3 * Obsolete features removed:
5 - Support for the "Cygnus-style" trees (once enabled by the 'cygnus'
6 option) has been removed. See discussion about automake bug#11034
9 - The automake-provided $(mkdir_p) make variable, @mkdir_p@ configure
10 time substitution and AM_PROG_MKDIR m4 macro have been removed. They
11 had been obsolete since automake 1.10, and actively deprecated since
14 - The deprecated aclocal option '--acdir' has been removed. You
15 should use the options '--automake-acdir' and '--system-acdir'
16 instead (which have been introduced in Automake 1.11.2).
18 - The following long-obsolete m4 macros have been removed:
20 AM_PROG_CC_STDC: superseded by AC_PROG_CC since October 2002
21 fp_PROG_CC_STDC: broken alias for AM_PROG_CC_STDC
22 fp_WITH_DMALLOC: old alias for AM_WITH_DMALLOC
23 AM_CONFIG_HEADER: superseded by AC_CONFIG_HEADERS since July 2002
24 ud_PATH_LISPDIR: old alias for AM_PATH_LISPDIR
25 jm_MAINTAINER_MODE: old alias for AM_MAINTAINER_MODE
26 ud_GNU_GETTEXT: old alias for AM_GNU_GETTEXT
27 gm_PROG_LIBTOOL: old alias for AC_PROG_LIBTOOL
28 fp_C_PROTOTYPES: old alias for AM_C_PROTOTYPES (which was part
29 of the now-removed automatic de-ANSI-fication
32 - All the "old alias" macros in 'm4/obsolete.m4' have been removed.
34 * Silent rules support:
36 - Support for silent rules is now always active in Automake-generated
37 Makefiles. So, although the verbose output is still the default,
38 the user can now always use "./configure --enable-silent-rules" or
39 "make V=0" to enable quieter output in the package he's building.
41 - The 'silent-rules' option has now become a no-op, preserved for
42 backward-compatibility only. In particular, its use does not disable
43 the warnings in the 'portability-recursive' category anymore.
45 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
49 * WARNING: Future backward-incompatibilities!
51 - Autoconf 2.65 or later will be required by the next major Automake
52 version (1.13). Until now, Automake has required Autoconf version
55 - Starting from the next major Automake version (1.13), the rules to
56 build pdf, ps and dvi output from Texinfo input will use the '--tidy'
57 option by default. Since such an option was introduced in Texinfo
58 4.9, this means that Makefiles generated by future Automake versions
59 will require at least that version of Texinfo.
61 - Starting from the next major Automake version (1.13), the parallel
62 testsuite harness (previously only enabled by the 'parallel-tests'
63 option) will become the default one; the older serial testsuite
64 harness will still be available through the use of the 'serial-tests'
67 - Support for the two- and three-arguments invocation forms of the
68 AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE macro will be deprecated in the next minor version
69 of Automake (1.12.1) and removed in the next major version (1.13).
71 - The exact order in which the directories in the aclocal macro
72 search path are looked up is probably going to be changed in the
73 next Automake release (1.13).
75 * Deprecated obsolescent features:
77 - Support for the "Cygnus-style" trees (enabled by the 'cygnus' option) is
78 now deprecated (its use triggers a warning in the 'obsolete' category).
79 It will be removed in the next major Automake release (1.13).
81 - The long-obsolete (since 1.10) automake-provided $(mkdir_p) make
82 variable, @mkdir_p@ configure-time substitution and AM_PROG_MKDIR
83 m4 macro are deprecated, eliciting a warning in the 'obsolete'
84 category. They will be removed in the next major version (1.13).
88 * Bugs introduced by 1.12:
90 - Several weaknesses in Automake's own build system and test suite
93 * Bugs introduced by 1.11.3:
95 - When given non-option arguments, aclocal rejects them, instead of
96 silently ignoring them.
100 - When the 'color-tests' option is in use, forcing of colored testsuite
101 output through "AM_COLOR_TESTS=always" works even if the terminal is
102 a non-ANSI one, i.e., if the TERM environment variable has a value of
105 - Several inefficiencies and poor performances in the implementation
106 of the parallel-tests 'check' and 'recheck' targets have been fixed.
108 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
112 * Obsolete features removed:
114 - The never documented nor truly used script 'acinstall' has been
117 - Support for automatic de-ANSI-fication has been removed.
119 - The support for the "obscure" multilib feature has been removed
120 from Automake core (but remains available in the 'contrib/'
121 directory of the Automake distribution).
123 - Support for ".log -> .html" conversion and the check-html and
124 recheck-html targets has been removed from Automake core (but
125 remains available in the 'contrib/' directory of the Automake
128 - The deprecated 'lzma' compression format for distribution archives
129 has been removed, in favor of 'xz' and 'lzip'.
131 - The obsolete AM_WITH_REGEX macro has been removed.
133 - The long-deprecated options '--output-dir', '--Werror' and
134 '--Wno-error' have been removed.
136 - The chapter on the history of Automake has been moved out of the
137 reference manual, into a new dedicated Texinfo file.
141 - New 'cscope' target to build a cscope database for the source tree.
143 * Changes to Automake-generated testsuite harnesses:
145 - The new automake option 'serial-tests' has been introduced. It can
146 be used to explicitly instruct automake to use the older serial
147 testsuite harness. This is still the default at the moment, but it
148 might change in future versions.
150 - The 'recheck' target (provided by the parallel testsuite harness) now
151 depends on the 'all' target. This allows for a better user-experience
152 in test-driven development. See automake bug#11252.
154 - Test scripts that exit with status 99 to signal an "hard error" (e.g.,
155 and unexpected or internal error, or a failure to set up the test case
156 scenario) have their outcome reported as an 'ERROR' now. Previous
157 versions of automake reported such an outcome as a 'FAIL' (the only
158 difference with normal failures being that hard errors were counted
159 as failures even when the test originating them was listed in
162 - The testsuite summary displayed by the parallel-test harness has a
163 completely new format, that always list the numbers of passed, failed,
164 xfailed, xpassed, skipped and errored tests, even when these numbers
165 are zero (but using smart coloring when the color-tests option is in
168 - The default testsuite driver offered by the 'parallel-tests' option is
169 now implemented (partly at least) with the help of automake-provided
170 auxiliary scripts (e.g., 'test-driver'), instead of relying entirely
171 on code in the generated Makefile.in.
172 This has two noteworthy implications. The first one is that projects
173 using the 'parallel-tests' option should now either run automake with
174 the '--add-missing' option, or manually copy the 'test-driver' script
175 into their tree. The second, and more important, implication is that
176 now, when the 'parallel-tests' option is in use, TESTS_ENVIRONMENT can
177 not be used anymore to define a test runner, and the command specified
178 in LOG_COMPILER (and <ext>_LOG_COMPILER) must be a *real* executable
179 program or script. For example, this is still a valid usage (albeit
182 TESTS_ENVIRONMENT = \
183 if test -n '$(STRICT_TESTS)'; then \
184 maybe_errexit='-e'; \
188 LOG_COMPILER = $(SHELL) $$maybe_errexit
190 while this is not anymore:
192 TESTS_ENVIRONMENT = \
193 $(SHELL) `test -n '$(STRICT_TESTS_CHECKING)' && echo ' -e'`
197 TESTS_ENVIRONMENT = \
198 run_with_perl_or_shell () \
200 if grep -q '^#!.*perl' $$1; then
206 LOG_COMPILER = run_with_perl_or_shell
208 - The package authors can now use customary testsuite drivers within
209 the framework provided by the 'parallel-tests' testsuite harness.
210 Consistently with the existing syntax, this can be done by defining
211 special makefile variables 'LOG_DRIVER' and '<ext>_LOG_DRIVER'.
213 - A new developer-reserved variable 'AM_TESTS_FD_REDIRECT' can be used
214 to redirect/define file descriptors used by the test scripts.
216 - The parallel-tests harness generates now, in addition the '.log' files
217 holding the output produced by the test scripts, a new set of '.trs'
218 files, holding "metadata" derived by the execution of the test scripts;
219 among such metadata are the outcomes of the test cases run by a script.
221 - Initial and still experimental support for the TAP test protocol is
224 * Changes to Yacc and Lex support:
226 - C source and header files derived from non-distributed Yacc and/or
227 Lex sources are now removed by a simple "make clean" (while they were
228 previously removed only by "make maintainer-clean").
230 - Slightly backward-incompatible change, relevant only for use of Yacc
231 with C++: the extensions of the header files produced by the Yacc
232 rules are now modelled after the extension of the corresponding
233 sources. For example, yacc files named "foo.y++" and "bar.yy" will
234 produce header files named "foo.h++" and "bar.hh" respectively, where
235 they would have previously produced header files named simply "foo.h"
236 and "bar.h". This change offers better compatibility with 'bison -o'.
238 * Miscellaneous changes:
240 - The AM_PROG_VALAC macro now causes configure to exit with status 77,
241 rather than 1, if the vala compiler found is too old.
243 - The build system of Automake itself now avoids the use of make
244 recursion as much as possible.
246 - Automake now prefers to quote 'like this' or "like this", rather
247 than `like this', in diagnostic message and generated Makefiles,
248 to accommodate the new GNU Coding Standards recommendations.
250 - Automake has a new option '--print-libdir' that prints the path of the
251 directory containing the Automake-provided scripts and data files.
253 - The 'dist' and 'dist-all' targets now can run compressors in parallel.
255 - The rules to create pdf, dvi and ps output from Texinfo files now
256 works better with modern 'texi2dvi' script, by explicitly passing
257 it the '--clean' option to ensure stray auxiliary files are not
258 left to clutter the build directory.
260 - Automake can now generate silenced rules for texinfo outputs.
262 - Some auxiliary files that are automatically distributed by Automake
263 (e.g., 'install-sh', or the 'depcomp' script for packages compiling
264 C sources) might now be listed in the DIST_COMMON variable in many
265 Makefile.in files, rather than in the top-level one.
267 - Messages of types warning or error from 'automake' and 'aclocal'
268 are now prefixed with the respective type, and presence of -Werror
271 - Automake's early configure-time sanity check now tries to avoid
272 sleeping for a second, which slowed down cached configure runs
273 noticeably. In that case, it will check back at the end of the
274 configure script to ensure that at least one second has passed, to
275 avoid time stamp issues with makefile rules rerunning autotools
278 - The warnings in the category 'extra-portability' are now enabled by
279 '-Wall'. In previous versions, one has to use '-Wextra-portability'
284 - Various minor bugfixes for recent or long-standing bugs.
