3 * Version requirements:
5 - Autoconf 2.60 or greater is required.
7 - Perl 5.6 or greater is required.
11 - aclocal now also supports -Wmumble and -Wno-mumble options.
13 - `dirlist' entries (for the aclocal search path) may use shell
14 wildcards such as `*', `?', or `[...]'.
16 - aclocal supports an --install option, that will cause system-wide
17 third-party macros to be installed in the local directory
18 specified with the first -I flag. This option also uses #serial
19 lines in M4 files to upgrade local macros.
21 The new aclocal options --dry-run and --diff help to review changes
22 before they are installed.
24 - aclocal now outputs an autoconf version check in aclocal.m4 in
25 projects using automake.
27 For a few years, automake and aclocal have been calling autoconf
28 (or its underlying engine autom4te) to accurately retrieve the
29 data they need from configure.ac and its siblings. Doing so can
30 only work if all autotools use the same version of autoconf. For
31 instance a Makefile.in generated by automake for one version of
32 autoconf may stop working if configure is regenerated with another
33 version of autoconf, and vice versa.
35 This new version check ensures that the whole build system has
36 been generated using the same autoconf version.
38 * Support for new Autoconf macros:
40 - The new AC_REQUIRE_AUX_FILE Autoconf macro is supported.
42 - If `subdir-objects' is set, and AC_CONFIG_LIBOBJ_DIR is specified,
43 $(LIBOBJS), $(LTLIBOBJS), $(ALLOCA), and $(LTALLOCA) can be used
44 in different directories.
46 * Change to Libtool support:
48 - Libtool generic flags (those that go before the --mode=MODE option)
49 can be specified using AM_LIBTOOLFLAGS and target_LIBTOOLFLAGS.
51 * Yacc and Lex changes:
53 - The rebuild rules for distributed Yacc and Lex output will avoid
54 overwriting existing files if AM_MAINTAINER_MODE and maintainer-mode
57 - ylwrap is now always used for lex and yacc source files,
58 regardless of whether there is more than one source per-directory.
62 - Preprocessed assembler (*.S) compilation now honnors CPPFLAGS,
63 AM_CPPFLAGS and per-target _CPPFLAGS, and supports dependency
64 tracking, unlike non-preprocessed assembler (*.s).
66 - Improved support for Objective C:
67 - Autoconf's new AC_PROG_OBJC will enable automatic dependency tracking.
68 - A new section of the manual documents the support.
70 - New support for Unified Parallel C:
71 - AM_PROG_UPC looks for a UPC compiler.
72 - A new section of the manual documents the support.
74 - Per-target flags are now correctly handled in link rules.
76 For instance maude_CFLAGS correctly overrides AM_CFLAGS; likewise
77 for maude_LDFLAGS and AM_LDFLAGS. Previous versions bogusly
78 preferred AM_CFLAGS over maude_CFLAGS while linking, and they
79 used both AM_LDFLAGS and maude_LDFLAGS on the same link command.
81 The fix for compiler flags (i.e., using maude_CFLAGS instead of
82 AM_CFLAGS) should not hurt any package since that is how _CFLAGS
83 is expected to work (and actually works during compilation).
85 However using maude_LDFLAGS "instead of" AM_LDFLAGS rather than
86 "in addition to" breaks backward compatibility with older versions.
87 If your package used both variables, as in
89 AM_LDFLAGS = common flags
91 a_LDFLAGS = more flags
94 and assumed *_LDFLAGS would sum up, you should rewrite it as
96 AM_LDFLAGS = common flags
98 a_LDFLAGS = $(AM_LDFLAGS) more flags
101 This new behavior of *_LDFLAGS is more coherent with other
102 per-target variables, and the way *_LDFLAGS variables were
103 considered internally.
105 * New installation targets:
107 - New targets mandated by GNU Coding Standards:
112 By default they will only install Texinfo manuals.
113 You can customize them with *-local variants:
119 - The undocumented recursive target `uninstall-info' no longer exists.
120 (`uninstall' is in charge of removing all possible documentation
121 flavors, including optional formats such as dvi, ps, or info even
122 when `no-installinfo' is used.)
124 * Miscellaneous changes:
126 - Automake no longer complains if input files for AC_CONFIG_FILES
127 are specified using shell variables.
129 - clean, distribution, or rebuild rules are normally disabled for
130 inputs and outputs of AC_CONFIG_FILES, AC_CONFIG_HEADERS, and
131 AC_CONFIG_LINK specified using shell variable. However if these
132 variables are used as ${VAR}, and AC_SUBSTed, then Automake will
133 be able to output rules anyway.
134 (See the Automake documentation for AC_CONFIG_FILES.)
136 - $(EXEEXT) is automatically appended to filenames of TESTS
137 that have been declared as programs in the same Makefile.
138 This is mostly useful when some check_PROGRAMS are listed in TESTS.
140 - `-Wportability' has finally been turned on by default for `gnu' and
141 `gnits' strictness. This means automake will complain about %-rules
142 or $(GNU Make functions) unless you switch to `foreign' strictness or
143 use `-Wno-portability'.
145 - Automake now uses AC_PROG_MKDIR_P (new in Autoconf 2.60), and uses
146 $(MKDIR_P) instead of $(mkdir_p) to create directories. The
147 $(mkdir_p) variable is still defined (to the same value as
148 $(MKDIR_P)) but should be considered obsolete. If you are using
149 $(mkdir_p) in some of your rules, please plan to update them to
150 $(MKDIR_P) at some point.
152 - Automake installs an "Hello World!" example package in $(docdir).
153 This example is used thorough the new "Autotools Introduction"
154 chapter of the manual.
158 * Makefile.in bloat reduction:
160 - Inference rules are used to compile sources in subdirectories when
161 the `subdir-objects' option is used and no per-target flags are
162 used. This should reduce the size of some projects a lot, because
163 Automake used to output an explicit rule for each such object in
166 - Automake no longer outputs three rules (.o, .obj, .lo) for each
167 object that must be built with explicit rules. It just outputs
168 the rules required to build the kind of object considered: either
169 the two .o and .obj rules for usual objects, or the .lo rule for
172 * Change to Libtool support:
174 - Libtool tags are used with libtool versions that support them.
