2914 * Full libtool support, from Gord Matzigkeit
2915 * No longer have to explicitly touch stamp-h when using AC_CONFIG_HEADER;
2916 AM_CONFIG_HEADER handles it automatically
2917 * Texinfo output files no longer need .info extension
2918 * Added `missing' support
2920 * Conditionals in Makefile.am, from Ian Taylor
2924 * distcheck target runs install and installcheck targets
2925 * Added preliminary support for DejaGnu.
2930 * More libtool fixes from Gord Matzigkeit; libtool support is still
2932 * Added support for jm_MAINTAINER_MODE
2934 * New "distcheck" target
2938 * mkinstalldirs and mdate-sh now appear in directory specified by
2940 * Removed DIST_SUBDIRS, DIST_OTHER
2941 * AC_ARG_PROGRAM only required when an actual program exists
2942 * dist-hook target now run before distribution packaged up; idea from
2943 Dieter Baron. Other hooks exist, too.
2944 * Preliminary (unfinished) support for libtool
2945 * Added short option names.
2946 * Better "dist" support when gluing together multiple packages
2950 * Documentation updates (many from François Pinard)
2951 * strictness `normal' now renamed to `foreign'
2952 * Renamed --install-missing to --add-missing
2953 * Now handles AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR
2954 * Now handles TESTS macro
2955 * DIST_OTHER renamed to EXTRA_DIST
2956 * DIST_SUBDIRS is deprecated
2957 * @ALLOCA@ and @LIBOBJS@ now work in _LDADD variables
2958 * Better error messages in many cases
2959 * Program names are canonicalized
2960 * Added "check" prefix; from Gord Matzigkeit
2964 * configure.in scanner knows about AC_PATH_XTRA, AC_OUTPUT ":" syntax
2965 * Beginnings of a test suite
2966 * Automatically adds -I options for $(srcdir), ".", and path to config.h
2967 * Doesn't print anything when running
2968 * Beginnings of MAINT_CHARSET support
2969 * Can specify version in AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS
2970 * Most errors recognizable by Emacs' M-x next-error
2971 * Added --verbose option
2972 * All "primary" variables now obsolete; use EXTRA_PRIMARY to supply
2973 configure-generated names
2974 * Required macros now distributed in aclocal.m4
2976 * --strictness=gnu is default
2980 * More sophisticated configure.in scanning; now understands ALLOCA and
2981 LIBOBJS directly, handles AC_CONFIG_HEADER more precisely, etc.
2982 * TEXINFOS and MANS now obsolete; use info_TEXINFOS and man_MANS instead.
2983 * CONFIG_HEADER variable now obsolete
2984 * Can handle multiple Texinfo sources
2985 * Allow hierarchies deeper than 2. From Gord Matzigkeit.
2986 * HEADERS variable no longer needed; now can put .h files directly into
2987 foo_SOURCES variable.
2988 * Automake automatically rebuilds files listed in AC_OUTPUT. The
2989 corresponding ".in" files are included in the distribution.
2992 * Added --gnu and --gnits options
2993 * More standards checking
2995 * Cleaned up 'dist' targets
2996 * Added AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS variable and several options
2997 * Now scans configure.in to get some information (preliminary)
3000 * Works with Perl 4 again
3003 * Added --install-missing option.
3004 * Pretty-prints generated macros and rules
3005 * Comments in Makefile.am are placed more intelligently in Makefile.in
3006 * Generates .PHONY target
3007 * Rule or macro in Makefile.am now overrides contents of Automake file
3008 * Substantial cleanups from François Pinard
3012 * Works with Perl 4 again.
3015 * New uniform naming scheme.
3016 * --strictness option
3018 * '.c' files corresponding to '.y' or '.l' files are automatically
3020 * Many bug fixes and cleanups
3023 * Allow objects to be conditionally included in libraries via lib_LIBADD.
3026 * Bug fixes in 'clean' code.
3027 * Now generates 'installdirs' target.
3028 * man page installation reworked.
3029 * 'make dist' no longer re-creates all Makefile.in's.
3032 * Reimplemented in Perl
3033 * Added --amdir option (for debugging)
3034 * Texinfo support cleaned up.
3035 * Automatic de-ANSI-fication cleaned up.
3036 * Cleaned up 'clean' targets.
3039 * Automatic dependency tracking
3040 * More documentation
3041 * New variables DATA and PACKAGEDATA
3042 * SCRIPTS installed using $(INSTALL_SCRIPT)
3043 * No longer uses double-colon rules
3045 * Changes in advance of internationalization
3049 Copyright (C) 1995-2017 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3051 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
3052 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
3053 the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
3056 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
3057 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
3058 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
3059 GNU General Public License for more details.
3061 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
3062 along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.