286 * Bugs introduced by 1.11:
288 - The AM_COND_IF macro also works if the shell expression for the
289 conditional is no longer valid for the condition.
291 - The automake-provided parallel testsuite harness does not fail anymore
292 with BSD make used in parallel mode when there are test scripts in a
293 subdirectory, like in:
295 TESTS = sub/foo.test sub/bar.test
297 * Long-standing bugs:
299 - Automake's own build system finally have a real "installcheck" target.
301 - Vala-related cleanup rules are now more complete, and work better in
304 - Files listed with the AC_REQUIRE_AUX_FILE macro in configure.ac are
305 now automatically distributed also if the directory of the auxiliary
306 files coincides with the top-level directory.
308 - Automake now detects the presence of the '-d' flag in the various
309 '*YFLAGS' variables even when their definitions involve indirections
310 through other variables, such as in:
312 AM_YFLAGS = $(foo_opts)
314 - Automake now complains if a '*YFLAGS' variable has any conditional
315 content, not only a conditional definition.
317 - Explicit enabling and/or disabling of Automake warning categories
318 through the '-W...' options now always takes precedence over the
319 implicit warning level implied by Automake strictness (foreign, gnu
320 or gnits), regardless of the order in which such strictness and
321 warning flags appear. For example, a setting like:
322 AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = -Wall --foreign
323 will cause the warnings in category 'portability' to be enabled, even
324 if those warnings are by default disabled in 'foreign' strictness.
326 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
328 Bugs fixed in 1.11.5:
330 * Bugs introduced by 1.11.3:
332 - Vala files with '.vapi' extension are now recognized and handled
333 correctly again. See automake bug#11222.
335 - Vala support work again for projects that contain some program
336 built from '.vala' (and possibly '.c') sources and some other
337 program built from '.c' sources *only*. See automake bug#11229.
339 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
343 * Miscellaneous changes:
345 - The 'ar-lib' script now ignores the "s" (symbol index) and "S" (no
346 symbol index) modifiers as well as the "s" action, as the symbol index
347 is created unconditionally by Microsoft lib. Also, the "q" (quick)
348 action is now a synonym for "r" (replace). Also, the script has been
349 ignoring the "v" (verbose) modifier already since Automake 1.11.3.
351 - When the 'compile' script is used to wrap MSVC, it now accepts an
352 optional space between the -I, -L and -l options and their respective
353 arguments, for better POSIX compliance.
355 - There is an initial, experimental support for automatic dependency
356 tracking with tcc (the Tiny C Compiler). Its associated depmode is
357 currently recognized as "icc" (but this and other details are likely
358 to change in future versions).
360 - Automatic dependency tracking now works also with the IBM XL C/C++
361 compilers, thanks to the new new depmode 'xlc'.
363 Bugs fixed in 1.11.4:
365 * Bugs introduced by 1.11.2:
367 - A definition of 'noinst_PYTHON' before 'python_PYTHON' (or similar)
368 don't cause spurious failures upon "make install" anymore.
370 - The user can now instruct the 'uninstall-info' rule not to update
371 the '${infodir}/dir' file by exporting the environment variable
372 'AM_UPDATE_INFO_DIR' to the value "no". This is done for consistency
373 with how the 'install-info' rule operates since automake 1.11.2.
375 * Long-standing bugs:
377 - It is now possible for a foo_SOURCES variable to hold Vala sources
378 together with C header files, as well as with sources and headers for
379 other supported languages (e.g., C++). Previously, only mixing C and
380 Vala sources was supported.
382 - If "aclocal --install" is used, and the first directory specified with
383 '-I' is non-existent, aclocal will now create it before trying to copy
386 - An empty declaration of a "foo_PRIMARY" don't cause anymore the
387 generated install rules to create an empty $(foodir) directory;
388 for example, if Makefile.am contains something like:
392 pkglibexec_SCRIPTS += bar.sh
395 the $(pkglibexec) directory will not be created upon "make install".
397 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
401 * Miscellaneous changes:
403 - Automake's own build system is more silent by default, making use of
404 the 'silent-rules' option.
406 - The master copy of the `gnupload' script is now maintained in gnulib,
409 - The `missing' script doesn't try to wrap calls to `tar' anymore.
411 - "make dist" doesn't wrap `tar' invocations with the `missing' script
412 anymore. Similarly, the obsolescent variable `$(AMTAR)' (which you
413 shouldn't be using BTW ;-) does not invoke the missing script anymore
414 to wrap tar, but simply invokes the `tar' program itself.
416 - "make dist" can now create lzip-compressed tarballs.
418 - In the Automake info documentation, the Top node and the nodes about
419 the invocation of the automake and aclocal programs have been renamed;
420 now, calling "info automake" will open the Top node, while calling
421 "info automake-invocation" and "info aclocal-invocation" will access
422 the nodes about the invocation of respectively automake and aclocal.
424 - Automake is now distributed as a gzip-compressed and an xz-compressed
425 tarball. Previously, bzip2 was used instead of xz.
427 - The last relics of Python 1.5 support have been removed from the
428 AM_PATH_PYTHON macro.
430 - For programs and libraries, automake now detects EXTRA_foo_DEPENDENCIES
431 and adds them to the normal list of dependencies, but without
432 overwriting the foo_DEPENDENCIES variable, which is normally computed
435 Bugs fixed in 1.11.3:
437 * Bugs introduced by 1.11.2:
439 - Automake now correctly recognizes the prefix/primary combination
440 `pkglibexec_SCRIPTS' as valid.
442 - The parallel-tests harness doesn't trip anymore on sed implementations
443 with stricter limits on the length of input lines (problem seen at
446 * Long-standing bugs:
448 - The "deleted header file problem" for *.am files is avoided by stub
449 rules. This allows `make' to trigger a rerun of `automake' also if
450 some previously needed `.am' file has been removed.
452 - The `silent-rules' option now generates working makefiles even
453 for the uncommon `make' implementations that do not support the
454 nested-variables extension to POSIX 2008. For such `make'
455 implementations, whether a build is silent is determined at
456 configure time, and cannot be overridden at make time with
457 `make V=0' or `make V=1'.
459 - Vala support now works better in VPATH setups.
461 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
465 * Changes to aclocal:
467 - The `--acdir' option is deprecated. Now you should use the new options
468 `--automake-acdir' and `--system-acdir' instead.
470 - The `ACLOCAL_PATH' environment variable is now interpreted as a
471 colon-separated list of additional directories to search after the
472 automake internal acdir (by default ${prefix}/share/aclocal-APIVERSION)
473 and before the system acdir (by default ${prefix}/share/aclocal).
475 * Miscellaneous changes:
477 - The Automake support for automatic de-ANSI-fication has been
478 deprecated. It will probably be removed in the next major Automake
481 - The `lzma' compression scheme and associated automake option `dist-lzma'
482 is obsoleted by `xz' and `dist-xz' due to upstream changes.
484 - You may adjust the compression options used in dist-xz and dist-bzip2.
485 The default is now merely -e for xz, but still -9 for bzip; you may
486 specify a different level via the XZ_OPT and BZIP2 envvars respectively.
487 E.g., "make dist-xz XZ_OPT=-7" or "make dist-bzip2 BZIP2=-5"
489 - The `compile' script now converts some options for MSVC for a better
490 user experience. Similarly, the new `ar-lib' script wraps Microsoft lib.
492 - The py-compile script now accepts empty arguments passed to the options
493 `--destdir' and `--basedir', and complains about unrecognized options.
494 Moreover, a non-option argument or a special `--' argument terminates
497 - A developer that needs to pass specific flags to configure at "make
498 distcheck" time can now, and indeed is advised to, do so by defining
499 the developer-reserved makefile variable AM_DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS,
500 instead of the old DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS.
501 The DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS variable should now be reserved for the
502 user; still, the old Makefile.am files that used to define it will
503 still continue to work as before.
505 - New macro AM_PROG_AR that looks for an archiver and wraps it in the new
506 'ar-lib' auxiliary script if the selected archiver is Microsoft lib.
507 This new macro is required for LIBRARIES and LTLIBRARIES when automake
508 is run with -Wextra-portability and -Werror.
510 - When using DejaGnu-based testsuites, the user can extend the `site.exp'
511 file generated by automake-provided rules by defining the special make
512 variable `$(EXTRA_DEJAGNU_SITE_CONFIG)'.
514 - The `install-info' rule can now be instructed not to create/update
515 the `${infodir}/dir' file, by exporting the new environment variable
516 `AM_UPDATE_INFO_DIR' to the value "no".
518 Bugs fixed in 1.11.2:
520 * Bugs introduced by 1.11:
522 - The parallel-tests driver no longer produces erroneous results with
523 Tru64/OSF 5.1 sh upon unreadable log files.
525 - The `parallel-tests' test driver does not report spurious successes
526 when used with concurrent FreeBSD make (e.g., "make check -j3").
528 - When the parallel-tests driver is in use, automake now explicitly
529 rejects invalid entries and conditional contents in TEST_EXTENSIONS,
530 instead of issuing confusing and apparently unrelated error messages
531 (e.g., "non-POSIX variable name", "bad characters in variable name",
532 or "redefinition of TEST_EXTENSIONS), or even, in some situations,
533 silently producing broken `Makefile.in' files.
535 - The `silent-rules' option now truly silences all compile rules, even
536 when dependency tracking is disabled. Also, when `silent-rules' is
537 not used, `make' output no longer contains spurious backslash-only
538 lines, thus once again matching what Automake did before 1.11.
540 - The AM_COND_IF macro also works if the shell expression for the
541 conditional is no longer valid for the condition.
543 * Long-standing bugs:
545 - The order of Yacc and Lex flags is fixed to be consistent with other
546 languages: $(AM_YFLAGS) comes before $(YFLAGS), and $(AM_LFLAGS) before
547 $(LFLAGS), so that the user variables override the developer variables.
549 - "make distcheck" now correctly complains also when "make uninstall"
550 leaves one and only one file installed in $(prefix).
552 - A "make uninstall" issued before a "make install", or after a mere
553 "make install-data" or a mere "make install-exec" does not spuriously
556 - Automake now warns about more primary/directory invalid combinations,
557 such as "doc_LIBRARIES" or "pkglib_PROGRAMS".