175 (I.e., with Libtool 1.5 or greater.)
177 - Automake is now able to handle setups where a libtool library is
178 conditionally installed in different directories, as in
181 lib_LTLIBRARIES = liba.la
183 pkglib_LTLIBRARIES = liba.la
185 liba_la_SOURCES = ...
187 * Changes to aclocal:
189 - aclocal now ensures that AC_DEFUNs and AU_DEFUNs it discovers are
190 really evaluated, before it decides to include them in aclocal.m4.
191 This solves nasty problems with conditional redefinitions of
192 Autoconf macros in /usr/share/aclocal/*.m4 files causing extraneous
193 *.m4 files to be included in any project using these macros.
194 (Calls to AC_PROG_EGREP causing libtool.m4 to be included is the
195 most famous instance of this bug.)
197 - Do not complain about missing conditionally AC_REQUIREd macros
198 that are not actually used. In 1.8.x aclocal would correctly
199 determine which of these macros were really needed (and include
200 only these in the package); unfortunately it would also require
201 all of them to be present in order to run. This created
202 situations were aclocal would not work on a tarball distributing
203 all the macros it uses. For instance running aclocal on a project
204 containing only the subset of the Gettext macros in use by the
205 project did not work, because gettext conditionally requires other
208 * Portability improvements:
210 - Tar format can be chosen with the new options tar-v7, tar-ustar, and
211 tar-pax. The new option filename-length-max=99 helps diagnosing
212 filenames that are too long for tar-v7. (PR/414)
214 - Variables aumented with `+=' are now automatically flattened (i.e.,
215 trailing backslashes removed) and then wrapped around 80 colummns
216 (adding trailing backslashes). In previous versions, a long series
222 would result in a single-line definition of VAR that could possibly
223 exceed the maximum line length of some make implementations.
225 Non-augmented variables are still output as they are defined in
230 - Support Fortran 90/95 with the new "fc" and "ppfc" languages.
231 Works the same as the old Fortran 77 implementation; just replace
232 F77 with FC everywhere (exception: FFLAGS becomes FCFLAGS).
233 Requires a version of autoconf which provides AC_PROG_FC (>=2.59).
235 - Support for conditional _LISP.
237 - Support for conditional -hook and -local rules (PR/428).
239 - Diagnose AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR calls following AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE. (PR/49)
241 - Automake will not write any Makefile.ins after the first error it
242 encounters. The previous Makefile.ins (if any) will be left in
243 place. (Warnings will not prevent output, but remember they can
244 be turned into errors with -Werror.)
246 - The restriction that SUBDIRS must contain direct children is gone.
249 - The manual tells more about SUBDIRS vs. DIST_SUBDIRS.
250 It also gives an example of nested packages using AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS.
254 * Long standing bugs:
256 - Define DIST_SUBDIRS even when the `no-dist' or `cygnus' options are used
257 so that `make distclean' and `make maintainer-clean' can work.
259 - Define AR and ARFLAGS even when only EXTRA_LIBRARIES are defined.
261 - Fix many rules to please FreeBSD make, which runs commands with `sh -e'.
263 - Polish diagnostic when no input file is found.
267 * Long standing bugs:
269 - Fix AM_PATH_PYTHON to correctly display $PYTHON when it has been
270 overridden by the user.
272 - Honor PATH_SEPARATOR in various places of the Automake package, for
275 - Adjust dependency tracking mode detection to ICC 8.0's new output.
278 - Fix install-sh so it can install the `mv' binary... using `mv'.
280 - Fix tru64 dependency tracking for libtool objects.
282 - Work around Exuberant Ctags when creating a TAGS files in a directory
283 without files to scan but with subdirectories to include.
285 * Bugs introduced by 1.8:
287 - Fix an "internal error" when @LIBOBJS@ is used in a variable that is
288 not defined in the same conditions as the _LDADD that uses it.
290 - Do not warn when JAVAROOT is overridden, this is legitimate.
294 * Long standing bugs:
296 - Quote filenames in installation rules, in case $DESTDIR, $prefix,
297 or any of the other *dir variables contain a space.
299 Please note that Automake does not and cannot support spaces in
300 filenames that are involved during the build. This change affects
301 only installation paths, so that `make install' does not bomb out
302 in packages configured with
303 ./configure --prefix '/c/Program Files'
305 - Fix the depfiles output so it works with GNU sed (<4.1) even when
306 POSIXLY_CORRECT is set.
308 - Do not AC_SUBST(LIBOBJS) in AM_WITH_REGEX. This macro was unusable
309 since Autoconf 2.54, which defines LIBOBJS itself.
311 - Fix a potential (but unlikely) race condition in parallel elisp
312 builds. (Introduced in 1.7.3.)
314 - Do not assume that users override _DEPENDENCIES in all conditions
315 where Automake will try to define them.
317 - Do not use `mkdir -p' in mkinstalldirs, unless this is GNU mkdir.
318 Solaris 8's `mkdir -p' is not thread-safe and can break parallel
321 This fix also affects the $(mkdir_p) variable defined since
322 Automake 1.8. It will be set to `mkdir -p' only if mkdir is GNU
323 mkdir, and to `mkinstalldirs' or `install-sh -d' otherwise.
325 - Secure temporary directory creation in `make distcheck'. (PR/413)
327 - Do not generate two build rules for `parser.h' when the
328 parser appears in two different conditionals.
330 - Work around a Solaris 8 /bin/sh bug in the test for dependency
331 checking. Usually ./configure will not pick this shell; so this
332 fix only helps cases where the shell is forced to /bin/sh.
334 * Bugs introduced by 1.8:
336 - In some situations (hand-written `m4_include's), aclocal would
337 call the `File::Spec->rel2abs' method, which was only introduced
338 in Perl 5.6. This new version reestablish support Perl 5.005.
340 It is likely that the next major Automake releases will require at
341 least Perl 5.6. Consider upgrading your development environment
342 if you are still using the five-year-old Perl 5.005.
