3 * Version requirements:
5 - Autoconf 2.65 or greater is required.
7 * Obsolete features removed:
9 - Use of the long-deprecated two- and three-arguments invocation forms
10 of the AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE is not supported anymore.
12 - Support for the "Cygnus-style" trees (once enabled by the 'cygnus'
13 option) has been removed. See discussion about automake bug#11034
16 - The automake-provided $(mkdir_p) make variable, @mkdir_p@ configure
17 time substitution and AM_PROG_MKDIR m4 macro have been removed. They
18 had been obsolete since automake 1.10, and actively deprecated since
21 - The deprecated aclocal option '--acdir' has been removed. You
22 should use the options '--automake-acdir' and '--system-acdir'
23 instead (which have been introduced in Automake 1.11.2).
25 - The following long-obsolete m4 macros have been removed:
27 AM_PROG_CC_STDC: superseded by AC_PROG_CC since October 2002
28 fp_PROG_CC_STDC: broken alias for AM_PROG_CC_STDC
29 fp_WITH_DMALLOC: old alias for AM_WITH_DMALLOC
30 AM_CONFIG_HEADER: superseded by AC_CONFIG_HEADERS since July 2002
31 ud_PATH_LISPDIR: old alias for AM_PATH_LISPDIR
32 jm_MAINTAINER_MODE: old alias for AM_MAINTAINER_MODE
33 ud_GNU_GETTEXT: old alias for AM_GNU_GETTEXT
34 gm_PROG_LIBTOOL: old alias for AC_PROG_LIBTOOL
35 fp_C_PROTOTYPES: old alias for AM_C_PROTOTYPES (which was part
36 of the now-removed automatic de-ANSI-fication
39 - All the "old alias" macros in 'm4/obsolete.m4' have been removed.
41 * Changes to Automake-generated testsuite harnesses:
43 - The parallel testsuite harness (previously only enabled by the
44 'parallel-tests' option) is the default one; the older serial
45 testsuite harness will still be available through the use of the
46 'serial-tests' option (introduced in Automake 1.12).
48 * Silent rules support:
50 - Support for silent rules is now always active in Automake-generated
51 Makefiles. So, although the verbose output is still the default,
52 the user can now always use "./configure --enable-silent-rules" or
53 "make V=0" to enable quieter output in the package he's building.
55 - The 'silent-rules' option has now become a no-op, preserved for
56 backward-compatibility only. In particular, its use does not disable
57 the warnings in the 'portability-recursive' category anymore.
59 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
63 * WARNING: Future backward-incompatibilities!
65 - Future versions of Automake will likely drop support for the
66 long-deprecated 'configure.in' name for the Autoconf input file.
67 You are advised to use the recommended name 'configure.ac' instead.
69 - Starting from the next major Automake version (1.13), the rules to
70 build pdf, ps and dvi output from Texinfo input will use the '--tidy'
71 option by default. Since such an option was introduced in Texinfo
72 4.9, this means that Makefiles generated by future Automake versions
73 will require at least that version of Texinfo.
75 - Starting from the next major Automake version (1.13), the parallel
76 testsuite harness (previously only enabled by the 'parallel-tests'
77 option) will become the default one; the older serial testsuite
78 harness will still be available through the use of the 'serial-tests'
81 - Support for the two- and three-arguments invocation forms of the
82 AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE macro will be deprecated in the next minor version
83 of Automake (1.12.1) and removed in the next major version (1.13).
85 - The exact order in which the directories in the aclocal macro
86 search path are looked up is probably going to be changed in the
87 next Automake release (1.13).
89 * Warnings and deprecations:
91 - Automake now issues a warning (in the 'portability' category) if
92 'configure.in' is used instead of 'configure.ac' as the Autoconf
93 input file. Such a warning will also be present in the next
94 Autoconf version (2.70).
98 - Recursive cleaning rules descends into the $(SUBDIRS) in the natural
99 order (as done by the other recursive rules), rather than in the
100 inverse order. They used to do that in order to work a round a
101 limitation in an older implementation of the automatic dependency
102 tracking support, but that limitation had been lifted years ago
103 already, when the automatic dependency tracking based on side-effects
104 of compilation had been introduced.
106 - Cleaning rules for compiled objects (both "plain" and libtool) work
107 better when subdir objects are involved, not triggering a distinct
108 'rm' invocation for each such object. They do so by removing *any*
109 compiled object file that is in the same directory of a subdir
110 object. See automake bug#10697.
112 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
116 * New supported languages:
118 - Support for Objective C++ has been added; it should work similarly to
119 the support for Objective C.
121 * Deprecated obsolescent features:
123 - Use of the long-deprecated two- and three-arguments invocation forms
124 of the AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE macro now elicits a warning in the 'obsolete'
125 category. Starting from the next major Automake release (1.13), such
126 usages won't be allowed anymore.
128 - Support for the "Cygnus-style" trees (enabled by the 'cygnus' option) is
129 now deprecated (its use triggers a warning in the 'obsolete' category).
130 It will be removed in the next major Automake release (1.13).
132 - The long-obsolete (since 1.10) automake-provided $(mkdir_p) make
133 variable, @mkdir_p@ configure-time substitution and AM_PROG_MKDIR
134 m4 macro are deprecated, eliciting a warning in the 'obsolete'
135 category. They will be removed in the next major version (1.13).
137 * Miscellaneous changes:
139 - The Automake test cases now require a proper POSIX-conforming shell.
140 Older non-POSIX Bourne shells (like Solaris 10 /bin/sh) won't be
141 accepted anymore. In most cases, the user shouldn't have to specify
142 such POSIX shell explicitly, since it will be looked up at configure
143 time. Still, when this lookup fails, or when the user wants to
144 override its conclusion, the variable 'AM_TEST_RUNNER_SHELL' can be
145 used (pointing to the shell that will be used to run the Automake
148 Bugs fixed in 1.12.1:
150 * Bugs introduced by 1.12:
152 - Several weaknesses in Automake's own build system and test suite
155 * Bugs introduced by 1.11.3:
157 - When given non-option arguments, aclocal rejects them, instead of
158 silently ignoring them.
160 * Long-standing bugs:
162 - When the 'color-tests' option is in use, forcing of colored testsuite
163 output through "AM_COLOR_TESTS=always" works even if the terminal is
164 a non-ANSI one, i.e., if the TERM environment variable has a value of
167 - Several inefficiencies and poor performances in the implementation
168 of the parallel-tests 'check' and 'recheck' targets have been fixed.