559 - Rules generated by Automake now try harder to not change any files when
560 `make -n' is invoked. Fixes include compilation of Emacs Lisp, Vala, or
561 Yacc source files and the rule to update config.h.
563 - Several scripts and the parallel-tests testsuite driver now exit with
564 the right exit status upon receiving a signal.
566 - A per-Makefile.am setting of -Werror does not erroneously carry over
567 to the handling of other Makefile.am files.
569 - The code for automatic dependency tracking works around a Solaris
570 make bug triggered by sources containing repeated slashes when the
571 `subdir-objects' option was used.
573 - The makedepend and hp depmodes now work better with VPATH builds.
575 - Java sources specified with check_JAVA are no longer compiled for
576 "make all", but only for "make check".
578 - An usage like "java_JAVA = foo.java" will now cause Automake to warn
579 and error out if `javadir' is undefined, instead of silently producing
580 a broken Makefile.in.
582 - aclocal and automake now honour the configure-time definitions of
583 AUTOCONF and AUTOM4TE when they spawn autoconf or autom4te processes.
585 - The `install-info' recipe no longer tries to guess whether the
586 `install-info' program is from Debian or from GNU, and adaptively
587 change its behaviour; this has proven to be frail and easy to
590 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
592 Bugs fixed in 1.11.1:
594 - Lots of minor bugfixes.
596 * Bugs introduced by 1.11:
598 - The `parallel-tests' test driver works around a GNU make 3.80 bug with
599 trailing white space in the test list (`TESTS = foo $(EMPTY)').
601 * Long standing bugs:
603 - On Darwin 9, `pythondir' and `pyexecdir' pointed below `/Library/Python'
604 even if the `--prefix' argument pointed outside of a system directory.
605 AM_PATH_PYTHON has been fixed to ignore the value returned from python's
606 `get_python_lib' function if it points outside the configured prefix,
607 unless the `--prefix' argument was either `/usr' or below `/System'.
609 - The testsuite does not try to change the mode of `ltmain.sh' files from
610 a Libtool installation (symlinked to test directories) any more.
612 - AM_PROG_GCJ uses AC_CHECK_TOOLS to look for `gcj' now, so that prefixed
613 tools are preferred in a cross-compile setup.
615 - The distribution is tarred up with mode 755 now by the `dist*' targets.
616 This fixes a race condition where untrusted users could modify files
617 in the $(PACKAGE)-$(VERSION) distdir before packing if the toplevel
618 build directory was world-searchable. This is CVE-2009-4029.
620 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
624 * Version requirements:
626 - Autoconf 2.62 or greater is required.
628 * Changes to aclocal:
630 - The autoconf version check implemented by aclocal in aclocal.m4
631 (and new in Automake 1.10) is degraded to a warning. This helps
632 in the common case where the Autoconf versions used are compatible.
634 * Changes to automake:
636 - The automake program can run multiple threads for creating most
637 Makefile.in files concurrently, if at least Perl 5.7.2 is available
638 with interpreter-based threads enabled. Set the environment variable
639 AUTOMAKE_JOBS to the maximum number of threads to use, in order to
640 enable this experimental feature.
642 * Changes to Libtool support:
644 - Libtool generic flags are now passed to the install and uninstall
647 - distcheck works with Libtool 2.x even when LT_OUTPUT is used, as
648 config.lt is removed correctly now.
652 - subdir-object mode works now with Fortran (F77, FC, preprocessed
653 Fortran, and Ratfor).
655 - For files with extension .f90, .f95, .f03, or .f08, the flag
656 $(FCFLAGS_f[09]x) computed by AC_FC_SRCEXT is now used in compile rules.
658 - Files with extension .sx are also treated as preprocessed assembler.
660 - The default source file extension (.c) can be overridden with
661 AM_DEFAULT_SOURCE_EXT now.
663 - Python 3.0 is supported now, Python releases prior to 2.0 are no
666 - AM_PATH_PYTHON honors python's idea about the site directory.
668 - There is initial support for the Vala programming language, when using
671 * Miscellaneous changes:
673 - Automake development is done in a git repository on Savannah now, see
675 http://git.sv.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=automake.git
677 A read-only CVS mirror is provided at
679 cvs -d :pserver:anonymous@pserver.git.sv.gnu.org:/automake.git \
680 checkout -d automake HEAD
682 - "make dist" can now create xz-compressed tarballs,
683 as well as (deprecated?) lzma-compressed tarballs.
685 - `automake --add-missing' will by default install the GPLv3 file as
686 COPYING if it is missing. It will also warn that the license file
687 should be added to source control. Note that Automake will never
688 overwrite an existing COPYING file, even when the `--force-missing'
691 - The manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL 1.3.
693 - Automake ships and installs man pages for automake and aclocal now.
695 - New shorthand `$(pkglibexecdir)' for `$(libexecdir)/@PACKAGE@'.
697 - install-sh supports -C, which does not update the installed file
698 (and its time stamps) if the contents did not change.
700 - The `gnupload' script has been revamped.
702 - The `depcomp' and `compile' scripts now work with MSVC under MSYS.
704 - The targets `install' and `uninstall' are more efficient now, in that
705 for example multiple files from one Automake variable such as
706 `bin_SCRIPTS' are copied in one `install' (or `libtool --mode=install')
707 invocation if they do not have to be renamed.
709 Both install and uninstall may sometimes enter (`cd' into) the target
710 installation directory now, when no build-local scripts are used.
712 Both install and uninstall do not fail anymore but do nothing if an
713 installation directory variable like `bindir' is set to the empty string.
715 For built-in rules, `make install' now fails reliably if installation
716 of a file failed. Conversely, `make uninstall' even succeeds when
717 issued multiple times.
719 These changes may need some adjustments from users: For example,
720 some `install' programs refuse to install multiple copies of the
721 same file in one invocation, so you may need to remove duplicate
722 entries from file lists.
724 Also, within one set of files, say, nobase_data_DATA, the order of
725 installation may be changed, or even unstable among different hosts,
726 due to the use of associative arrays in awk. The increased use of
727 awk matches a similar move in Autoconf to provide for better scaling.
729 Further, most undocumented per-rule install command variables such as
730 binSCRIPT_INSTALL have been removed because they are not needed any
731 more. Packages which use them should be using the appropriate one of
732 INSTALL_{DATA,PROGRAM,SCRIPT} or their install_sh_{DATA,PROGRAM,SCRIPT}
733 counterpart, depending on the type of files and the need for automatic
734 target directory creation.
736 - The "deleted header file problem" for *.m4 files is avoided by
737 stub rules. This allows `make' to trigger a rerun of `aclocal'
738 also if some previously needed macro file has been removed.
740 - Rebuild rules now also work for a removed `subdir/Makefile.in' in
741 an otherwise up to date tree.
743 - The `color-tests' option causes colored test result output on terminals.
745 - The `parallel-tests' option enables a new test driver that allows for
746 parallel test execution, inter-test dependencies, lazy test execution
747 for unit-testing, re-testing only failed tests, and formatted result output
748 as RST (reStructuredText) and HTML. Enabling this option may require some
749 changes to your test suite setup; see the manual for details.
751 - The `silent-rules' option enables Linux kernel-style silent build output.
752 This option requires the widely supported but non-POSIX `make' feature
753 of recursive variable expansion, so do not use it if your package needs
754 to build with `make' implementations that do not support it.
756 To enable less verbose build output, the developer has to use the Automake
757 option `silent-rules' in `AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE', or call the `AM_SILENT_RULES'
758 macro. The user may then set the default verbosity by passing the
759 `--enable-silent-rules' option to `configure'. At `make' run time, this
760 default may be overridden using `make V=0' for less verbose, and `make V=1'
761 for backward-compatible verbose output.
763 - New prefix `notrans_' for manpages which should not be transformed
764 by --program-transform.
766 - New macro AM_COND_IF for conditional evaluation and conditional
769 - For AC_CONFIG_LINKS, if source and destination are equal, do not
770 remove the file in a non-VPATH build. Such setups work with Autoconf
773 - AM_MAINTAINER_MODE now allows for an optional argument specifying
776 - AM_SUBST_NOTMAKE may prevent substitution of AC_SUBSTed variables,
777 useful especially for multi-line values.
779 - Automake's early configure-time sanity check now diagnoses an
780 unsafe absolute source directory name and makes configure fail.
782 - The Automake macros and rules cope better with whitespace in the
783 current directory name, as long as the relative path to `configure'
784 does not contain whitespace. To this end, the values of `$(MISSING)'
785 and `$(install_sh)' may contain suitable quoting, and their expansion
786 might need `eval'uation if used outside of a makefile. These
787 undocumented variables may be used in several documented macros such
788 as $(AUTOCONF) or $(MAKEINFO).
792 * Long-standing bugs:
794 - Fix aix dependency tracking for libtool objects.
796 - Work around AIX sh quoting issue in AC_PROG_CC_C_O, leading to
797 unnecessary use of the `compile' script.
799 - For nobase_*_LTLIBRARIES with nonempty directory components, the
800 correct `-rpath' argument is used now.
802 - `config.status --file=Makefile depfiles' now also works with the
803 extra quoting used internally by Autoconf 2.62 and newer
804 (it used to work only without the `--file=' bit).
806 - The `missing' script works better with versioned tool names.
808 - Semantics for `missing help2man' have been revamped:
810 Previously, if `help2man' was not present, `missing help2man' would have
811 the following semantics: if some man page was out of date but present, then
812 a warning would be printed, but the exit status was 0. If the man page was
813 not present at all, then `missing' would create a replacement man page
814 containing an error message, and exit with a status of 2. This does not play
815 well with `make': the next run will see this particular man page as being up
816 to date, and will only error out on the next generated man page, if any;
817 repeat until all pages are done. This was not desirable.
819 These are the new semantics: if some man page is not present, and help2man
820 is not either, then `missing' will warn and generate the replacement page
821 containing the error message, but exit successfully. However, `make dist'
822 will ensure that no such bogus man pages are packaged into a tarball.
824 - Targets provided by automake behave better with `make -n', in that they
825 take care not to create files.
827 - `config.status Makefile... depfiles' works fine again in the presence of
828 disabled dependency tracking.
830 - The default no-op recursive rules for these targets also work with BSD make
831 now: html, install-html, install-dvi, install-pdf, install-pdf, install-info.
833 - `make distcheck' works also when both a directory and some file below it
834 have been added to a distribution variable, such as EXTRA_DIST or *_SOURCES.