344 - Automake would sometimes fail to define rules for targets listed
345 in variables defined in multiple conditions. For instance on
351 it would define only the `a.$(OBJEXT): a.c' rule and omit the
352 `b.$(OBJEXT): b.c' rule.
354 * New sections in manual:
356 - Third-Party Makefiles: how to interface third party Makefiles.
357 - Upgrading: upgrading packages to newer Automake versions.
358 - Multiple Outputs: handling tools that produce many outputs.
362 * A (well known) portability bug slipped in the changes made to
363 install-sh in Automake 1.8.1. The broken install-sh would refuse to
364 install anything on Tru64.
366 * Fix install rules for conditionally built python files. (This never
371 * Bugs introduced by 1.8:
373 - Fix Config.pm import error with old Perl versions (at least
374 5.005_03). One symptom is that aclocal could not find its macro
377 - Automake 1.8 used `mkdir -m 0755 -p --' to ensure that directories
378 created by `make install' are always world readable, even if the
379 installer happens to have an overly restrictive umask (e.g. 077).
380 This was a mistake and has been reverted. There are at least two
381 reasons why we must not use `-m 0755':
382 - it causes special bits like SGID to be ignored,
383 - it may be too restrictive (some setups expect 775 directories).
385 - Fix aclocal to honor definitions located in files which have been
386 m4_included manually. aclocal 1.8 had been updated to check
387 m4_included files for new requirements, but forgot that these
388 m4_included files can also provide new definitions.
390 Note that if you have such a setup, we recommend you get rid of
391 it. In the past, there was a reason to m4_include files manually:
392 aclocal used to duplicate entire M4 files into aclocal.m4, even
393 files that were distributed. Some packages were therefore
394 m4_including the distributed file directly, and playing some
395 tricks to ensure aclocal would not copy that file to aclocal.m4,
396 in order to limit the amount of duplication. Since aclocal 1.8.x
397 will precisely output m4_includes for local M4 files, we recommend
398 that you clean up your setup, removing all manual m4_includes and
399 letting aclocal output them.
401 - Output detailed menus in the Info version if the Automake manual,
402 so that Emacs can locate the indexes.
404 - configure.ac and configure were listed twice in DIST_COMMON (an
405 internal variable where Automake lists configury files to
406 distribute). This was harmless, but unaesthetic.
408 - Use `chmod a-w' instead of `chmod -w' as the latter honors umask.
409 This was an issue only in the Automake package itself, not in
412 - Automake assumed that all AC_CONFIG_LINKS arguments had the form
413 DEST:SRC. This was wrong, as some packages do
414 AC_CONFIG_LINKS($computedlinks). This version no longer abort in
417 - Contrary to mkinstalldirs, $(mkdir_p) was expecting exactly one
418 argument. This caused two kinds of failures:
419 - Rules installing data in a conditionally defined directory
420 failed when that directory was undefined. In this case no
421 argument was supplied.
422 - `make installdirs' failed, because several directories were
423 passed to $(mkdir_p). This was an issue only on platform
424 were $(mkdir_p) is implemented with `install-sh -d'.
425 $(mkdir_p) as been changed to accept 0 or more arguments, as
428 * Long-standing bugs:
430 - Fix an unexpected diagnostic occurring when users attempt
431 to override some internal variables that Automake appends to.
433 - aclocal now scans configure.ac for macro definitions (PR/319).
435 - Fix a portability issue with OSF1/Tru64 Make. If a directory
436 distributes files which are outside itself (this usually occurs
437 when using AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR([../dir]) to use auxiliary files
438 from a parent package), then `make distcheck' fails due to an
439 optimization performed by OSF1/Tru64 Make in its VPATH handling.
440 (tests/subpkg2.test failure)
442 - Fix another portability issue with Sun and OSF1/Tru64 Make.
443 In a VPATH-build configuration, `make install' would install
444 nobase_ files to wrong locations.
446 - Fix a Perl `uninitialized value' diagnostic occurring when
447 automake complains that a Texinfo file does not have a
448 @setfilename statement.
450 - Erase config.status.lineno during `make distclean'. This file
451 can be created by config.status. Automake already knew about
452 configure.lineno, but forgot config.status.lineno.
454 - Distribute all files, even those which are built and installed
455 conditionally. This change affects files listed in conditionally
456 defined *_HEADERS and *_PYTHON variable (unless they are nodist_*)
457 as well as those listed in conditionally defined dist_*_DATA,
458 dist_*_JAVA, dist_*_LISP, and dist_*_SCRIPTS variables.
460 - Fix AM_PATH_LISPDIR to avoid \? in sed regular expressions; it
461 doesn't conform to POSIX.
463 - Normalize help strings for configure variables and options added
468 - Check for python2.4 in AM_PATH_PYTHON.
470 * Spurious failures in test suite:
472 - tests/libtool5.test, tests/ltcond.test, tests/ltcond2.test,
473 tests/ltconv.test: fix failures with CVS Libtool.
474 - tests/aclocal6.test: fix failure if autom4te.cache is disabled.
475 - tests/txinfo24.test, tests/txinfo25.test, tests/txinfo28.test:
476 fix failures with old Texinfo versions.
482 - The NEWS file is more verbose.
486 - Autoconf 2.58 or greater is required.
490 - Default source file names in the absence of a _SOURCES declaration
491 are made by removing any target extension before appending `.c', so
492 to make the libtool module `foo.la' from `foo.c', you only need to
495 lib_LTLIBRARIES = foo.la
496 foo_la_LDFLAGS = -module
498 For backward compatibility, foo_la.c will be used instead of
499 foo.c if this file exists or is the explicit target of a rule.
500 However -Wobsolete will warn about this deprecated naming.
502 - AR's `cru' flags are now set in a global ARFLAGS variable instead
503 of being hard-coded in each $(AR) invocation, so they can be
504 substituted from configure.ac. This has been requested by people
505 dealing with non-POSIX ar implementations.
507 - New warning option: -Woverride. This will warn about any user
508 target or variable definitions which override Automake
511 - Texinfo rules back up and restore info files when makeinfo fails.
513 - Texinfo rules now support the `html' target.