170 - The post-processing of output "#line" directives done the ylwrap
171 script is more faithful w.r.t. files in a subdirectory; for example,
172 if the processed file is "src/grammar.y", ylwrap will correctly
173 produce directives like:
174 #line 7 "src/grammar.y"
179 * Bugs with new Perl versions:
181 - Aclocal works correctly with perl 5.16.0 (automake bug#11543).
183 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
187 * Obsolete features removed:
189 - The never documented nor truly used script 'acinstall' has been
192 - Support for automatic de-ANSI-fication has been removed.
194 - The support for the "obscure" multilib feature has been removed
195 from Automake core (but remains available in the 'contrib/'
196 directory of the Automake distribution).
198 - Support for ".log -> .html" conversion and the check-html and
199 recheck-html targets has been removed from Automake core (but
200 remains available in the 'contrib/' directory of the Automake
203 - The deprecated 'lzma' compression format for distribution archives
204 has been removed, in favor of 'xz' and 'lzip'.
206 - The obsolete AM_WITH_REGEX macro has been removed.
208 - The long-deprecated options '--output-dir', '--Werror' and
209 '--Wno-error' have been removed.
211 - The chapter on the history of Automake has been moved out of the
212 reference manual, into a new dedicated Texinfo file.
216 - New 'cscope' target to build a cscope database for the source tree.
218 * Changes to Automake-generated testsuite harnesses:
220 - The new automake option 'serial-tests' has been introduced. It can
221 be used to explicitly instruct automake to use the older serial
222 testsuite harness. This is still the default at the moment, but it
223 might change in future versions.
225 - The 'recheck' target (provided by the parallel testsuite harness) now
226 depends on the 'all' target. This allows for a better user-experience
227 in test-driven development. See automake bug#11252.
229 - Test scripts that exit with status 99 to signal an "hard error" (e.g.,
230 and unexpected or internal error, or a failure to set up the test case
231 scenario) have their outcome reported as an 'ERROR' now. Previous
232 versions of automake reported such an outcome as a 'FAIL' (the only
233 difference with normal failures being that hard errors were counted
234 as failures even when the test originating them was listed in
237 - The testsuite summary displayed by the parallel-test harness has a
238 completely new format, that always list the numbers of passed, failed,
239 xfailed, xpassed, skipped and errored tests, even when these numbers
240 are zero (but using smart coloring when the color-tests option is in
243 - The default testsuite driver offered by the 'parallel-tests' option is
244 now implemented (partly at least) with the help of automake-provided
245 auxiliary scripts (e.g., 'test-driver'), instead of relying entirely
246 on code in the generated Makefile.in.
247 This has two noteworthy implications. The first one is that projects
248 using the 'parallel-tests' option should now either run automake with
249 the '--add-missing' option, or manually copy the 'test-driver' script
250 into their tree. The second, and more important, implication is that
251 now, when the 'parallel-tests' option is in use, TESTS_ENVIRONMENT can
252 not be used anymore to define a test runner, and the command specified
253 in LOG_COMPILER (and <ext>_LOG_COMPILER) must be a *real* executable
254 program or script. For example, this is still a valid usage (albeit
257 TESTS_ENVIRONMENT = \
258 if test -n '$(STRICT_TESTS)'; then \
259 maybe_errexit='-e'; \
263 LOG_COMPILER = $(SHELL) $$maybe_errexit
265 while this is not anymore:
267 TESTS_ENVIRONMENT = \
268 $(SHELL) `test -n '$(STRICT_TESTS_CHECKING)' && echo ' -e'`
272 TESTS_ENVIRONMENT = \
273 run_with_perl_or_shell () \
275 if grep -q '^#!.*perl' $$1; then
281 LOG_COMPILER = run_with_perl_or_shell
283 - The package authors can now use customary testsuite drivers within
284 the framework provided by the 'parallel-tests' testsuite harness.
285 Consistently with the existing syntax, this can be done by defining
286 special makefile variables 'LOG_DRIVER' and '<ext>_LOG_DRIVER'.
288 - A new developer-reserved variable 'AM_TESTS_FD_REDIRECT' can be used
289 to redirect/define file descriptors used by the test scripts.
291 - The parallel-tests harness generates now, in addition the '.log' files
292 holding the output produced by the test scripts, a new set of '.trs'
293 files, holding "metadata" derived by the execution of the test scripts;
294 among such metadata are the outcomes of the test cases run by a script.
296 - Initial and still experimental support for the TAP test protocol is
299 * Changes to Yacc and Lex support:
301 - C source and header files derived from non-distributed Yacc and/or
302 Lex sources are now removed by a simple "make clean" (while they were
303 previously removed only by "make maintainer-clean").
305 - Slightly backward-incompatible change, relevant only for use of Yacc
306 with C++: the extensions of the header files produced by the Yacc
307 rules are now modelled after the extension of the corresponding
308 sources. For example, yacc files named "foo.y++" and "bar.yy" will
309 produce header files named "foo.h++" and "bar.hh" respectively, where
310 they would have previously produced header files named simply "foo.h"
311 and "bar.h". This change offers better compatibility with 'bison -o'.
313 * Miscellaneous changes:
315 - The AM_PROG_VALAC macro now causes configure to exit with status 77,
316 rather than 1, if the vala compiler found is too old.
318 - The build system of Automake itself now avoids the use of make
319 recursion as much as possible.
321 - Automake now prefers to quote 'like this' or "like this", rather
322 than `like this', in diagnostic message and generated Makefiles,
323 to accommodate the new GNU Coding Standards recommendations.
325 - Automake has a new option '--print-libdir' that prints the path of the
326 directory containing the Automake-provided scripts and data files.
328 - The 'dist' and 'dist-all' targets now can run compressors in parallel.
330 - The rules to create pdf, dvi and ps output from Texinfo files now
331 works better with modern 'texi2dvi' script, by explicitly passing
332 it the '--clean' option to ensure stray auxiliary files are not
333 left to clutter the build directory.
335 - Automake can now generate silenced rules for texinfo outputs.