836 - Texinfo dvi, ps, pdf, and html output files are not removed upon
837 `make mostlyclean' any more; only the LaTeX by-products are.
839 - Renamed objects also work with the `subdir-objects' option and
840 source file languages which Automake does not know itself.
842 - `automake' now correctly complains about variable assignments which are
843 preceded by a comment, extend over multiple lines with backslash-escaped
844 newlines, and end in a comment sign. Previous versions would silently
845 and wrongly ignore such assignments completely.
847 * Bugs introduced by 1.10:
849 - Fix output of dummy dependency files in presence of post-processed
850 Makefile.in's again, but also cope with long lines.
852 - $(EXEEXT) is automatically appended to filenames of XFAIL_TESTS
853 that have been declared as programs in the same Makefile.
854 This is for consistency with the analogous change to TESTS in 1.10.
856 - Fix order of standard includes to again be `-I. -I$(srcdir)',
857 followed by directories containing config headers.
859 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
863 * Version requirements:
865 - Autoconf 2.60 or greater is required.
867 - Perl 5.6 or greater is required.
869 * Changes to aclocal:
871 - aclocal now also supports -Wmumble and -Wno-mumble options.
873 - `dirlist' entries (for the aclocal search path) may use shell
874 wildcards such as `*', `?', or `[...]'.
876 - aclocal supports an --install option that will cause system-wide
877 third-party macros to be installed in the local directory
878 specified with the first -I flag. This option also uses #serial
879 lines in M4 files to upgrade local macros.
881 The new aclocal options --dry-run and --diff help to review changes
882 before they are installed.
884 - aclocal now outputs an autoconf version check in aclocal.m4 in
885 projects using automake.
887 For a few years, automake and aclocal have been calling autoconf
888 (or its underlying engine autom4te) to accurately retrieve the
889 data they need from configure.ac and its siblings. Doing so can
890 only work if all autotools use the same version of autoconf. For
891 instance a Makefile.in generated by automake for one version of
892 autoconf may stop working if configure is regenerated with another
893 version of autoconf, and vice versa.
895 This new version check ensures that the whole build system has
896 been generated using the same autoconf version.
898 * Support for new Autoconf macros:
900 - The new AC_REQUIRE_AUX_FILE Autoconf macro is supported.
902 - If `subdir-objects' is set, and AC_CONFIG_LIBOBJ_DIR is specified,
903 $(LIBOBJS), $(LTLIBOBJS), $(ALLOCA), and $(LTALLOCA) can be used
904 in different directories. However, only one instance of such a
905 library objects directory is supported.
907 * Change to Libtool support:
909 - Libtool generic flags (those that go before the --mode=MODE option)
910 can be specified using AM_LIBTOOLFLAGS and target_LIBTOOLFLAGS.
912 * Yacc and Lex changes:
914 - The rebuild rules for distributed Yacc and Lex output will avoid
915 overwriting existing files if AM_MAINTAINER_MODE and maintainer-mode
918 - ylwrap is now always used for lex and yacc source files,
919 regardless of whether there is more than one source per directory.
923 - Preprocessed assembler (*.S) compilation now honors CPPFLAGS,
924 AM_CPPFLAGS and per-target _CPPFLAGS, and supports dependency
925 tracking, unlike non-preprocessed assembler (*.s).
927 - subdir-object mode works now with Assembler. Automake assumes
928 that the compiler understands `-c -o'.
930 - Preprocessed assembler (*.S) compilation now also honors
931 $(DEFS) $(DEFAULT_INCLUDES) $(INCLUDES).
933 - Improved support for Objective C:
934 - Autoconf's new AC_PROG_OBJC will enable automatic dependency tracking.
935 - A new section of the manual documents the support.
937 - New support for Unified Parallel C:
938 - AM_PROG_UPC looks for a UPC compiler.
939 - A new section of the manual documents the support.
941 - Per-target flags are now correctly handled in link rules.
943 For instance maude_CFLAGS correctly overrides AM_CFLAGS; likewise
944 for maude_LDFLAGS and AM_LDFLAGS. Previous versions bogusly
945 preferred AM_CFLAGS over maude_CFLAGS while linking, and they
946 used both AM_LDFLAGS and maude_LDFLAGS on the same link command.
948 The fix for compiler flags (i.e., using maude_CFLAGS instead of
949 AM_CFLAGS) should not hurt any package since that is how _CFLAGS
950 is expected to work (and actually works during compilation).
952 However using maude_LDFLAGS "instead of" AM_LDFLAGS rather than
953 "in addition to" breaks backward compatibility with older versions.
954 If your package used both variables, as in
956 AM_LDFLAGS = common flags
958 a_LDFLAGS = more flags
961 and assumed *_LDFLAGS would sum up, you should rewrite it as
963 AM_LDFLAGS = common flags
965 a_LDFLAGS = $(AM_LDFLAGS) more flags
968 This new behavior of *_LDFLAGS is more coherent with other
969 per-target variables, and the way *_LDFLAGS variables were
970 considered internally.
972 * New installation targets:
974 - New targets mandated by GNU Coding Standards:
979 By default they will only install Texinfo manuals.
980 You can customize them with *-local variants:
986 - The undocumented recursive target `uninstall-info' no longer exists.
987 (`uninstall' is in charge of removing all possible documentation
988 flavors, including optional formats such as dvi, ps, or info even
989 when `no-installinfo' is used.)
991 * Miscellaneous changes:
993 - Automake no longer complains if input files for AC_CONFIG_FILES
994 are specified using shell variables.
996 - clean, distribution, or rebuild rules are normally disabled for
997 inputs and outputs of AC_CONFIG_FILES, AC_CONFIG_HEADERS, and
998 AC_CONFIG_LINK specified using shell variables. However, if these
999 variables are used as ${VAR}, and AC_SUBSTed, then Automake will
1000 be able to output rules anyway.
1001 (See the Automake documentation for AC_CONFIG_FILES.)
1003 - $(EXEEXT) is automatically appended to filenames of TESTS
1004 that have been declared as programs in the same Makefile.
1005 This is mostly useful when some check_PROGRAMS are listed in TESTS.
1007 - `-Wportability' has finally been turned on by default for `gnu' and
1008 `gnits' strictness. This means, automake will complain about %-rules
1009 or $(GNU Make functions) unless you switch to `foreign' strictness or
1010 use `-Wno-portability'.
1012 - Automake now uses AC_PROG_MKDIR_P (new in Autoconf 2.60), and uses
1013 $(MKDIR_P) instead of $(mkdir_p) to create directories. The
1014 $(mkdir_p) variable is still defined (to the same value as
1015 $(MKDIR_P)) but should be considered obsolete. If you are using
1016 $(mkdir_p) in some of your rules, please plan to update them to
1017 $(MKDIR_P) at some point.
1019 - AM_C_PROTOTYPES and ansi2knr are now documented as being obsolete.
1020 They still work in this release, but may be withdrawn in a future one.
1022 - Inline compilation rules for gcc3-style dependency tracking are
1025 - Automake installs a "Hello World!" example package in $(docdir).
1026 This example is used throughout the new "Autotools Introduction"
1027 chapter of the manual.
1029 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1033 * Makefile.in bloat reduction:
1035 - Inference rules are used to compile sources in subdirectories when
1036 the `subdir-objects' option is used and no per-target flags are
1037 used. This should reduce the size of some projects a lot, because
1038 Automake used to output an explicit rule for each such object in
1041 - Automake no longer outputs three rules (.o, .obj, .lo) for each
1042 object that must be built with explicit rules. It just outputs
1043 the rules required to build the kind of object considered: either
1044 the two .o and .obj rules for usual objects, or the .lo rule for
1047 * Change to Libtool support:
1049 - Libtool tags are used with libtool versions that support them.
1050 (I.e., with Libtool 1.5 or greater.)
1052 - Automake is now able to handle setups where a libtool library is
1053 conditionally installed in different directories, as in
1056 lib_LTLIBRARIES = liba.la
1058 pkglib_LTLIBRARIES = liba.la
1060 liba_la_SOURCES = ...
1062 * Changes to aclocal:
1064 - aclocal now ensures that AC_DEFUNs and AU_DEFUNs it discovers are
1065 really evaluated, before it decides to include them in aclocal.m4.
1066 This solves nasty problems with conditional redefinitions of
1067 Autoconf macros in /usr/share/aclocal/*.m4 files causing extraneous
1068 *.m4 files to be included in any project using these macros.
1069 (Calls to AC_PROG_EGREP causing libtool.m4 to be included is the
1070 most famous instance of this bug.)
1072 - Do not complain about missing conditionally AC_REQUIREd macros
1073 that are not actually used. In 1.8.x aclocal would correctly
1074 determine which of these macros were really needed (and include
1075 only these in the package); unfortunately it would also require
1076 all of them to be present in order to run. This created
1077 situations were aclocal would not work on a tarball distributing
1078 all the macros it uses. For instance running aclocal on a project
1079 containing only the subset of the Gettext macros in use by the
1080 project did not work, because gettext conditionally requires other
1083 * Portability improvements:
1085 - Tar format can be chosen with the new options tar-v7, tar-ustar, and
1086 tar-pax. The new option filename-length-max=99 helps diagnosing
1087 filenames that are too long for tar-v7. (PR/414)
1089 - Variables aumented with `+=' are now automatically flattened (i.e.,
1090 trailing backslashes removed) and then wrapped around 80 colummns
1091 (adding trailing backslashes). In previous versions, a long series
1097 would result in a single-line definition of VAR that could possibly
1098 exceed the maximum line length of some make implementations.
1100 Non-augmented variables are still output as they are defined in
1105 - Support Fortran 90/95 with the new "fc" and "ppfc" languages.
1106 Works the same as the old Fortran 77 implementation; just replace
1107 F77 with FC everywhere (exception: FFLAGS becomes FCFLAGS).
1108 Requires a version of autoconf which provides AC_PROG_FC (>=2.59).
1110 - Support for conditional _LISP.
1112 - Support for conditional -hook and -local rules (PR/428).
1114 - Diagnose AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR calls following AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE. (PR/49)
1116 - Automake will not write any Makefile.ins after the first error it
1117 encounters. The previous Makefile.ins (if any) will be left in
1118 place. (Warnings will not prevent output, but remember they can
1119 be turned into errors with -Werror.)