514 Running this requires Texinfo 4.0 or greater.
516 `html' is a new recursive target, so if your package mixes
517 hand-crafted `Makefile.in's with Automake-generated
518 `Makefile.in's, you should adjust the former to support (or
519 ignore) this target so that `make html' recurses successfully. If
520 you had a custom `html' rule in your `Makefile.am', it's better to
521 rename it as `html-local', otherwise your rule will override
522 Automake's new rule (you can check that by running `automake
523 -Woverride') and that will stop the recursion to subdirectories.
525 Last but not least, this `html' rule is declared PHONY, even when
526 overridden. Fortunately, it appears that few packages use a
527 non-PHONY `html' rule.
529 - Any file which is m4_included from configure.ac will appear as a
530 configure and Makefile.in dependency, and will be automatically
533 - The rules for rebuilding Makefiles and Makefile.ins will now
534 rebuild all Makefiles and all Makefile.ins at once when one of
535 configure's dependencies has changed. This is considerably faster
536 than previous implementations, where config.status and automake
537 were run separately in each directory (this still happens when you
538 change a Makefile.am locally, without touching configure.ac or
539 friends). Doing this also solves a longstanding issue: these
540 rebuild rules failed to work when adding new directories to the
541 tree, forcing you to run automake manually.
543 - For similar reasons, the rules to rebuild configure,
544 config.status, and aclocal.m4 are now defined in all directories.
545 Note that if you were using the CONFIG_STATUS_DEPENDENCIES and
546 CONFIGURE_DEPENDENCIES (formerly undocumented) variables, you
547 should better define them in all directories. This is easily done
548 using an AC_SUBST (make sure you prefix these dependencies with
549 $(top_srcdir) since this variable will appear at different
550 levels of the build tree).
552 - aclocal will now use `m4_include' instead of copying local m4
553 files into aclocal.m4. (Local m4 files are those you ship with
554 your project, other files will be copied as usual.)
556 Because m4_included files are automatically distributed, it means
557 for most projects there is no point in EXTRA_DISTing the list of
558 m4 files which are used. (You can probably get rid of
559 m4/Makefile.am if you had one.)
561 - aclocal will avoid touching aclocal.m4 when possible, so that
562 Autom4te's cache isn't needlessly invalidated. This behavior can
563 be switched off with the new `--force' option.
565 - aclocal now uses Autoconf's --trace to detect macros which are
566 actually used and will no longer include unused macros simply
567 because they where mentioned. This was often the case for macros
568 called conditionally.
570 - New options no-dist and no-dist-gzip.
572 - compile, depcomp, elisp-comp, install-sh, mdate-sh, mkinstalldirs,
573 py-compile, and ylwrap, now all understand --version and --help.
575 - Automake will now recognize AC_CONFIG_LINKS so far as removing created
576 links as part of the distclean target and including source files in
579 - AM_PATH_PYTHON now supports ACTION-IF-FOUND and ACTION-IF-NOT-FOUND
580 argument. The latter can be used to override the default behavior
583 - Automake will exit with $? = 63 on version mismatch. (So does
584 Autoconf 2.58) missing knows this, and in this case it will
585 emulate the tools as if they were absent. Because older versions
586 of Automake and Autoconf did not use this exit code, this change
587 will only be useful in projects generated with future versions of
590 - When using AC_CONFIG_FILES with multiple input files, Automake
591 generates the first ".in" input file for which a ".am" exists.
592 (Former versions would try to use only the first input file.)
594 - lisp_DATA is now allowed. If you are using the empty ELCFILES
595 idiom to disable byte-compilation of lisp_LISP files, it is
596 recommended that you switch to using lisp_DATA. Note that
597 this is not strictly equivalent: lisp_DATA will install elisp
598 files even if emacs is not installed, while *_LISP do not
599 install anything unless emacs is found.
601 - Makefiles will prefer `mkdir -p' over mkinstalldirs if it is
602 available. This selection is achieved through the Makefile
603 variable $(mkdir_p) that is set by AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE to either
604 `mkdir -m 0755 -p --', `$(mkinstalldirs) -m 0755', or
605 `$(install_sh) -m 0755 -d'.
609 - Because `mkdir -p' is available on most platforms, and we can use
610 `install-sh -d' when it is not, the use of the mkinstalldirs
611 script is being phased out. `automake --add-missing' no longer
612 installs it, and if you remove mkinstalldirs from your package,
613 automake will define $(mkinstalldirs) as an alias for $(mkdir_p).
615 Gettext 0.12.1 still requires mkinstalldirs. Fortunately
616 gettextize and autopoint will install it when needed. Automake
617 will continue to define the $(mkinstalldirs) and to distribute
618 mkinstalldirs when this script is in the source tree.
620 - AM_PROG_CC_STDC is now empty. The content of this macro was
621 merged in AC_PROG_CC. If your code uses $am_cv_prog_cc_stdc, you
622 should adjust it to use $ac_cv_prog_cc_stdc instead. (This
623 renaming should be safe, even if you have to support several,
624 versions of Automake, because AC_PROG_CC defines this variable
625 since Autoconf 2.54.)
627 - Some users where using the undocumented ACLOCAL_M4_SOURCES
628 variable to override the aclocal.m4 dependencies computed
629 (inaccurately) by older versions of Automake. Because Automake
630 now tracks configure's m4 dependencies accurately (see m4_include
631 above), the use of ACLOCAL_M4_SOURCES should be considered
632 obsolete and will be flagged as such when running `automake
637 - Defining programs conditionally using Automake conditionals no
638 longer leads to a combinatorial explosion. The following
639 construct used to be troublesome when used with dozens of
654 Likewise for _SOURCES, _LDADD, and _LIBADD variables.
656 - Due to implementation constraints, previous versions of Automake
657 proscribed multiple conditional definitions of some variables
667 All _PROGRAMS, _LDADD, and _LIBADD variables were affected.
668 This restriction has been lifted, and these variables now
669 support multiple conditional definitions as do other variables.
671 - Cleanup the definitions of $(distdir) and $(top_distdir).