337 - Some auxiliary files that are automatically distributed by Automake
338 (e.g., 'install-sh', or the 'depcomp' script for packages compiling
339 C sources) might now be listed in the DIST_COMMON variable in many
340 Makefile.in files, rather than in the top-level one.
342 - Messages of types warning or error from 'automake' and 'aclocal'
343 are now prefixed with the respective type, and presence of -Werror
346 - Automake's early configure-time sanity check now tries to avoid
347 sleeping for a second, which slowed down cached configure runs
348 noticeably. In that case, it will check back at the end of the
349 configure script to ensure that at least one second has passed, to
350 avoid time stamp issues with makefile rules rerunning autotools
353 - The warnings in the category 'extra-portability' are now enabled by
354 '-Wall'. In previous versions, one has to use '-Wextra-portability'
359 - Various minor bugfixes for recent or long-standing bugs.
361 * Bugs introduced by 1.11:
363 - The AM_COND_IF macro also works if the shell expression for the
364 conditional is no longer valid for the condition.
366 - The automake-provided parallel testsuite harness does not fail anymore
367 with BSD make used in parallel mode when there are test scripts in a
368 subdirectory, like in:
370 TESTS = sub/foo.test sub/bar.test
372 * Long-standing bugs:
374 - Automake's own build system finally have a real "installcheck" target.
376 - Vala-related cleanup rules are now more complete, and work better in
379 - Files listed with the AC_REQUIRE_AUX_FILE macro in configure.ac are
380 now automatically distributed also if the directory of the auxiliary
381 files coincides with the top-level directory.
383 - Automake now detects the presence of the '-d' flag in the various
384 '*YFLAGS' variables even when their definitions involve indirections
385 through other variables, such as in:
387 AM_YFLAGS = $(foo_opts)
389 - Automake now complains if a '*YFLAGS' variable has any conditional
390 content, not only a conditional definition.
392 - Explicit enabling and/or disabling of Automake warning categories
393 through the '-W...' options now always takes precedence over the
394 implicit warning level implied by Automake strictness (foreign, gnu
395 or gnits), regardless of the order in which such strictness and
396 warning flags appear. For example, a setting like:
397 AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = -Wall --foreign
398 will cause the warnings in category 'portability' to be enabled, even
399 if those warnings are by default disabled in 'foreign' strictness.
401 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
403 Bugs fixed in 1.11.5:
405 * Bugs introduced by 1.11.3:
407 - Vala files with '.vapi' extension are now recognized and handled
408 correctly again. See automake bug#11222.
410 - Vala support work again for projects that contain some program
411 built from '.vala' (and possibly '.c') sources and some other
412 program built from '.c' sources *only*. See automake bug#11229.
414 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
418 * Miscellaneous changes:
420 - The 'ar-lib' script now ignores the "s" (symbol index) and "S" (no
421 symbol index) modifiers as well as the "s" action, as the symbol index
422 is created unconditionally by Microsoft lib. Also, the "q" (quick)
423 action is now a synonym for "r" (replace). Also, the script has been
424 ignoring the "v" (verbose) modifier already since Automake 1.11.3.
426 - When the 'compile' script is used to wrap MSVC, it now accepts an
427 optional space between the -I, -L and -l options and their respective
428 arguments, for better POSIX compliance.
430 - There is an initial, experimental support for automatic dependency
431 tracking with tcc (the Tiny C Compiler). Its associated depmode is
432 currently recognized as "icc" (but this and other details are likely
433 to change in future versions).
435 - Automatic dependency tracking now works also with the IBM XL C/C++
436 compilers, thanks to the new new depmode 'xlc'.
438 Bugs fixed in 1.11.4:
440 * Bugs introduced by 1.11.2:
442 - A definition of 'noinst_PYTHON' before 'python_PYTHON' (or similar)
443 don't cause spurious failures upon "make install" anymore.
445 - The user can now instruct the 'uninstall-info' rule not to update
446 the '${infodir}/dir' file by exporting the environment variable
447 'AM_UPDATE_INFO_DIR' to the value "no". This is done for consistency
448 with how the 'install-info' rule operates since automake 1.11.2.
450 * Long-standing bugs:
452 - It is now possible for a foo_SOURCES variable to hold Vala sources
453 together with C header files, as well as with sources and headers for
454 other supported languages (e.g., C++). Previously, only mixing C and
455 Vala sources was supported.
457 - If "aclocal --install" is used, and the first directory specified with
458 '-I' is non-existent, aclocal will now create it before trying to copy
461 - An empty declaration of a "foo_PRIMARY" don't cause anymore the
462 generated install rules to create an empty $(foodir) directory;
463 for example, if Makefile.am contains something like:
467 pkglibexec_SCRIPTS += bar.sh
470 the $(pkglibexec) directory will not be created upon "make install".
472 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
476 * Miscellaneous changes:
478 - Automake's own build system is more silent by default, making use of
479 the 'silent-rules' option.
481 - The master copy of the `gnupload' script is now maintained in gnulib,
484 - The `missing' script doesn't try to wrap calls to `tar' anymore.
486 - "make dist" doesn't wrap `tar' invocations with the `missing' script
487 anymore. Similarly, the obsolescent variable `$(AMTAR)' (which you
488 shouldn't be using BTW ;-) does not invoke the missing script anymore
489 to wrap tar, but simply invokes the `tar' program itself.
491 - "make dist" can now create lzip-compressed tarballs.
493 - In the Automake info documentation, the Top node and the nodes about
494 the invocation of the automake and aclocal programs have been renamed;
495 now, calling "info automake" will open the Top node, while calling
496 "info automake-invocation" and "info aclocal-invocation" will access
497 the nodes about the invocation of respectively automake and aclocal.
499 - Automake is now distributed as a gzip-compressed and an xz-compressed
500 tarball. Previously, bzip2 was used instead of xz.
502 - The last relics of Python 1.5 support have been removed from the
503 AM_PATH_PYTHON macro.
505 - For programs and libraries, automake now detects EXTRA_foo_DEPENDENCIES
506 and adds them to the normal list of dependencies, but without
507 overwriting the foo_DEPENDENCIES variable, which is normally computed
510 Bugs fixed in 1.11.3:
512 * Bugs introduced by 1.11.2:
514 - Automake now correctly recognizes the prefix/primary combination
515 `pkglibexec_SCRIPTS' as valid.
517 - The parallel-tests harness doesn't trip anymore on sed implementations
518 with stricter limits on the length of input lines (problem seen at
521 * Long-standing bugs:
523 - The "deleted header file problem" for *.am files is avoided by stub
524 rules. This allows `make' to trigger a rerun of `automake' also if
525 some previously needed `.am' file has been removed.