1121 - The restriction that SUBDIRS must contain direct children is gone.
1124 - The manual tells more about SUBDIRS vs. DIST_SUBDIRS.
1125 It also gives an example of nested packages using AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS.
1127 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1129 Bugs fixed in 1.8.5:
1131 * Long-standing bugs:
1133 - Define DIST_SUBDIRS even when the `no-dist' or `cygnus' options are used
1134 so that `make distclean' and `make maintainer-clean' can work.
1136 - Define AR and ARFLAGS even when only EXTRA_LIBRARIES are defined.
1138 - Fix many rules to please FreeBSD make, which runs commands with `sh -e'.
1140 - Polish diagnostic when no input file is found.
1142 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1144 Bugs fixed in 1.8.4:
1146 * Long-standing bugs:
1148 - Fix AM_PATH_PYTHON to correctly display $PYTHON when it has been
1149 overridden by the user.
1151 - Honor PATH_SEPARATOR in various places of the Automake package, for
1154 - Adjust dependency tracking mode detection to ICC 8.0's new output.
1157 - Fix install-sh so it can install the `mv' binary... using `mv'.
1159 - Fix tru64 dependency tracking for libtool objects.
1161 - Work around Exuberant Ctags when creating a TAGS files in a directory
1162 without files to scan but with subdirectories to include.
1164 * Bugs introduced by 1.8:
1166 - Fix an "internal error" when @LIBOBJS@ is used in a variable that is
1167 not defined in the same conditions as the _LDADD that uses it.
1169 - Do not warn when JAVAROOT is overridden, this is legitimate.
1171 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1173 Bugs fixed in 1.8.3:
1175 * Long-standing bugs:
1177 - Quote filenames in installation rules, in case $DESTDIR, $prefix,
1178 or any of the other *dir variables contain a space.
1180 Please note that Automake does not and cannot support spaces in
1181 filenames that are involved during the build. This change affects
1182 only installation paths, so that `make install' does not bomb out
1183 in packages configured with
1184 ./configure --prefix '/c/Program Files'
1186 - Fix the depfiles output so it works with GNU sed (<4.1) even when
1187 POSIXLY_CORRECT is set.
1189 - Do not AC_SUBST(LIBOBJS) in AM_WITH_REGEX. This macro was unusable
1190 since Autoconf 2.54, which defines LIBOBJS itself.
1192 - Fix a potential (but unlikely) race condition in parallel elisp
1193 builds. (Introduced in 1.7.3.)
1195 - Do not assume that users override _DEPENDENCIES in all conditions
1196 where Automake will try to define them.
1198 - Do not use `mkdir -p' in mkinstalldirs, unless this is GNU mkdir.
1199 Solaris 8's `mkdir -p' is not thread-safe and can break parallel
1202 This fix also affects the $(mkdir_p) variable defined since
1203 Automake 1.8. It will be set to `mkdir -p' only if mkdir is GNU
1204 mkdir, and to `mkinstalldirs' or `install-sh -d' otherwise.
1206 - Secure temporary directory creation in `make distcheck'. (PR/413)
1208 - Do not generate two build rules for `parser.h' when the
1209 parser appears in two different conditionals.
1211 - Work around a Solaris 8 /bin/sh bug in the test for dependency
1212 checking. Usually ./configure will not pick this shell; so this
1213 fix only helps cases where the shell is forced to /bin/sh.
1215 * Bugs introduced by 1.8:
1217 - In some situations (hand-written `m4_include's), aclocal would
1218 call the `File::Spec->rel2abs' method, which was only introduced
1219 in Perl 5.6. This new version reestablish support Perl 5.005.
1221 It is likely that the next major Automake releases will require at
1222 least Perl 5.6. Consider upgrading your development environment
1223 if you are still using the five-year-old Perl 5.005.
1225 - Automake would sometimes fail to define rules for targets listed
1226 in variables defined in multiple conditions. For instance on
1232 it would define only the `a.$(OBJEXT): a.c' rule and omit the
1233 `b.$(OBJEXT): b.c' rule.
1235 * New sections in manual:
1237 - Third-Party Makefiles: how to interface third party Makefiles.
1238 - Upgrading: upgrading packages to newer Automake versions.
1239 - Multiple Outputs: handling tools that produce many outputs.
1241 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1245 * A (well known) portability bug slipped in the changes made to
1246 install-sh in Automake 1.8.1. The broken install-sh would refuse to
1247 install anything on Tru64.
1249 * Fix install rules for conditionally built python files. (This never
1252 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1256 * Bugs introduced by 1.8:
1258 - Fix Config.pm import error with old Perl versions (at least
1259 5.005_03). One symptom is that aclocal could not find its macro
1262 - Automake 1.8 used `mkdir -m 0755 -p --' to ensure that directories
1263 created by `make install' are always world readable, even if the
1264 installer happens to have an overly restrictive umask (e.g. 077).
1265 This was a mistake and has been reverted. There are at least two
1266 reasons why we must not use `-m 0755':
1267 - it causes special bits like SGID to be ignored,
1268 - it may be too restrictive (some setups expect 775 directories).
1270 - Fix aclocal to honor definitions located in files which have been
1271 m4_included manually. aclocal 1.8 had been updated to check
1272 m4_included files for new requirements, but forgot that these
1273 m4_included files can also provide new definitions.
1275 Note that if you have such a setup, we recommend you get rid of
1276 it. In the past, there was a reason to m4_include files manually:
1277 aclocal used to duplicate entire M4 files into aclocal.m4, even
1278 files that were distributed. Some packages were therefore
1279 m4_including the distributed file directly, and playing some
1280 tricks to ensure aclocal would not copy that file to aclocal.m4,
1281 in order to limit the amount of duplication. Since aclocal 1.8.x
1282 will precisely output m4_includes for local M4 files, we recommend
1283 that you clean up your setup, removing all manual m4_includes and
1284 letting aclocal output them.
1286 - Output detailed menus in the Info version if the Automake manual,
1287 so that Emacs can locate the indexes.
1289 - configure.ac and configure were listed twice in DIST_COMMON (an
1290 internal variable where Automake lists configury files to
1291 distribute). This was harmless, but unaesthetic.
1293 - Use `chmod a-w' instead of `chmod -w' as the latter honors umask.
1294 This was an issue only in the Automake package itself, not in
1297 - Automake assumed that all AC_CONFIG_LINKS arguments had the form
1298 DEST:SRC. This was wrong, as some packages do
1299 AC_CONFIG_LINKS($computedlinks). This version no longer abort in
1302 - Contrary to mkinstalldirs, $(mkdir_p) was expecting exactly one
1303 argument. This caused two kinds of failures:
1304 - Rules installing data in a conditionally defined directory
1305 failed when that directory was undefined. In this case no
1306 argument was supplied.
1307 - `make installdirs' failed, because several directories were
1308 passed to $(mkdir_p). This was an issue only on platform
1309 were $(mkdir_p) is implemented with `install-sh -d'.
1310 $(mkdir_p) as been changed to accept 0 or more arguments, as
1313 * Long-standing bugs:
1315 - Fix an unexpected diagnostic occurring when users attempt
1316 to override some internal variables that Automake appends to.
1318 - aclocal now scans configure.ac for macro definitions (PR/319).
1320 - Fix a portability issue with OSF1/Tru64 Make. If a directory
1321 distributes files which are outside itself (this usually occurs
1322 when using AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR([../dir]) to use auxiliary files
1323 from a parent package), then `make distcheck' fails due to an
1324 optimization performed by OSF1/Tru64 Make in its VPATH handling.
1325 (tests/subpkg2.test failure)
1327 - Fix another portability issue with Sun and OSF1/Tru64 Make.
1328 In a VPATH-build configuration, `make install' would install
1329 nobase_ files to wrong locations.
1331 - Fix a Perl `uninitialized value' diagnostic occurring when
1332 automake complains that a Texinfo file does not have a
1333 @setfilename statement.
1335 - Erase config.status.lineno during `make distclean'. This file
1336 can be created by config.status. Automake already knew about
1337 configure.lineno, but forgot config.status.lineno.
1339 - Distribute all files, even those which are built and installed
1340 conditionally. This change affects files listed in conditionally
1341 defined *_HEADERS and *_PYTHON variable (unless they are nodist_*)
1342 as well as those listed in conditionally defined dist_*_DATA,
1343 dist_*_JAVA, dist_*_LISP, and dist_*_SCRIPTS variables.
1345 - Fix AM_PATH_LISPDIR to avoid \? in sed regular expressions; it
1346 doesn't conform to POSIX.
1348 - Normalize help strings for configure variables and options added
1353 - Check for python2.4 in AM_PATH_PYTHON.
1355 * Spurious failures in test suite:
1357 - tests/libtool5.test, tests/ltcond.test, tests/ltcond2.test,
1358 tests/ltconv.test: fix failures with CVS Libtool.
1359 - tests/aclocal6.test: fix failure if autom4te.cache is disabled.
1360 - tests/txinfo24.test, tests/txinfo25.test, tests/txinfo28.test:
1361 fix failures with old Texinfo versions.
1363 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1369 - The NEWS file is more verbose.
1373 - Autoconf 2.58 or greater is required.
1377 - Default source file names in the absence of a _SOURCES declaration
1378 are made by removing any target extension before appending `.c', so
1379 to make the libtool module `foo.la' from `foo.c', you only need to
1382 lib_LTLIBRARIES = foo.la
1383 foo_la_LDFLAGS = -module
1385 For backward compatibility, foo_la.c will be used instead of
1386 foo.c if this file exists or is the explicit target of a rule.
1387 However -Wobsolete will warn about this deprecated naming.
1389 - AR's `cru' flags are now set in a global ARFLAGS variable instead
1390 of being hard-coded in each $(AR) invocation, so they can be
1391 substituted from configure.ac. This has been requested by people
1392 dealing with non-POSIX ar implementations.
1394 - New warning option: -Woverride. This will warn about any user
1395 target or variable definitions which override Automake
1398 - Texinfo rules back up and restore info files when makeinfo fails.
1400 - Texinfo rules now support the `html' target.
1401 Running this requires Texinfo 4.0 or greater.
1403 `html' is a new recursive target, so if your package mixes
1404 hand-crafted `Makefile.in's with Automake-generated
1405 `Makefile.in's, you should adjust the former to support (or
1406 ignore) this target so that `make html' recurses successfully. If
1407 you had a custom `html' rule in your `Makefile.am', it's better to
1408 rename it as `html-local', otherwise your rule will override
1409 Automake's new rule (you can check that by running `automake
1410 -Woverride') and that will stop the recursion to subdirectories.