672 $(top_distdir) now points to the root of the distribution
673 directory created during `make dist', as it did in Automake 1.4,
674 not to the root of the build tree as it did in intervening
675 versions. Furthermore these two variables are now only defined in
676 the top level Makefile, and passed to sub-directories when running
679 - The --no-force option now correctly checks the Makefile.in's
680 dependencies before deciding not to update it.
682 - Do not assume that make files are called Makefile in cleaning rules.
684 - Update .info files in the source tree, not in the build tree. This
685 is what the GNU Coding Standard recommend. Only Automake 1.7.x
686 used to update these files in the build tree (previous versions did
687 it in the source tree too), and it caused several problems, varying
688 from mere annoyance to portability issues.
690 - COPYING, COPYING.LIB, and COPYING.LESSER are no longer overwritten
691 when --add-missing and --force-missing are used. For backward
692 compatibility --add-missing will continue to install COPYING (in
693 `gnu' strictness) when none of these three files exist, but this
694 use is deprecated: you should better choose a license yourself and
695 install it once for all in your source tree (and in your code
698 - Fix ylwrap so that it does not overwrite header files that haven't
699 changed, as the inline rule already does.
701 - User-defined rules override automake-defined rules for the same
702 targets, even when rules do not have commands. This is not new
703 (and was documented), however some of the automake-generated
704 rules have escaped this principle in former Automake versions.
705 Rules for the following targets are affected by this fix:
707 clean, clean-am, dist-all, distclean, distclean-am, dvi, dvi-am,
708 info, info-am, install-data-am, install-exec-am, install-info,
709 install-info-am, install-man, installcheck-am, maintainer-clean,
710 maintainer-clean-am, mostlyclean, mostlyclean-am, pdf, pdf-am,
711 ps, ps-am, uninstall-am, uninstall-info, uninstall-man
713 Practically it means that an attempt to supplement the dependencies
714 of some target, as in
718 will now *silently override* the automake definition of the
719 rule for this target. Running `automake -Woverride' will diagnose
720 all such overriding definitions.
722 It should be noted that almost all these targets support a *-local
723 variant that is meant to supplement the automake-defined rule
724 (See node `Extending' in the manual). The above rule should
727 clean-local: my-clean-rule
729 These *-local targets have been documented since at least
730 Automake 1.2, so you should not fear the change if you have
731 to support multiple automake versions.
735 - The Automake manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
737 - Targets dist-gzip, dist-bzip2, dist-tarZ, dist-zip are always defined.
739 - core dumps are no longer removed by the cleaning rules. There are
740 at least three reasons for this:
741 1. These files should not be created by any build step,
742 so their removal do not fit any of the cleaning rules.
743 Actually, they may be precious to the developer.
744 2. If such file is created during a build, then it's clearly a
745 bug Automake should not hide. Not removing the file will
746 cause `make distcheck' to complain about its presence.
747 3. Operating systems have different naming conventions for
748 core dump files. A core file on one system might be a
749 completely legitimate data file on another system.
751 - RUNTESTFLAGS, CTAGSFLAGS, ETAGSFLAGS, JAVACFLAGS are no longer
752 defined by Automake. This means that any definition in the
753 environment will be used, unless overridden in the Makefile.am or
754 on the command line. The old behavior, where these variables were
755 defined empty in each Makefile, can be obtained by AC_SUBSTing or
756 AC_ARG_VARing each variable from configure.ac.
758 - CONFIGURE_DEPENDENCIES and CONFIG_STATUS_DEPENDENCIES are now
759 documented. (The is not a new feature, these variables have
760 been there since at least Automake 1.4.)
763 * Fix install-strip to work with nobase_ binaries.
764 * Fix renaming of #line directives in ylwrap.
765 * Rebuild with Autoconf 2.59. (1.7.8 was not installable with pdksh.)
768 * Remove spurious blank lines in cleaning rules introduced in 1.7.7.
769 * Fix detection of Debian's install-info, broken since version 1.5.
770 (Debian bug #213524).
771 * Honor -module if it appears in AM_LDFLAGS (i.e., relax name checking)
772 This was only done for libfoo_LDFLAGS and LDFLAGS in previous versions.
775 * The implementation of automake's --no-force option is unreliable,
776 so this option is ignored in this version. A real fix will appear in
777 Automake 1.8. (Debian Bug #206299)
778 * AM_PATH_PYTHON: really check the whole list of interpreters if no
779 argument is given. (PR/399)
780 * Do not warn about leading `_' in variable names, even with -Wportability.
781 * Support user redefinitions of TEXINFO_TEX.
782 * depcomp: support AIX Compiler version 6.
783 * Fix missing rebuilds during `make dist' with BSD make.
784 (Could produce tarballs containing out-of-date files.)
785 * Resurrect multilib support.
786 * Noteworthy manual updates:
787 - Extending aclocal: how to write m4 macros that won't trigger warnings
789 - A Shared Library: Rewrite and split into subsections.
792 * Fix depcomp's icc mode for ICC 7.1.
793 * Diagnose calls to AC_CONFIG_FILES and friends with not enough arguments.
794 * Fix maintainer-clean's removal of autom4te.cache in VPATH builds.
795 * Fix AM_PATH_LISPDIR to work with POSIXLY_CORRECT=1.
796 * Fix the location reported in some diagnostics related to AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS.
797 * Remove Latin-1 characters from elisp-comp.
798 * Update the manual's @dircategory to match the Free Software Directory.
801 * Update install-sh's license to remove an advertising clause.
803 * Fix a bug introduced in 1.7.4, related to BUILT_SOURCE handling,
804 that caused invalid Makefile.ins to be generated.
805 * Make sure AM_MAKE_INCLUDE doesn't fail when a `doit' file exists.
806 * New FAQ entry: renamed objects.
809 * Tweak the TAGS rule to support Exuberant Ctags (in addition to
810 the Emacs implementation)
811 * Fix output of aclocal.m4 dependencies in subdirectories.
812 * Use `mv -f' instead of `mv' in fastdep rules.
813 * Upgrade mdate-sh to work on OS/2.
814 * Don't byte-compile elisp files when ELCFILES is set empty.