527 - The `silent-rules' option now generates working makefiles even
528 for the uncommon `make' implementations that do not support the
529 nested-variables extension to POSIX 2008. For such `make'
530 implementations, whether a build is silent is determined at
531 configure time, and cannot be overridden at make time with
532 `make V=0' or `make V=1'.
534 - Vala support now works better in VPATH setups.
536 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
540 * Changes to aclocal:
542 - The `--acdir' option is deprecated. Now you should use the new options
543 `--automake-acdir' and `--system-acdir' instead.
545 - The `ACLOCAL_PATH' environment variable is now interpreted as a
546 colon-separated list of additional directories to search after the
547 automake internal acdir (by default ${prefix}/share/aclocal-APIVERSION)
548 and before the system acdir (by default ${prefix}/share/aclocal).
550 * Miscellaneous changes:
552 - The Automake support for automatic de-ANSI-fication has been
553 deprecated. It will probably be removed in the next major Automake
556 - The `lzma' compression scheme and associated automake option `dist-lzma'
557 is obsoleted by `xz' and `dist-xz' due to upstream changes.
559 - You may adjust the compression options used in dist-xz and dist-bzip2.
560 The default is now merely -e for xz, but still -9 for bzip; you may
561 specify a different level via the XZ_OPT and BZIP2 envvars respectively.
562 E.g., "make dist-xz XZ_OPT=-7" or "make dist-bzip2 BZIP2=-5"
564 - The `compile' script now converts some options for MSVC for a better
565 user experience. Similarly, the new `ar-lib' script wraps Microsoft lib.
567 - The py-compile script now accepts empty arguments passed to the options
568 `--destdir' and `--basedir', and complains about unrecognized options.
569 Moreover, a non-option argument or a special `--' argument terminates
572 - A developer that needs to pass specific flags to configure at "make
573 distcheck" time can now, and indeed is advised to, do so by defining
574 the developer-reserved makefile variable AM_DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS,
575 instead of the old DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS.
576 The DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS variable should now be reserved for the
577 user; still, the old Makefile.am files that used to define it will
578 still continue to work as before.
580 - New macro AM_PROG_AR that looks for an archiver and wraps it in the new
581 'ar-lib' auxiliary script if the selected archiver is Microsoft lib.
582 This new macro is required for LIBRARIES and LTLIBRARIES when automake
583 is run with -Wextra-portability and -Werror.
585 - When using DejaGnu-based testsuites, the user can extend the `site.exp'
586 file generated by automake-provided rules by defining the special make
587 variable `$(EXTRA_DEJAGNU_SITE_CONFIG)'.
589 - The `install-info' rule can now be instructed not to create/update
590 the `${infodir}/dir' file, by exporting the new environment variable
591 `AM_UPDATE_INFO_DIR' to the value "no".
593 Bugs fixed in 1.11.2:
595 * Bugs introduced by 1.11:
597 - The parallel-tests driver no longer produces erroneous results with
598 Tru64/OSF 5.1 sh upon unreadable log files.
600 - The `parallel-tests' test driver does not report spurious successes
601 when used with concurrent FreeBSD make (e.g., "make check -j3").
603 - When the parallel-tests driver is in use, automake now explicitly
604 rejects invalid entries and conditional contents in TEST_EXTENSIONS,
605 instead of issuing confusing and apparently unrelated error messages
606 (e.g., "non-POSIX variable name", "bad characters in variable name",
607 or "redefinition of TEST_EXTENSIONS), or even, in some situations,
608 silently producing broken `Makefile.in' files.
610 - The `silent-rules' option now truly silences all compile rules, even
611 when dependency tracking is disabled. Also, when `silent-rules' is
612 not used, `make' output no longer contains spurious backslash-only
613 lines, thus once again matching what Automake did before 1.11.
615 - The AM_COND_IF macro also works if the shell expression for the
616 conditional is no longer valid for the condition.
618 * Long-standing bugs:
620 - The order of Yacc and Lex flags is fixed to be consistent with other
621 languages: $(AM_YFLAGS) comes before $(YFLAGS), and $(AM_LFLAGS) before
622 $(LFLAGS), so that the user variables override the developer variables.
624 - "make distcheck" now correctly complains also when "make uninstall"
625 leaves one and only one file installed in $(prefix).
627 - A "make uninstall" issued before a "make install", or after a mere
628 "make install-data" or a mere "make install-exec" does not spuriously
631 - Automake now warns about more primary/directory invalid combinations,
632 such as "doc_LIBRARIES" or "pkglib_PROGRAMS".
634 - Rules generated by Automake now try harder to not change any files when
635 `make -n' is invoked. Fixes include compilation of Emacs Lisp, Vala, or
636 Yacc source files and the rule to update config.h.
638 - Several scripts and the parallel-tests testsuite driver now exit with
639 the right exit status upon receiving a signal.
641 - A per-Makefile.am setting of -Werror does not erroneously carry over
642 to the handling of other Makefile.am files.
644 - The code for automatic dependency tracking works around a Solaris
645 make bug triggered by sources containing repeated slashes when the
646 `subdir-objects' option was used.
648 - The makedepend and hp depmodes now work better with VPATH builds.
650 - Java sources specified with check_JAVA are no longer compiled for
651 "make all", but only for "make check".
653 - An usage like "java_JAVA = foo.java" will now cause Automake to warn
654 and error out if `javadir' is undefined, instead of silently producing
655 a broken Makefile.in.
657 - aclocal and automake now honour the configure-time definitions of
658 AUTOCONF and AUTOM4TE when they spawn autoconf or autom4te processes.
660 - The `install-info' recipe no longer tries to guess whether the
661 `install-info' program is from Debian or from GNU, and adaptively
662 change its behaviour; this has proven to be frail and easy to
665 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
667 Bugs fixed in 1.11.1:
669 - Lots of minor bugfixes.
671 * Bugs introduced by 1.11:
673 - The `parallel-tests' test driver works around a GNU make 3.80 bug with
674 trailing white space in the test list (`TESTS = foo $(EMPTY)').
676 * Long standing bugs:
678 - On Darwin 9, `pythondir' and `pyexecdir' pointed below `/Library/Python'
679 even if the `--prefix' argument pointed outside of a system directory.
680 AM_PATH_PYTHON has been fixed to ignore the value returned from python's
681 `get_python_lib' function if it points outside the configured prefix,
682 unless the `--prefix' argument was either `/usr' or below `/System'.
684 - The testsuite does not try to change the mode of `ltmain.sh' files from
685 a Libtool installation (symlinked to test directories) any more.