1412 Last but not least, this `html' rule is declared PHONY, even when
1413 overridden. Fortunately, it appears that few packages use a
1414 non-PHONY `html' rule.
1416 - Any file which is m4_included from configure.ac will appear as a
1417 configure and Makefile.in dependency, and will be automatically
1420 - The rules for rebuilding Makefiles and Makefile.ins will now
1421 rebuild all Makefiles and all Makefile.ins at once when one of
1422 configure's dependencies has changed. This is considerably faster
1423 than previous implementations, where config.status and automake
1424 were run separately in each directory (this still happens when you
1425 change a Makefile.am locally, without touching configure.ac or
1426 friends). Doing this also solves a longstanding issue: these
1427 rebuild rules failed to work when adding new directories to the
1428 tree, forcing you to run automake manually.
1430 - For similar reasons, the rules to rebuild configure,
1431 config.status, and aclocal.m4 are now defined in all directories.
1432 Note that if you were using the CONFIG_STATUS_DEPENDENCIES and
1433 CONFIGURE_DEPENDENCIES (formerly undocumented) variables, you
1434 should better define them in all directories. This is easily done
1435 using an AC_SUBST (make sure you prefix these dependencies with
1436 $(top_srcdir) since this variable will appear at different
1437 levels of the build tree).
1439 - aclocal will now use `m4_include' instead of copying local m4
1440 files into aclocal.m4. (Local m4 files are those you ship with
1441 your project, other files will be copied as usual.)
1443 Because m4_included files are automatically distributed, it means
1444 for most projects there is no point in EXTRA_DISTing the list of
1445 m4 files which are used. (You can probably get rid of
1446 m4/Makefile.am if you had one.)
1448 - aclocal will avoid touching aclocal.m4 when possible, so that
1449 Autom4te's cache isn't needlessly invalidated. This behavior can
1450 be switched off with the new `--force' option.
1452 - aclocal now uses Autoconf's --trace to detect macros which are
1453 actually used and will no longer include unused macros simply
1454 because they where mentioned. This was often the case for macros
1455 called conditionally.
1457 - New options no-dist and no-dist-gzip.
1459 - compile, depcomp, elisp-comp, install-sh, mdate-sh, mkinstalldirs,
1460 py-compile, and ylwrap, now all understand --version and --help.
1462 - Automake will now recognize AC_CONFIG_LINKS so far as removing created
1463 links as part of the distclean target and including source files in
1466 - AM_PATH_PYTHON now supports ACTION-IF-FOUND and ACTION-IF-NOT-FOUND
1467 argument. The latter can be used to override the default behavior
1468 (which is to abort).
1470 - Automake will exit with $? = 63 on version mismatch. (So does
1471 Autoconf 2.58) missing knows this, and in this case it will
1472 emulate the tools as if they were absent. Because older versions
1473 of Automake and Autoconf did not use this exit code, this change
1474 will only be useful in projects generated with future versions of
1477 - When using AC_CONFIG_FILES with multiple input files, Automake
1478 generates the first ".in" input file for which a ".am" exists.
1479 (Former versions would try to use only the first input file.)
1481 - lisp_DATA is now allowed. If you are using the empty ELCFILES
1482 idiom to disable byte-compilation of lisp_LISP files, it is
1483 recommended that you switch to using lisp_DATA. Note that
1484 this is not strictly equivalent: lisp_DATA will install elisp
1485 files even if emacs is not installed, while *_LISP do not
1486 install anything unless emacs is found.
1488 - Makefiles will prefer `mkdir -p' over mkinstalldirs if it is
1489 available. This selection is achieved through the Makefile
1490 variable $(mkdir_p) that is set by AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE to either
1491 `mkdir -m 0755 -p --', `$(mkinstalldirs) -m 0755', or
1492 `$(install_sh) -m 0755 -d'.
1496 - Because `mkdir -p' is available on most platforms, and we can use
1497 `install-sh -d' when it is not, the use of the mkinstalldirs
1498 script is being phased out. `automake --add-missing' no longer
1499 installs it, and if you remove mkinstalldirs from your package,
1500 automake will define $(mkinstalldirs) as an alias for $(mkdir_p).
1502 Gettext 0.12.1 still requires mkinstalldirs. Fortunately
1503 gettextize and autopoint will install it when needed. Automake
1504 will continue to define the $(mkinstalldirs) and to distribute
1505 mkinstalldirs when this script is in the source tree.
1507 - AM_PROG_CC_STDC is now empty. The content of this macro was
1508 merged in AC_PROG_CC. If your code uses $am_cv_prog_cc_stdc, you
1509 should adjust it to use $ac_cv_prog_cc_stdc instead. (This
1510 renaming should be safe, even if you have to support several,
1511 versions of Automake, because AC_PROG_CC defines this variable
1512 since Autoconf 2.54.)
1514 - Some users where using the undocumented ACLOCAL_M4_SOURCES
1515 variable to override the aclocal.m4 dependencies computed
1516 (inaccurately) by older versions of Automake. Because Automake
1517 now tracks configure's m4 dependencies accurately (see m4_include
1518 above), the use of ACLOCAL_M4_SOURCES should be considered
1519 obsolete and will be flagged as such when running `automake
1524 - Defining programs conditionally using Automake conditionals no
1525 longer leads to a combinatorial explosion. The following
1526 construct used to be troublesome when used with dozens of
1541 Likewise for _SOURCES, _LDADD, and _LIBADD variables.
1543 - Due to implementation constraints, previous versions of Automake
1544 proscribed multiple conditional definitions of some variables
1554 All _PROGRAMS, _LDADD, and _LIBADD variables were affected.
1555 This restriction has been lifted, and these variables now
1556 support multiple conditional definitions as do other variables.
1558 - Cleanup the definitions of $(distdir) and $(top_distdir).
1559 $(top_distdir) now points to the root of the distribution
1560 directory created during `make dist', as it did in Automake 1.4,
1561 not to the root of the build tree as it did in intervening
1562 versions. Furthermore these two variables are now only defined in
1563 the top level Makefile, and passed to sub-directories when running
1566 - The --no-force option now correctly checks the Makefile.in's
1567 dependencies before deciding not to update it.
1569 - Do not assume that make files are called Makefile in cleaning rules.
1571 - Update .info files in the source tree, not in the build tree. This
1572 is what the GNU Coding Standard recommend. Only Automake 1.7.x
1573 used to update these files in the build tree (previous versions did
1574 it in the source tree too), and it caused several problems, varying
1575 from mere annoyance to portability issues.
1577 - COPYING, COPYING.LIB, and COPYING.LESSER are no longer overwritten
1578 when --add-missing and --force-missing are used. For backward
1579 compatibility --add-missing will continue to install COPYING (in
1580 `gnu' strictness) when none of these three files exist, but this
1581 use is deprecated: you should better choose a license yourself and
1582 install it once for all in your source tree (and in your code
1585 - Fix ylwrap so that it does not overwrite header files that haven't
1586 changed, as the inline rule already does.
1588 - User-defined rules override automake-defined rules for the same
1589 targets, even when rules do not have commands. This is not new
1590 (and was documented), however some of the automake-generated
1591 rules have escaped this principle in former Automake versions.
1592 Rules for the following targets are affected by this fix:
1594 clean, clean-am, dist-all, distclean, distclean-am, dvi, dvi-am,
1595 info, info-am, install-data-am, install-exec-am, install-info,
1596 install-info-am, install-man, installcheck-am, maintainer-clean,
1597 maintainer-clean-am, mostlyclean, mostlyclean-am, pdf, pdf-am,
1598 ps, ps-am, uninstall-am, uninstall-info, uninstall-man
1600 Practically it means that an attempt to supplement the dependencies
1601 of some target, as in
1603 clean: my-clean-rule
1605 will now *silently override* the automake definition of the
1606 rule for this target. Running `automake -Woverride' will diagnose
1607 all such overriding definitions.
1609 It should be noted that almost all these targets support a *-local
1610 variant that is meant to supplement the automake-defined rule
1611 (See node `Extending' in the manual). The above rule should
1614 clean-local: my-clean-rule
1616 These *-local targets have been documented since at least
1617 Automake 1.2, so you should not fear the change if you have
1618 to support multiple automake versions.
1622 - The Automake manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
1624 - Targets dist-gzip, dist-bzip2, dist-tarZ, dist-zip are always defined.
1626 - core dumps are no longer removed by the cleaning rules. There are
1627 at least three reasons for this:
1628 1. These files should not be created by any build step,
1629 so their removal do not fit any of the cleaning rules.
1630 Actually, they may be precious to the developer.
1631 2. If such file is created during a build, then it's clearly a
1632 bug Automake should not hide. Not removing the file will
1633 cause `make distcheck' to complain about its presence.
1634 3. Operating systems have different naming conventions for
1635 core dump files. A core file on one system might be a
1636 completely legitimate data file on another system.
1638 - RUNTESTFLAGS, CTAGSFLAGS, ETAGSFLAGS, JAVACFLAGS are no longer
1639 defined by Automake. This means that any definition in the
1640 environment will be used, unless overridden in the Makefile.am or
1641 on the command line. The old behavior, where these variables were
1642 defined empty in each Makefile, can be obtained by AC_SUBSTing or
1643 AC_ARG_VARing each variable from configure.ac.
1645 - CONFIGURE_DEPENDENCIES and CONFIG_STATUS_DEPENDENCIES are now
1646 documented. (The is not a new feature, these variables have
1647 been there since at least Automake 1.4.)
1649 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1651 Bugs fixed in 1.7.9:
1652 * Fix install-strip to work with nobase_ binaries.
1653 * Fix renaming of #line directives in ylwrap.
1654 * Rebuild with Autoconf 2.59. (1.7.8 was not installable with pdksh.)
1656 Bugs fixed in 1.7.8:
1657 * Remove spurious blank lines in cleaning rules introduced in 1.7.7.
1658 * Fix detection of Debian's install-info, broken since version 1.5.
1659 (Debian bug #213524).