815 (this documented feature was broken by 1.7.3)
816 * Diagnose trailing backslashes on last line of Makefile.am.
817 * Diagnose whitespace following trailing backslashes.
818 * Multiple tests are now correctly supported in DEJATOOL. (PR/388)
819 * Fix rebuilt rules for AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile:Makefile.in:Makefile.bot])
821 * `make install' will build `BUILT_SOURCES' first.
822 * Minor documentation fixes.
825 * Fix stamp files numbering (when using multiple AC_CONFIG_HEADERS).
826 * Query distutils for `pythondir' and `pythonexecdir', instead of
827 using an hardcoded path. This should allow builds on 64-bit
828 distributions that usually use lib64/ instead of lib/.
829 * AM_PATH_PYTHON will also search for python2.3.
830 * elisp files are now built all at once instead of one by one. Besides
831 incurring a speed-up, this is required to support interdependent elisp files.
833 - `make distcheck' will now work in `_inst/' and `_build' instead
834 of `=inst/' and `=build/'
835 - use `_dirstamp' when the file-system doesn't support `.dirstamp'
836 - install/uninstall `*.i[0-9][0-9]'-style info files
837 - more changes that affect only the Automake package (not its output)
838 * Fix some incompatibilities with upcoming perl-5.10.
839 * Properly quote AC_PACKAGE_TARNAME and AC_PACKAGE_VERSION when defining
842 - dashmstdout and dashXmstdout modes: don't use `-o /dev/null', this
843 is troublesome with gcc and Solaris compilers. (PR/385)
844 - makedepend mode: work with Libtool. (PR/385 too)
846 * better support for unusual gettext setups, such as multiple po/ directories
848 - Flag missing po/ and intl/ directories as warnings, not errors.
849 - Disable these warnings if po/ does not exist.
850 * Noteworthy manual updates:
852 - Document how AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR interacts with missing files.
854 - Document `AM_YFLAGS = -d'. (PR/382)
857 * Fix installation and uninstallation of Info files built in subdirectories.
858 * Do not run `./configure --with-included-gettext' during `make distcheck'
859 if AM_GNU_GETTEXT([external]) is used.
860 * Correctly uninstall renamed man pages.
861 * Do not strip escaped newline in variables defined in one condition
862 and augmented in another condition.
863 * Fix ansi2knr rules for LIBOBJS sources.
864 * Clean all known Texinfo index files, not only those which appear to
865 be used, because we cannot know wich indexes are used in included files.
866 (PR/375, Debian Bug #168671)
867 * Honor only the first @setfilename seen in a Texinfo file.
868 * Treat "required file X not found" diagnostics as errors (exit status 1).
869 * Don't complain that a required file is not found when it is a Makefile
871 * Don't use single suffix inference rules when building `.info'-less
872 Info files, for the sake of Solaris make.
873 * The `check' target now depends on `$(BUILT_SOURCES)'. (PR/359)
874 * Recognize multiple inference rules such as `.a.b .c.d:'. (PR/371)
875 * Warn about multiple inference rules when -Wportability is used. (PR/372)
876 * Fix building of deansified files from subdirectories. (PR/370)
877 * Add missing `fi' in the .c->.obj rules.
878 * Improve install-sh to work even when names contain spaces or certain
879 (but not all) shell metachars.
880 * Fix the following spurious failures in the test suite:
881 depcomp2.test, gnits2.test, gnits3.test, python3.test, texinfo13.test
882 * Noteworthy manual updates:
883 - Augment the section about BUILT_SOURCES.
884 - Mention that AM_PROG_CC_STDC is a relic that is better avoided today.
887 * Honor `ansi2knr' for files built in subdirectories, or using per-targets
889 * Aclocal should now recognize macro names containing parentheses, e.g.
890 AC_DEFUN([AC_LANG_PREPROC(Fortran 90)], [...]).
891 * Erase *.sum and *.log files created by DejaGnu, during `make distclean'.
893 * Install Python files even if they were built. (PR/369)
894 * Have stamp-vti dependent upon configure instead of configure.ac, as the
895 version might not be defined in the latter. (PR/358)
896 * Reorder arguments passed to a couple of commands, so things works
897 when POSIXLY_CORRECT=1.
898 * Fix a regex that can cause Perl to segfault on large input.
900 * Fix distribution of packages that have some sources defined conditionally,
901 as in the `Conditional compilation using Automake conditionals' example
903 * Fix spurious test suite failures on IRIX.
904 * Don't report a required variable as undefined if it has been
905 defined conditionally for the "right" conditions.
906 * Fix cleaning of the /tmp subdirectory used by `make distcheck', in case
907 `make distcheck' fails.
908 * Fix distribution of included Makefile fragment, so we don't create
909 spurious directories in the distribution. (PR/366)
910 * Don't complain that a target lacks `.$(EXEEXT)' when it has it.
913 * Autoconf 2.54 is required.
914 * `aclocal' and `automake' will no longer warn about obsolete
915 configure macros. This is done by `autoconf -Wobsolete'.
916 * AM_CONFIG_HEADER, AM_SYS_POSIX_TERMIOS and
917 AM_HEADER_TIOCGWINSZ_NEEDS_SYS_IOCTL are obsolete (although still
918 supported). You should use AC_CONFIG_HEADERS, AC_SYS_POSIX_TERMIOS,
919 and AC_HEADER_TIOCGWINSZ instead. `autoupdate' can upgrade
920 `configure.ac' for you.
921 * Support for per-program and per-library `_CPPFLAGS'.
922 * New `ctags' target (builds CTAGS files).
923 * Support for -Wmumble and -Wno-mumble, where mumble is a warning category
924 (see `automake --help' or the manual for a list of them).
925 * Honor the WARNINGS environment variable.
926 * Omit the call to depcomp when using gcc3: call the compiler directly.
927 * A new option, std-options, tests that programs support --help and --version
928 when `make installcheck' is run. This is enabled by --gnits.
929 * Texinfo rules now support the `ps' and `pdf' targets.
930 * Info files are now created in the build directory, not the source directory.