687 - AM_PROG_GCJ uses AC_CHECK_TOOLS to look for `gcj' now, so that prefixed
688 tools are preferred in a cross-compile setup.
690 - The distribution is tarred up with mode 755 now by the `dist*' targets.
691 This fixes a race condition where untrusted users could modify files
692 in the $(PACKAGE)-$(VERSION) distdir before packing if the toplevel
693 build directory was world-searchable. This is CVE-2009-4029.
695 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
699 * Version requirements:
701 - Autoconf 2.62 or greater is required.
703 * Changes to aclocal:
705 - The autoconf version check implemented by aclocal in aclocal.m4
706 (and new in Automake 1.10) is degraded to a warning. This helps
707 in the common case where the Autoconf versions used are compatible.
709 * Changes to automake:
711 - The automake program can run multiple threads for creating most
712 Makefile.in files concurrently, if at least Perl 5.7.2 is available
713 with interpreter-based threads enabled. Set the environment variable
714 AUTOMAKE_JOBS to the maximum number of threads to use, in order to
715 enable this experimental feature.
717 * Changes to Libtool support:
719 - Libtool generic flags are now passed to the install and uninstall
722 - distcheck works with Libtool 2.x even when LT_OUTPUT is used, as
723 config.lt is removed correctly now.
727 - subdir-object mode works now with Fortran (F77, FC, preprocessed
728 Fortran, and Ratfor).
730 - For files with extension .f90, .f95, .f03, or .f08, the flag
731 $(FCFLAGS_f[09]x) computed by AC_FC_SRCEXT is now used in compile rules.
733 - Files with extension .sx are also treated as preprocessed assembler.
735 - The default source file extension (.c) can be overridden with
736 AM_DEFAULT_SOURCE_EXT now.
738 - Python 3.0 is supported now, Python releases prior to 2.0 are no
741 - AM_PATH_PYTHON honors python's idea about the site directory.
743 - There is initial support for the Vala programming language, when using
746 * Miscellaneous changes:
748 - Automake development is done in a git repository on Savannah now, see
750 http://git.sv.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=automake.git
752 A read-only CVS mirror is provided at
754 cvs -d :pserver:anonymous@pserver.git.sv.gnu.org:/automake.git \
755 checkout -d automake HEAD
757 - "make dist" can now create xz-compressed tarballs,
758 as well as (deprecated?) lzma-compressed tarballs.
760 - `automake --add-missing' will by default install the GPLv3 file as
761 COPYING if it is missing. It will also warn that the license file
762 should be added to source control. Note that Automake will never
763 overwrite an existing COPYING file, even when the `--force-missing'
766 - The manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL 1.3.
768 - Automake ships and installs man pages for automake and aclocal now.
770 - New shorthand `$(pkglibexecdir)' for `$(libexecdir)/@PACKAGE@'.
772 - install-sh supports -C, which does not update the installed file
773 (and its time stamps) if the contents did not change.
775 - The `gnupload' script has been revamped.
777 - The `depcomp' and `compile' scripts now work with MSVC under MSYS.
779 - The targets `install' and `uninstall' are more efficient now, in that
780 for example multiple files from one Automake variable such as
781 `bin_SCRIPTS' are copied in one `install' (or `libtool --mode=install')
782 invocation if they do not have to be renamed.
784 Both install and uninstall may sometimes enter (`cd' into) the target
785 installation directory now, when no build-local scripts are used.
787 Both install and uninstall do not fail anymore but do nothing if an
788 installation directory variable like `bindir' is set to the empty string.
790 For built-in rules, `make install' now fails reliably if installation
791 of a file failed. Conversely, `make uninstall' even succeeds when
792 issued multiple times.
794 These changes may need some adjustments from users: For example,
795 some `install' programs refuse to install multiple copies of the
796 same file in one invocation, so you may need to remove duplicate
797 entries from file lists.
799 Also, within one set of files, say, nobase_data_DATA, the order of
800 installation may be changed, or even unstable among different hosts,
801 due to the use of associative arrays in awk. The increased use of
802 awk matches a similar move in Autoconf to provide for better scaling.
804 Further, most undocumented per-rule install command variables such as
805 binSCRIPT_INSTALL have been removed because they are not needed any
806 more. Packages which use them should be using the appropriate one of
807 INSTALL_{DATA,PROGRAM,SCRIPT} or their install_sh_{DATA,PROGRAM,SCRIPT}
808 counterpart, depending on the type of files and the need for automatic
809 target directory creation.
811 - The "deleted header file problem" for *.m4 files is avoided by
812 stub rules. This allows `make' to trigger a rerun of `aclocal'
813 also if some previously needed macro file has been removed.
815 - Rebuild rules now also work for a removed `subdir/Makefile.in' in
816 an otherwise up to date tree.
818 - The `color-tests' option causes colored test result output on terminals.
820 - The `parallel-tests' option enables a new test driver that allows for
821 parallel test execution, inter-test dependencies, lazy test execution
822 for unit-testing, re-testing only failed tests, and formatted result output
823 as RST (reStructuredText) and HTML. Enabling this option may require some
824 changes to your test suite setup; see the manual for details.
826 - The `silent-rules' option enables Linux kernel-style silent build output.
827 This option requires the widely supported but non-POSIX `make' feature
828 of recursive variable expansion, so do not use it if your package needs
829 to build with `make' implementations that do not support it.
831 To enable less verbose build output, the developer has to use the Automake
832 option `silent-rules' in `AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE', or call the `AM_SILENT_RULES'
833 macro. The user may then set the default verbosity by passing the
834 `--enable-silent-rules' option to `configure'. At `make' run time, this
835 default may be overridden using `make V=0' for less verbose, and `make V=1'
836 for backward-compatible verbose output.
838 - New prefix `notrans_' for manpages which should not be transformed
839 by --program-transform.
841 - New macro AM_COND_IF for conditional evaluation and conditional
844 - For AC_CONFIG_LINKS, if source and destination are equal, do not
845 remove the file in a non-VPATH build. Such setups work with Autoconf
848 - AM_MAINTAINER_MODE now allows for an optional argument specifying
851 - AM_SUBST_NOTMAKE may prevent substitution of AC_SUBSTed variables,
852 useful especially for multi-line values.
854 - Automake's early configure-time sanity check now diagnoses an
855 unsafe absolute source directory name and makes configure fail.