1660 * Honor -module if it appears in AM_LDFLAGS (i.e., relax name checking)
1661 This was only done for libfoo_LDFLAGS and LDFLAGS in previous versions.
1663 Bugs fixed in 1.7.7:
1664 * The implementation of automake's --no-force option is unreliable,
1665 so this option is ignored in this version. A real fix will appear in
1666 Automake 1.8. (Debian Bug #206299)
1667 * AM_PATH_PYTHON: really check the whole list of interpreters if no
1668 argument is given. (PR/399)
1669 * Do not warn about leading `_' in variable names, even with -Wportability.
1670 * Support user redefinitions of TEXINFO_TEX.
1671 * depcomp: support AIX Compiler version 6.
1672 * Fix missing rebuilds during `make dist' with BSD make.
1673 (Could produce tarballs containing out-of-date files.)
1674 * Resurrect multilib support.
1675 * Noteworthy manual updates:
1676 - Extending aclocal: how to write m4 macros that won't trigger warnings
1678 - A Shared Library: Rewrite and split into subsections.
1680 Bugs fixed in 1.7.6:
1681 * Fix depcomp's icc mode for ICC 7.1.
1682 * Diagnose calls to AC_CONFIG_FILES and friends with not enough arguments.
1683 * Fix maintainer-clean's removal of autom4te.cache in VPATH builds.
1684 * Fix AM_PATH_LISPDIR to work with POSIXLY_CORRECT=1.
1685 * Fix the location reported in some diagnostics related to AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS.
1686 * Remove Latin-1 characters from elisp-comp.
1687 * Update the manual's @dircategory to match the Free Software Directory.
1689 Bugs fixed in 1.7.5:
1690 * Update install-sh's license to remove an advertising clause.
1691 (Debian bug #191717)
1692 * Fix a bug introduced in 1.7.4, related to BUILT_SOURCE handling,
1693 that caused invalid Makefile.ins to be generated.
1694 * Make sure AM_MAKE_INCLUDE doesn't fail when a `doit' file exists.
1695 * New FAQ entry: renamed objects.
1697 Bugs fixed in 1.7.4:
1698 * Tweak the TAGS rule to support Exuberant Ctags (in addition to
1699 the Emacs implementation)
1700 * Fix output of aclocal.m4 dependencies in subdirectories.
1701 * Use `mv -f' instead of `mv' in fastdep rules.
1702 * Upgrade mdate-sh to work on OS/2.
1703 * Don't byte-compile elisp files when ELCFILES is set empty.
1704 (this documented feature was broken by 1.7.3)
1705 * Diagnose trailing backslashes on last line of Makefile.am.
1706 * Diagnose whitespace following trailing backslashes.
1707 * Multiple tests are now correctly supported in DEJATOOL. (PR/388)
1708 * Fix rebuilt rules for AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile:Makefile.in:Makefile.bot])
1710 * `make install' will build `BUILT_SOURCES' first.
1711 * Minor documentation fixes.
1713 Bugs fixed in 1.7.3:
1714 * Fix stamp files numbering (when using multiple AC_CONFIG_HEADERS).
1715 * Query distutils for `pythondir' and `pythonexecdir', instead of
1716 using an hardcoded path. This should allow builds on 64-bit
1717 distributions that usually use lib64/ instead of lib/.
1718 * AM_PATH_PYTHON will also search for python2.3.
1719 * elisp files are now built all at once instead of one by one. Besides
1720 incurring a speed-up, this is required to support interdependent elisp files.
1721 * Support for DJGPP:
1722 - `make distcheck' will now work in `_inst/' and `_build' instead
1723 of `=inst/' and `=build/'
1724 - use `_dirstamp' when the file-system doesn't support `.dirstamp'
1725 - install/uninstall `*.i[0-9][0-9]'-style info files
1726 - more changes that affect only the Automake package (not its output)
1727 * Fix some incompatibilities with upcoming perl-5.10.
1728 * Properly quote AC_PACKAGE_TARNAME and AC_PACKAGE_VERSION when defining
1729 PACKAGE and VERSION.
1731 - dashmstdout and dashXmstdout modes: don't use `-o /dev/null', this
1732 is troublesome with gcc and Solaris compilers. (PR/385)
1733 - makedepend mode: work with Libtool. (PR/385 too)
1735 * better support for unusual gettext setups, such as multiple po/ directories
1737 - Flag missing po/ and intl/ directories as warnings, not errors.
1738 - Disable these warnings if po/ does not exist.
1739 * Noteworthy manual updates:
1741 - Document how AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR interacts with missing files.
1743 - Document `AM_YFLAGS = -d'. (PR/382)
1745 Bugs fixed in 1.7.2:
1746 * Fix installation and uninstallation of Info files built in subdirectories.
1747 * Do not run `./configure --with-included-gettext' during `make distcheck'
1748 if AM_GNU_GETTEXT([external]) is used.
1749 * Correctly uninstall renamed man pages.
1750 * Do not strip escaped newline in variables defined in one condition
1751 and augmented in another condition.
1752 * Fix ansi2knr rules for LIBOBJS sources.
1753 * Clean all known Texinfo index files, not only those which appear to
1754 be used, because we cannot know which indexes are used in included files.
1755 (PR/375, Debian Bug #168671)
1756 * Honor only the first @setfilename seen in a Texinfo file.
1757 * Treat "required file X not found" diagnostics as errors (exit status 1).
1758 * Don't complain that a required file is not found when it is a Makefile
1760 * Don't use single suffix inference rules when building `.info'-less
1761 Info files, for the sake of Solaris make.
1762 * The `check' target now depends on `$(BUILT_SOURCES)'. (PR/359)
1763 * Recognize multiple inference rules such as `.a.b .c.d:'. (PR/371)
1764 * Warn about multiple inference rules when -Wportability is used. (PR/372)
1765 * Fix building of deansified files from subdirectories. (PR/370)
1766 * Add missing `fi' in the .c->.obj rules.
1767 * Improve install-sh to work even when names contain spaces or certain
1768 (but not all) shell metachars.
1769 * Fix the following spurious failures in the test suite:
1770 depcomp2.test, gnits2.test, gnits3.test, python3.test, texinfo13.test
1771 * Noteworthy manual updates:
1772 - Augment the section about BUILT_SOURCES.
1773 - Mention that AM_PROG_CC_STDC is a relic that is better avoided today.
1775 Bugs fixed in 1.7.1:
1776 * Honor `ansi2knr' for files built in subdirectories, or using per-targets
1778 * Aclocal should now recognize macro names containing parentheses, e.g.
1779 AC_DEFUN([AC_LANG_PREPROC(Fortran 90)], [...]).
1780 * Erase *.sum and *.log files created by DejaGnu, during `make distclean'.
1782 * Install Python files even if they were built. (PR/369)
1783 * Have stamp-vti dependent upon configure instead of configure.ac, as the
1784 version might not be defined in the latter. (PR/358)
1785 * Reorder arguments passed to a couple of commands, so things works
1786 when POSIXLY_CORRECT=1.
1787 * Fix a regex that can cause Perl to segfault on large input.
1789 * Fix distribution of packages that have some sources defined conditionally,
1790 as in the `Conditional compilation using Automake conditionals' example
1792 * Fix spurious test suite failures on IRIX.
1793 * Don't report a required variable as undefined if it has been
1794 defined conditionally for the "right" conditions.
1795 * Fix cleaning of the /tmp subdirectory used by `make distcheck', in case
1796 `make distcheck' fails.
1797 * Fix distribution of included Makefile fragment, so we don't create
1798 spurious directories in the distribution. (PR/366)
1799 * Don't complain that a target lacks `.$(EXEEXT)' when it has it.
1802 * Autoconf 2.54 is required.
1803 * `aclocal' and `automake' will no longer warn about obsolete
1804 configure macros. This is done by `autoconf -Wobsolete'.
1805 * AM_CONFIG_HEADER, AM_SYS_POSIX_TERMIOS and
1806 AM_HEADER_TIOCGWINSZ_NEEDS_SYS_IOCTL are obsolete (although still
1807 supported). You should use AC_CONFIG_HEADERS, AC_SYS_POSIX_TERMIOS,
1808 and AC_HEADER_TIOCGWINSZ instead. `autoupdate' can upgrade
1809 `configure.ac' for you.
1810 * Support for per-program and per-library `_CPPFLAGS'.
1811 * New `ctags' target (builds CTAGS files).
1812 * Support for -Wmumble and -Wno-mumble, where mumble is a warning category
1813 (see `automake --help' or the manual for a list of them).
1814 * Honor the WARNINGS environment variable.
1815 * Omit the call to depcomp when using gcc3: call the compiler directly.
1816 * A new option, std-options, tests that programs support --help and --version
1817 when `make installcheck' is run. This is enabled by --gnits.
1818 * Texinfo rules now support the `ps' and `pdf' targets.
1819 * Info files are now created in the build directory, not the source directory.
1820 * info_TEXINFOS supports files in subdirectories (this requires Texinfo 4.1
1822 * `make distcheck' will enforce DESTDIR support by attempting
1824 * `+=' can be used in conditionals, even if the augmented variable
1825 was defined for another condition.
1826 * Makefile fragments (inserted with `include') are always distributed.
1827 * Use Autoconf's --trace interface to inspect configure.ac and get
1828 a more accurate view of it.
1829 * Add support for extending aclocal's default macro search path
1830 using a `dirlist' file within the aclocal directory.
1831 * automake --output-dir is deprecated.
1832 * The part of the distcheck target that checks whether uninstall actually
1833 removes all installed files has been moved in a separate target,
1834 distuninstallcheck, so it can be overridden easily.
1838 * Support for AM_INIT_GETTEXT([external])
1839 * Bug fixes, including:
1840 - Fix Automake's own `make install' so it works even if `ln' doesn't.
1841 - nobase_ programs and scripts honor --program-transform correctly.
1842 - Erase configure.lineno during `make distclean'.
1843 - Erase YACC and LEX outputs during `make maintainer-clean'.
1846 * Many bug fixes, including:
1847 - Requiring the current version works.
1848 - Fix "$@" portability issues (for Zsh).
1849 - Fix output of dummy dependency files in presence of post-processed
1851 - Don't compute dependencies in background to avoid races with libtool.
1852 - Fix handling of _OBJECTS variables for targets sharing source variables.
1853 - Check dependency mode for Java when AM_PROG_GCJ is used.
1856 * automake --output-dir is deprecated
1857 * Many bug fixes, including:
1858 - Don't choke on AM_LDFLAGS definitions.
1859 - Clean libtool objects from subdirectories.