931 * info_TEXINFOS supports files in subdirectories (this requires Texinfo 4.1
933 * `make distcheck' will enforce DESTDIR support by attempting
935 * `+=' can be used in conditionals, even if the augmented variable
936 was defined for another condition.
937 * Makefile fragments (inserted with `include') are always distributed.
938 * Use Autoconf's --trace interface to inspect configure.ac and get
939 a more accurate view of it.
940 * Add support for extending aclocal's default macro search path
941 using a `dirlist' file within the aclocal directory.
942 * automake --output-dir is deprecated.
943 * The part of the distcheck target that checks whether uninstall actually
944 removes all installed files has been moved in a separate target,
945 distuninstallcheck, so it can be overridden easily.
949 * Support for AM_INIT_GETTEXT([external])
950 * Bug fixes, including:
951 - Fix Automake's own `make install' so it works even if `ln' doesn't.
952 - nobase_ programs and scripts honor --program-transform correctly.
953 - Erase configure.lineno during `make distclean'.
954 - Erase YACC and LEX outputs during `make maintainer-clean'.
957 * Many bug fixes, including:
958 - Requiring the current version works.
959 - Fix "$@" portability issues (for Zsh).
960 - Fix output of dummy dependency files in presence of post-processed
962 - Don't compute dependencies in background to avoid races with libtool.
963 - Fix handling of _OBJECTS variables for targets sharing source variables.
964 - Check dependency mode for Java when AM_PROG_GCJ is used.
967 * automake --output-dir is deprecated
968 * Many bug fixes, including:
969 - Don't choke on AM_LDFLAGS definitions.
970 - Clean libtool objects from subdirectories.
971 - Allow configure variables with reserved suffix and unknown prefix
972 (e.g. AC_SUBST(mumble_LDFLAGS) when 'mumble' is not a target).
973 - Fix the definition of AUTOMAKE and ACLOCAL in configure.
976 * Autoconf 2.52 is required.
977 * automake no longer run libtoolize.
978 This is the job of autoreconf (from GNU Autoconf).
979 * `dist' generates all the archive flavors, as did `dist-all'.
980 * `dist-gzip' generates the Gzip tar file only.
981 * Combining Automake Makefile conditionals no longer lead to a combinatorial
982 explosion. Makefile.in's keep a reasonable size.
983 * AM_FUNC_ERROR_AT_LINE, AM_FUNC_STRTOD, AM_FUNC_OBSTACK, AM_PTRDIFF_T
984 are no longer shipped, since Autoconf 2.52 provides them (both as AM_
986 * `#line' of Lex and Yacc files are properly set.
987 * EXTRA_DIST can contain generated directories.
988 * Support for dot-less extensions in suffix rules.
989 * The part of the distcheck target that checks whether distclean actually
990 cleans all built files has been moved in a separate target, distcleancheck,
991 so it can be overridden easily.
992 * `make distcheck' will pass additional options defined in
993 $(DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS) to configure.
994 * Fixed CDPATH portability problems, in particular for MacOS X.
995 * Fixed handling of nobase_ targets.
996 * Fixed support of implicit rules leading to .lo objects.
997 * Fixed late inclusion of --add-missing files (e.g. depcomp) in DIST_COMMON
998 * Added uninstall-hook target
999 * `AC_INIT AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE(tarname,version)' is an obsolete construct.
1000 You can now use `AC_INIT(pkgname,version) AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE' instead.
1001 (Note that "pkgname" is not "tarname", see the manual for details.)
1002 It is also possible to pass a list of global Automake options as
1003 first argument to this new form of AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE.
1004 * Compiler-based assembler is now called `CCAS'; people expected `AS'
1005 to be a real assembler.
1006 * AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE will set STRIP itself when it needs it. Adding
1007 AC_CHECK_TOOL([STRIP], [strip]) manually is no longer required.
1008 * aclocal and automake are also installed with the version number
1009 appended, and some of the install directory names have changed.
1010 This lets you have multiple versions installed simultaneously.
1011 * Support for parsers and lexers in subdirectories.
1014 * Support for `configure.ac'.
1015 * Support for `else COND', `endif COND' and negated conditions `!COND'.
1016 * `make dist-all' is much faster.
1017 * Allows '@' AC_SUBSTs in macro names.
1018 * Faster AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE (requires update of `missing' script)
1019 * User-side dependency tracking. Developers no longer need GNU make
1021 * Uses DIST_SUBDIRS in some situations when SUBDIRS is conditional
1022 * Most files are correctly handled if they appear in subdirs
1023 For instance, a _DATA file can appear in a subdir
1024 * GNU tar is no longer required for `make dist'
1025 * Added support for `dist_' and `nodist_' prefixes
1026 * Added support for `nobase_' prefix
1027 * Compiled Java support
1028 * Support for per-executable and per-library compilation flags
1032 * Added support for the Fortran 77 programming language.
1033 * Re-indexed the Automake Texinfo manual.
1034 * Added `AM_FOOFLAGS' variable for each compiler invocation;
1035 e.g. AM_CFLAGS can be used in Makefile.am to set C compiler flags
1036 * Support for latest autoconf, including support for objext
1037 * Can now put `.' in SUBDIRS to control build order
1038 * `include' command and `+=' support for macro assignment
1039 * Dependency tracking no long susceptible to deleted header file problem
1040 * Maintainer mode now a conditional. @MAINT@ is now an anachronism.