857 - The Automake macros and rules cope better with whitespace in the
858 current directory name, as long as the relative path to `configure'
859 does not contain whitespace. To this end, the values of `$(MISSING)'
860 and `$(install_sh)' may contain suitable quoting, and their expansion
861 might need `eval'uation if used outside of a makefile. These
862 undocumented variables may be used in several documented macros such
863 as $(AUTOCONF) or $(MAKEINFO).
867 * Long-standing bugs:
869 - Fix aix dependency tracking for libtool objects.
871 - Work around AIX sh quoting issue in AC_PROG_CC_C_O, leading to
872 unnecessary use of the `compile' script.
874 - For nobase_*_LTLIBRARIES with nonempty directory components, the
875 correct `-rpath' argument is used now.
877 - `config.status --file=Makefile depfiles' now also works with the
878 extra quoting used internally by Autoconf 2.62 and newer
879 (it used to work only without the `--file=' bit).
881 - The `missing' script works better with versioned tool names.
883 - Semantics for `missing help2man' have been revamped:
885 Previously, if `help2man' was not present, `missing help2man' would have
886 the following semantics: if some man page was out of date but present, then
887 a warning would be printed, but the exit status was 0. If the man page was
888 not present at all, then `missing' would create a replacement man page
889 containing an error message, and exit with a status of 2. This does not play
890 well with `make': the next run will see this particular man page as being up
891 to date, and will only error out on the next generated man page, if any;
892 repeat until all pages are done. This was not desirable.
894 These are the new semantics: if some man page is not present, and help2man
895 is not either, then `missing' will warn and generate the replacement page
896 containing the error message, but exit successfully. However, `make dist'
897 will ensure that no such bogus man pages are packaged into a tarball.
899 - Targets provided by automake behave better with `make -n', in that they
900 take care not to create files.
902 - `config.status Makefile... depfiles' works fine again in the presence of
903 disabled dependency tracking.
905 - The default no-op recursive rules for these targets also work with BSD make
906 now: html, install-html, install-dvi, install-pdf, install-pdf, install-info.
908 - `make distcheck' works also when both a directory and some file below it
909 have been added to a distribution variable, such as EXTRA_DIST or *_SOURCES.
911 - Texinfo dvi, ps, pdf, and html output files are not removed upon
912 `make mostlyclean' any more; only the LaTeX by-products are.
914 - Renamed objects also work with the `subdir-objects' option and
915 source file languages which Automake does not know itself.
917 - `automake' now correctly complains about variable assignments which are
918 preceded by a comment, extend over multiple lines with backslash-escaped
919 newlines, and end in a comment sign. Previous versions would silently
920 and wrongly ignore such assignments completely.
922 * Bugs introduced by 1.10:
924 - Fix output of dummy dependency files in presence of post-processed
925 Makefile.in's again, but also cope with long lines.
927 - $(EXEEXT) is automatically appended to filenames of XFAIL_TESTS
928 that have been declared as programs in the same Makefile.
929 This is for consistency with the analogous change to TESTS in 1.10.
931 - Fix order of standard includes to again be `-I. -I$(srcdir)',
932 followed by directories containing config headers.
934 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
938 * Version requirements:
940 - Autoconf 2.60 or greater is required.
942 - Perl 5.6 or greater is required.
944 * Changes to aclocal:
946 - aclocal now also supports -Wmumble and -Wno-mumble options.
948 - `dirlist' entries (for the aclocal search path) may use shell
949 wildcards such as `*', `?', or `[...]'.
951 - aclocal supports an --install option that will cause system-wide
952 third-party macros to be installed in the local directory
953 specified with the first -I flag. This option also uses #serial
954 lines in M4 files to upgrade local macros.
956 The new aclocal options --dry-run and --diff help to review changes
957 before they are installed.
959 - aclocal now outputs an autoconf version check in aclocal.m4 in
960 projects using automake.
962 For a few years, automake and aclocal have been calling autoconf
963 (or its underlying engine autom4te) to accurately retrieve the
964 data they need from configure.ac and its siblings. Doing so can
965 only work if all autotools use the same version of autoconf. For
966 instance a Makefile.in generated by automake for one version of
967 autoconf may stop working if configure is regenerated with another
968 version of autoconf, and vice versa.
970 This new version check ensures that the whole build system has
971 been generated using the same autoconf version.
973 * Support for new Autoconf macros:
975 - The new AC_REQUIRE_AUX_FILE Autoconf macro is supported.
977 - If `subdir-objects' is set, and AC_CONFIG_LIBOBJ_DIR is specified,
978 $(LIBOBJS), $(LTLIBOBJS), $(ALLOCA), and $(LTALLOCA) can be used
979 in different directories. However, only one instance of such a
980 library objects directory is supported.
982 * Change to Libtool support:
984 - Libtool generic flags (those that go before the --mode=MODE option)
985 can be specified using AM_LIBTOOLFLAGS and target_LIBTOOLFLAGS.
987 * Yacc and Lex changes:
989 - The rebuild rules for distributed Yacc and Lex output will avoid
990 overwriting existing files if AM_MAINTAINER_MODE and maintainer-mode
993 - ylwrap is now always used for lex and yacc source files,
994 regardless of whether there is more than one source per directory.
998 - Preprocessed assembler (*.S) compilation now honors CPPFLAGS,
999 AM_CPPFLAGS and per-target _CPPFLAGS, and supports dependency
1000 tracking, unlike non-preprocessed assembler (*.s).
1002 - subdir-object mode works now with Assembler. Automake assumes
1003 that the compiler understands `-c -o'.
1005 - Preprocessed assembler (*.S) compilation now also honors
1006 $(DEFS) $(DEFAULT_INCLUDES) $(INCLUDES).
1008 - Improved support for Objective C:
1009 - Autoconf's new AC_PROG_OBJC will enable automatic dependency tracking.
1010 - A new section of the manual documents the support.
1012 - New support for Unified Parallel C:
1013 - AM_PROG_UPC looks for a UPC compiler.
1014 - A new section of the manual documents the support.
1016 - Per-target flags are now correctly handled in link rules.
1018 For instance maude_CFLAGS correctly overrides AM_CFLAGS; likewise
1019 for maude_LDFLAGS and AM_LDFLAGS. Previous versions bogusly
1020 preferred AM_CFLAGS over maude_CFLAGS while linking, and they
1021 used both AM_LDFLAGS and maude_LDFLAGS on the same link command.