1860 - Allow configure variables with reserved suffix and unknown prefix
1861 (e.g. AC_SUBST(mumble_LDFLAGS) when 'mumble' is not a target).
1862 - Fix the definition of AUTOMAKE and ACLOCAL in configure.
1865 * Autoconf 2.52 is required.
1866 * automake no longer run libtoolize.
1867 This is the job of autoreconf (from GNU Autoconf).
1868 * `dist' generates all the archive flavors, as did `dist-all'.
1869 * `dist-gzip' generates the Gzip tar file only.
1870 * Combining Automake Makefile conditionals no longer lead to a combinatorial
1871 explosion. Makefile.in's keep a reasonable size.
1872 * AM_FUNC_ERROR_AT_LINE, AM_FUNC_STRTOD, AM_FUNC_OBSTACK, AM_PTRDIFF_T
1873 are no longer shipped, since Autoconf 2.52 provides them (both as AM_
1875 * `#line' of Lex and Yacc files are properly set.
1876 * EXTRA_DIST can contain generated directories.
1877 * Support for dot-less extensions in suffix rules.
1878 * The part of the distcheck target that checks whether distclean actually
1879 cleans all built files has been moved in a separate target, distcleancheck,
1880 so it can be overridden easily.
1881 * `make distcheck' will pass additional options defined in
1882 $(DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS) to configure.
1883 * Fixed CDPATH portability problems, in particular for MacOS X.
1884 * Fixed handling of nobase_ targets.
1885 * Fixed support of implicit rules leading to .lo objects.
1886 * Fixed late inclusion of --add-missing files (e.g. depcomp) in DIST_COMMON
1887 * Added uninstall-hook target
1888 * `AC_INIT AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE(tarname,version)' is an obsolete construct.
1889 You can now use `AC_INIT(pkgname,version) AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE' instead.
1890 (Note that "pkgname" is not "tarname", see the manual for details.)
1891 It is also possible to pass a list of global Automake options as
1892 first argument to this new form of AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE.
1893 * Compiler-based assembler is now called `CCAS'; people expected `AS'
1894 to be a real assembler.
1895 * AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE will set STRIP itself when it needs it. Adding
1896 AC_CHECK_TOOL([STRIP], [strip]) manually is no longer required.
1897 * aclocal and automake are also installed with the version number
1898 appended, and some of the install directory names have changed.
1899 This lets you have multiple versions installed simultaneously.
1900 * Support for parsers and lexers in subdirectories.
1903 * Support for `configure.ac'.
1904 * Support for `else COND', `endif COND' and negated conditions `!COND'.
1905 * `make dist-all' is much faster.
1906 * Allows '@' AC_SUBSTs in macro names.
1907 * Faster AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE (requires update of `missing' script)
1908 * User-side dependency tracking. Developers no longer need GNU make
1910 * Uses DIST_SUBDIRS in some situations when SUBDIRS is conditional
1911 * Most files are correctly handled if they appear in subdirs
1912 For instance, a _DATA file can appear in a subdir
1913 * GNU tar is no longer required for `make dist'
1914 * Added support for `dist_' and `nodist_' prefixes
1915 * Added support for `nobase_' prefix
1916 * Compiled Java support
1917 * Support for per-executable and per-library compilation flags
1921 * Added support for the Fortran 77 programming language.
1922 * Re-indexed the Automake Texinfo manual.
1923 * Added `AM_FOOFLAGS' variable for each compiler invocation;
1924 e.g. AM_CFLAGS can be used in Makefile.am to set C compiler flags
1925 * Support for latest autoconf, including support for objext
1926 * Can now put `.' in SUBDIRS to control build order
1927 * `include' command and `+=' support for macro assignment
1928 * Dependency tracking no long susceptible to deleted header file problem
1929 * Maintainer mode now a conditional. @MAINT@ is now an anachronism.
1934 * Better Cygwin32 support
1935 * Support for suffix rules with _SOURCES variables
1936 * New options `readme-alpha' and `check-news'; Gnits mode sets these
1937 * @LEXLIB@ no longer required when lex source seen
1938 Lex support in `missing', and new lex macro. Update your missing script.
1939 * Built-in support for assembly
1940 * aclocal gives error if `AM_' macro not found
1941 * Passed YFLAGS, not YACCFLAGS, to yacc
1942 * AM_PROG_CC_STDC does not have to come before AC_PROG_CPP
1943 * Dependencies computed as a side effect of compilation
1944 * Preliminary support for Java
1945 * DESTDIR support at "make install" time
1946 * Improved ansi2knr support; you must use the latest ansi2knr.c (included)
1950 * Better DejaGnu support
1951 * Added no-installinfo option
1952 * Added Emacs Lisp support
1953 * Added --no-force option
1954 * Included `aclocal' program
1955 * Automake will now generate rules to regenerate aclocal.m4, if appropriate
1956 * Now uses `AM_' macro names everywhere
1957 * ansi2knr option can have directory prefix (eg `../lib/ansi2knr')
1958 ansi2knr now works correctly on K&R sources
1959 * Better C++, yacc, lex support
1960 * Will compute _DEPENDENCIES variables automatically if not supplied
1961 * Will interpolate $(...) and ${...} when examining contents of a variable
1962 * .deps files now in build directory, not source directory; dependency
1963 handling generally rewritten
1964 * DATA, MANS and BUILT_SOURCES no longer included in distribution
1965 * can now put config.h into a subdir
1966 * Added dist-all target
1967 * Support for install-info program (see texinfo 3.9)
1968 * Support for "yacc -d"
1969 * configure substitutions are automatically discovered and included
1970 in generated Makefile.in
1971 * Special --cygnus mode
1972 * OMIT_DEPENDENCIES can now hold list of dependencies to be omitted
1973 when making distribution. Some dependencies are auto-ignored.
1974 * Changed how libraries are specified in _LIBRARIES variable
1975 * Full libtool support, from Gord Matzigkeit
1976 * No longer have to explicitly touch stamp-h when using AC_CONFIG_HEADER;
1977 AM_CONFIG_HEADER handles it automatically
1978 * Texinfo output files no longer need .info extension
1979 * Added `missing' support
1981 * Conditionals in Makefile.am, from Ian Taylor
1985 * distcheck target runs install and installcheck targets
1986 * Added preliminary support for DejaGnu.
1991 * More libtool fixes from Gord Matzigkeit; libtool support is still
1993 * Added support for jm_MAINTAINER_MODE
1995 * New "distcheck" target
1999 * mkinstalldirs and mdate-sh now appear in directory specified by
2001 * Removed DIST_SUBDIRS, DIST_OTHER
2002 * AC_ARG_PROGRAM only required when an actual program exists
2003 * dist-hook target now run before distribution packaged up; idea from
2004 Dieter Baron. Other hooks exist, too.
2005 * Preliminary (unfinished) support for libtool
2006 * Added short option names.
2007 * Better "dist" support when gluing together multiple packages
2011 * Documentation updates (many from François Pinard)
2012 * strictness `normal' now renamed to `foreign'
2013 * Renamed --install-missing to --add-missing
2014 * Now handles AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR
2015 * Now handles TESTS macro
2016 * DIST_OTHER renamed to EXTRA_DIST
2017 * DIST_SUBDIRS is deprecated
2018 * @ALLOCA@ and @LIBOBJS@ now work in _LDADD variables
2019 * Better error messages in many cases
2020 * Program names are canonicalized
2021 * Added "check" prefix; from Gord Matzigkeit
2025 * configure.in scanner knows about AC_PATH_XTRA, AC_OUTPUT ":" syntax
2026 * Beginnings of a test suite
2027 * Automatically adds -I options for $(srcdir), ".", and path to config.h
2028 * Doesn't print anything when running
2029 * Beginnings of MAINT_CHARSET support
2030 * Can specify version in AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS
2031 * Most errors recognizable by Emacs' M-x next-error
2032 * Added --verbose option
2033 * All "primary" variables now obsolete; use EXTRA_PRIMARY to supply
2034 configure-generated names
2035 * Required macros now distributed in aclocal.m4
2037 * --strictness=gnu is default
2041 * More sophisticated configure.in scanning; now understands ALLOCA and
2042 LIBOBJS directly, handles AC_CONFIG_HEADER more precisely, etc.
2043 * TEXINFOS and MANS now obsolete; use info_TEXINFOS and man_MANS instead.
2044 * CONFIG_HEADER variable now obsolete
2045 * Can handle multiple Texinfo sources
2046 * Allow hierarchies deeper than 2. From Gord Matzigkeit.
2047 * HEADERS variable no longer needed; now can put .h files directly into
2048 foo_SOURCES variable.
2049 * Automake automatically rebuilds files listed in AC_OUTPUT. The
2050 corresponding ".in" files are included in the distribution.
2053 * Added --gnu and --gnits options
2054 * More standards checking
2056 * Cleaned up 'dist' targets
2057 * Added AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS variable and several options
2058 * Now scans configure.in to get some information (preliminary)
2061 * Works with Perl 4 again
2064 * Added --install-missing option.
2065 * Pretty-prints generated macros and rules
2066 * Comments in Makefile.am are placed more intelligently in Makefile.in
2067 * Generates .PHONY target
2068 * Rule or macro in Makefile.am now overrides contents of Automake file
2069 * Substantial cleanups from François Pinard
2073 * Works with Perl 4 again.
2076 * New uniform naming scheme.
2077 * --strictness option
2079 * '.c' files corresponding to '.y' or '.l' files are automatically
2081 * Many bug fixes and cleanups
2084 * Allow objects to be conditionally included in libraries via lib_LIBADD.
2087 * Bug fixes in 'clean' code.
2088 * Now generates 'installdirs' target.
2089 * man page installation reworked.
2090 * 'make dist' no longer re-creates all Makefile.in's.
2093 * Reimplemented in Perl
2094 * Added --amdir option (for debugging)
2095 * Texinfo support cleaned up.
2096 * Automatic de-ANSI-fication cleaned up.
2097 * Cleaned up 'clean' targets.
2100 * Automatic dependency tracking
2101 * More documentation
2102 * New variables DATA and PACKAGEDATA
2103 * SCRIPTS installed using $(INSTALL_SCRIPT)
2104 * No longer uses double-colon rules
2106 * Changes in advance of internationalization
2110 Copyright (C) 1995-2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
2112 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
2113 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
2114 the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
2117 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
2118 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
2119 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
2120 GNU General Public License for more details.
2122 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
2123 along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.