1045 * Better Cygwin32 support
1046 * Support for suffix rules with _SOURCES variables
1047 * New options `readme-alpha' and `check-news'; Gnits mode sets these
1048 * @LEXLIB@ no longer required when lex source seen
1049 Lex support in `missing', and new lex macro. Update your missing script.
1050 * Built-in support for assembly
1051 * aclocal gives error if `AM_' macro not found
1052 * Passed YFLAGS, not YACCFLAGS, to yacc
1053 * AM_PROG_CC_STDC does not have to come before AC_PROG_CPP
1054 * Dependencies computed as a side effect of compilation
1055 * Preliminary support for Java
1056 * DESTDIR support at "make install" time
1057 * Improved ansi2knr support; you must use the latest ansi2knr.c (included)
1061 * Better DejaGnu support
1062 * Added no-installinfo option
1063 * Added Emacs Lisp support
1064 * Added --no-force option
1065 * Included `aclocal' program
1066 * Automake will now generate rules to regenerate aclocal.m4, if appropriate
1067 * Now uses `AM_' macro names everywhere
1068 * ansi2knr option can have directory prefix (eg `../lib/ansi2knr')
1069 ansi2knr now works correctly on K&R sources
1070 * Better C++, yacc, lex support
1071 * Will compute _DEPENDENCIES variables automatically if not supplied
1072 * Will interpolate $(...) and ${...} when examining contents of a variable
1073 * .deps files now in build directory, not source directory; dependency
1074 handling generally rewritten
1075 * DATA, MANS and BUILT_SOURCES no longer included in distribution
1076 * can now put config.h into a subdir
1077 * Added dist-all target
1078 * Support for install-info program (see texinfo 3.9)
1079 * Support for "yacc -d"
1080 * configure substitutions are automatically discovered and included
1081 in generated Makefile.in
1082 * Special --cygnus mode
1083 * OMIT_DEPENDENCIES can now hold list of dependencies to be omitted
1084 when making distribution. Some dependencies are auto-ignored.
1085 * Changed how libraries are specified in _LIBRARIES variable
1086 * Full libtool support, from Gord Matzigkeit
1087 * No longer have to explicitly touch stamp-h when using AC_CONFIG_HEADER;
1088 AM_CONFIG_HEADER handles it automatically
1089 * Texinfo output files no longer need .info extension
1090 * Added `missing' support
1092 * Conditionals in Makefile.am, from Ian Taylor
1096 * distcheck target runs install and installcheck targets
1097 * Added preliminary support for DejaGnu.
1102 * More libtool fixes from Gord Matzigkeit; libtool support is still
1104 * Added support for jm_MAINTAINER_MODE
1106 * New "distcheck" target
1110 * mkinstalldirs and mdate-sh now appear in directory specified by
1112 * Removed DIST_SUBDIRS, DIST_OTHER
1113 * AC_ARG_PROGRAM only required when an actual program exists
1114 * dist-hook target now run before distribution packaged up; idea from
1115 Dieter Baron. Other hooks exist, too.
1116 * Preliminary (unfinished) support for libtool
1117 * Added short option names.
1118 * Better "dist" support when gluing together multiple packages
1122 * Documentation updates (many from François Pinard)
1123 * strictness `normal' now renamed to `foreign'
1124 * Renamed --install-missing to --add-missing
1125 * Now handles AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR
1126 * Now handles TESTS macro
1127 * DIST_OTHER renamed to EXTRA_DIST
1128 * DIST_SUBDIRS is deprecated
1129 * @ALLOCA@ and @LIBOBJS@ now work in _LDADD variables
1130 * Better error messages in many cases
1131 * Program names are canonicalized
1132 * Added "check" prefix; from Gord Matzigkeit
1136 * configure.in scanner knows about AC_PATH_XTRA, AC_OUTPUT ":" syntax
1137 * Beginnings of a test suite
1138 * Automatically adds -I options for $(srcdir), ".", and path to config.h
1139 * Doesn't print anything when running
1140 * Beginnings of MAINT_CHARSET support
1141 * Can specify version in AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS
1142 * Most errors recognizable by Emacs' M-x next-error
1143 * Added --verbose option
1144 * All "primary" variables now obsolete; use EXTRA_PRIMARY to supply
1145 configure-generated names
1146 * Required macros now distributed in aclocal.m4
1148 * --strictness=gnu is default
1152 * More sophisticated configure.in scanning; now understands ALLOCA and
1153 LIBOBJS directly, handles AC_CONFIG_HEADER more precisely, etc.
1154 * TEXINFOS and MANS now obsolete; use info_TEXINFOS and man_MANS instead.
1155 * CONFIG_HEADER variable now obsolete
1156 * Can handle multiple Texinfo sources
1157 * Allow hierarchies deeper than 2. From Gord Matzigkeit.
1158 * HEADERS variable no longer needed; now can put .h files directly into
1159 foo_SOURCES variable.
1160 * Automake automatically rebuilds files listed in AC_OUTPUT. The
1161 corresponding ".in" files are included in the distribution.
1164 * Added --gnu and --gnits options
1165 * More standards checking
1167 * Cleaned up 'dist' targets
1168 * Added AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS variable and several options
1169 * Now scans configure.in to get some information (preliminary)
1172 * Works with Perl 4 again
1175 * Added --install-missing option.
1176 * Pretty-prints generated macros and rules
1177 * Comments in Makefile.am are placed more intelligently in Makefile.in
1178 * Generates .PHONY target
1179 * Rule or macro in Makefile.am now overrides contents of Automake file
1180 * Substantial cleanups from François Pinard
1184 * Works with Perl 4 again.
1187 * New uniform naming scheme.
1188 * --strictness option
1190 * '.c' files corresponding to '.y' or '.l' files are automatically
1192 * Many bug fixes and cleanups
1195 * Allow objects to be conditionally included in libraries via lib_LIBADD.
1198 * Bug fixes in 'clean' code.
1199 * Now generates 'installdirs' target.
1200 * man page installation reworked.
1201 * 'make dist' no longer re-creates all Makefile.in's.
1204 * Reimplemented in Perl
1205 * Added --amdir option (for debugging)
1206 * Texinfo support cleaned up.
1207 * Automatic de-ANSI-fication cleaned up.
1208 * Cleaned up 'clean' targets.
1211 * Automatic dependency tracking
1212 * More documentation
1213 * New variables DATA and PACKAGEDATA
1214 * SCRIPTS installed using $(INSTALL_SCRIPT)
1215 * No longer uses double-colon rules
1217 * Changes in advance of internationalization
1221 Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003,
1222 2004, 2005 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1224 This file is part of GNU Automake.
1226 GNU Automake is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
1227 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
1228 the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
1231 GNU Automake is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
1232 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
1233 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
1234 GNU General Public License for more details.
1236 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
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1238 the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor,
1239 Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.