1023 The fix for compiler flags (i.e., using maude_CFLAGS instead of
1024 AM_CFLAGS) should not hurt any package since that is how _CFLAGS
1025 is expected to work (and actually works during compilation).
1027 However using maude_LDFLAGS "instead of" AM_LDFLAGS rather than
1028 "in addition to" breaks backward compatibility with older versions.
1029 If your package used both variables, as in
1031 AM_LDFLAGS = common flags
1032 bin_PROGRAMS = a b c
1033 a_LDFLAGS = more flags
1036 and assumed *_LDFLAGS would sum up, you should rewrite it as
1038 AM_LDFLAGS = common flags
1039 bin_PROGRAMS = a b c
1040 a_LDFLAGS = $(AM_LDFLAGS) more flags
1043 This new behavior of *_LDFLAGS is more coherent with other
1044 per-target variables, and the way *_LDFLAGS variables were
1045 considered internally.
1047 * New installation targets:
1049 - New targets mandated by GNU Coding Standards:
1054 By default they will only install Texinfo manuals.
1055 You can customize them with *-local variants:
1061 - The undocumented recursive target `uninstall-info' no longer exists.
1062 (`uninstall' is in charge of removing all possible documentation
1063 flavors, including optional formats such as dvi, ps, or info even
1064 when `no-installinfo' is used.)
1066 * Miscellaneous changes:
1068 - Automake no longer complains if input files for AC_CONFIG_FILES
1069 are specified using shell variables.
1071 - clean, distribution, or rebuild rules are normally disabled for
1072 inputs and outputs of AC_CONFIG_FILES, AC_CONFIG_HEADERS, and
1073 AC_CONFIG_LINK specified using shell variables. However, if these
1074 variables are used as ${VAR}, and AC_SUBSTed, then Automake will
1075 be able to output rules anyway.
1076 (See the Automake documentation for AC_CONFIG_FILES.)
1078 - $(EXEEXT) is automatically appended to filenames of TESTS
1079 that have been declared as programs in the same Makefile.
1080 This is mostly useful when some check_PROGRAMS are listed in TESTS.
1082 - `-Wportability' has finally been turned on by default for `gnu' and
1083 `gnits' strictness. This means, automake will complain about %-rules
1084 or $(GNU Make functions) unless you switch to `foreign' strictness or
1085 use `-Wno-portability'.
1087 - Automake now uses AC_PROG_MKDIR_P (new in Autoconf 2.60), and uses
1088 $(MKDIR_P) instead of $(mkdir_p) to create directories. The
1089 $(mkdir_p) variable is still defined (to the same value as
1090 $(MKDIR_P)) but should be considered obsolete. If you are using
1091 $(mkdir_p) in some of your rules, please plan to update them to
1092 $(MKDIR_P) at some point.
1094 - AM_C_PROTOTYPES and ansi2knr are now documented as being obsolete.
1095 They still work in this release, but may be withdrawn in a future one.
1097 - Inline compilation rules for gcc3-style dependency tracking are
1100 - Automake installs a "Hello World!" example package in $(docdir).
1101 This example is used throughout the new "Autotools Introduction"
1102 chapter of the manual.
1104 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1108 * Makefile.in bloat reduction:
1110 - Inference rules are used to compile sources in subdirectories when
1111 the `subdir-objects' option is used and no per-target flags are
1112 used. This should reduce the size of some projects a lot, because
1113 Automake used to output an explicit rule for each such object in
1116 - Automake no longer outputs three rules (.o, .obj, .lo) for each
1117 object that must be built with explicit rules. It just outputs
1118 the rules required to build the kind of object considered: either
1119 the two .o and .obj rules for usual objects, or the .lo rule for
1122 * Change to Libtool support:
1124 - Libtool tags are used with libtool versions that support them.
1125 (I.e., with Libtool 1.5 or greater.)
1127 - Automake is now able to handle setups where a libtool library is
1128 conditionally installed in different directories, as in
1131 lib_LTLIBRARIES = liba.la
1133 pkglib_LTLIBRARIES = liba.la
1135 liba_la_SOURCES = ...
1137 * Changes to aclocal:
1139 - aclocal now ensures that AC_DEFUNs and AU_DEFUNs it discovers are
1140 really evaluated, before it decides to include them in aclocal.m4.
1141 This solves nasty problems with conditional redefinitions of
1142 Autoconf macros in /usr/share/aclocal/*.m4 files causing extraneous
1143 *.m4 files to be included in any project using these macros.
1144 (Calls to AC_PROG_EGREP causing libtool.m4 to be included is the
1145 most famous instance of this bug.)
1147 - Do not complain about missing conditionally AC_REQUIREd macros
1148 that are not actually used. In 1.8.x aclocal would correctly
1149 determine which of these macros were really needed (and include
1150 only these in the package); unfortunately it would also require
1151 all of them to be present in order to run. This created
1152 situations were aclocal would not work on a tarball distributing
1153 all the macros it uses. For instance running aclocal on a project
1154 containing only the subset of the Gettext macros in use by the
1155 project did not work, because gettext conditionally requires other
1158 * Portability improvements:
1160 - Tar format can be chosen with the new options tar-v7, tar-ustar, and
1161 tar-pax. The new option filename-length-max=99 helps diagnosing
1162 filenames that are too long for tar-v7. (PR/414)
1164 - Variables aumented with `+=' are now automatically flattened (i.e.,
1165 trailing backslashes removed) and then wrapped around 80 colummns
1166 (adding trailing backslashes). In previous versions, a long series
1172 would result in a single-line definition of VAR that could possibly
1173 exceed the maximum line length of some make implementations.
1175 Non-augmented variables are still output as they are defined in
1180 - Support Fortran 90/95 with the new "fc" and "ppfc" languages.
1181 Works the same as the old Fortran 77 implementation; just replace
1182 F77 with FC everywhere (exception: FFLAGS becomes FCFLAGS).
1183 Requires a version of autoconf which provides AC_PROG_FC (>=2.59).
1185 - Support for conditional _LISP.
1187 - Support for conditional -hook and -local rules (PR/428).
1189 - Diagnose AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR calls following AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE. (PR/49)
1191 - Automake will not write any Makefile.ins after the first error it
1192 encounters. The previous Makefile.ins (if any) will be left in
1193 place. (Warnings will not prevent output, but remember they can
1194 be turned into errors with -Werror.)
1196 - The restriction that SUBDIRS must contain direct children is gone.
1199 - The manual tells more about SUBDIRS vs. DIST_SUBDIRS.
1200 It also gives an example of nested packages using AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS.
1202 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1204 Bugs fixed in 1.8.5:
1206 * Long-standing bugs:
1208 - Define DIST_SUBDIRS even when the `no-dist' or `cygnus' options are used
1209 so that `make distclean' and `make maintainer-clean' can work.
1211 - Define AR and ARFLAGS even when only EXTRA_LIBRARIES are defined.
1213 - Fix many rules to please FreeBSD make, which runs commands with `sh -e'.
1215 - Polish diagnostic when no input file is found.
1217 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1219 Bugs fixed in 1.8.4:
1221 * Long-standing bugs:
1223 - Fix AM_PATH_PYTHON to correctly display $PYTHON when it has been
1224 overridden by the user.
1226 - Honor PATH_SEPARATOR in various places of the Automake package, for
1229 - Adjust dependency tracking mode detection to ICC 8.0's new output.
1232 - Fix install-sh so it can install the `mv' binary... using `mv'.
1234 - Fix tru64 dependency tracking for libtool objects.
1236 - Work around Exuberant Ctags when creating a TAGS files in a directory
1237 without files to scan but with subdirectories to include.
1239 * Bugs introduced by 1.8:
1241 - Fix an "internal error" when @LIBOBJS@ is used in a variable that is
1242 not defined in the same conditions as the _LDADD that uses it.
1244 - Do not warn when JAVAROOT is overridden, this is legitimate.
1246 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1248 Bugs fixed in 1.8.3:
1250 * Long-standing bugs:
1252 - Quote filenames in installation rules, in case $DESTDIR, $prefix,
1253 or any of the other *dir variables contain a space.
1255 Please note that Automake does not and cannot support spaces in
1256 filenames that are involved during the build. This change affects
1257 only installation paths, so that `make install' does not bomb out
1258 in packages configured with
1259 ./configure --prefix '/c/Program Files'
1261 - Fix the depfiles output so it works with GNU sed (<4.1) even when
1262 POSIXLY_CORRECT is set.
1264 - Do not AC_SUBST(LIBOBJS) in AM_WITH_REGEX. This macro was unusable
1265 since Autoconf 2.54, which defines LIBOBJS itself.
1267 - Fix a potential (but unlikely) race condition in parallel elisp
1268 builds. (Introduced in 1.7.3.)
1270 - Do not assume that users override _DEPENDENCIES in all conditions
1271 where Automake will try to define them.
1273 - Do not use `mkdir -p' in mkinstalldirs, unless this is GNU mkdir.
1274 Solaris 8's `mkdir -p' is not thread-safe and can break parallel
1277 This fix also affects the $(mkdir_p) variable defined since
1278 Automake 1.8. It will be set to `mkdir -p' only if mkdir is GNU
1279 mkdir, and to `mkinstalldirs' or `install-sh -d' otherwise.
1281 - Secure temporary directory creation in `make distcheck'. (PR/413)
1283 - Do not generate two build rules for `parser.h' when the
1284 parser appears in two different conditionals.
1286 - Work around a Solaris 8 /bin/sh bug in the test for dependency
1287 checking. Usually ./configure will not pick this shell; so this
1288 fix only helps cases where the shell is forced to /bin/sh.
1290 * Bugs introduced by 1.8:
1292 - In some situations (hand-written `m4_include's), aclocal would
1293 call the `File::Spec->rel2abs' method, which was only introduced
1294 in Perl 5.6. This new version reestablish support Perl 5.005.
1296 It is likely that the next major Automake releases will require at
1297 least Perl 5.6. Consider upgrading your development environment
1298 if you are still using the five-year-old Perl 5.005.
1300 - Automake would sometimes fail to define rules for targets listed
1301 in variables defined in multiple conditions. For instance on
1307 it would define only the `a.$(OBJEXT): a.c' rule and omit the
1308 `b.$(OBJEXT): b.c' rule.
1310 * New sections in manual:
1312 - Third-Party Makefiles: how to interface third party Makefiles.
1313 - Upgrading: upgrading packages to newer Automake versions.
1314 - Multiple Outputs: handling tools that produce many outputs.
1316 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1320 * A (well known) portability bug slipped in the changes made to
1321 install-sh in Automake 1.8.1. The broken install-sh would refuse to
1322 install anything on Tru64.
1324 * Fix install rules for conditionally built python files. (This never
1327 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1331 * Bugs introduced by 1.8:
1333 - Fix Config.pm import error with old Perl versions (at least
1334 5.005_03). One symptom is that aclocal could not find its macro
1337 - Automake 1.8 used `mkdir -m 0755 -p --' to ensure that directories
1338 created by `make install' are always world readable, even if the
1339 installer happens to have an overly restrictive umask (e.g. 077).
1340 This was a mistake and has been reverted. There are at least two
1341 reasons why we must not use `-m 0755':
1342 - it causes special bits like SGID to be ignored,
1343 - it may be too restrictive (some setups expect 775 directories).
1345 - Fix aclocal to honor definitions located in files which have been
1346 m4_included manually. aclocal 1.8 had been updated to check
1347 m4_included files for new requirements, but forgot that these
1348 m4_included files can also provide new definitions.
1350 Note that if you have such a setup, we recommend you get rid of
1351 it. In the past, there was a reason to m4_include files manually:
1352 aclocal used to duplicate entire M4 files into aclocal.m4, even
1353 files that were distributed. Some packages were therefore
1354 m4_including the distributed file directly, and playing some
1355 tricks to ensure aclocal would not copy that file to aclocal.m4,
1356 in order to limit the amount of duplication. Since aclocal 1.8.x
1357 will precisely output m4_includes for local M4 files, we recommend
1358 that you clean up your setup, removing all manual m4_includes and
1359 letting aclocal output them.
1361 - Output detailed menus in the Info version if the Automake manual,
1362 so that Emacs can locate the indexes.
1364 - configure.ac and configure were listed twice in DIST_COMMON (an
1365 internal variable where Automake lists configury files to
1366 distribute). This was harmless, but unaesthetic.
1368 - Use `chmod a-w' instead of `chmod -w' as the latter honors umask.
1369 This was an issue only in the Automake package itself, not in
1372 - Automake assumed that all AC_CONFIG_LINKS arguments had the form
1373 DEST:SRC. This was wrong, as some packages do
1374 AC_CONFIG_LINKS($computedlinks). This version no longer abort in
1377 - Contrary to mkinstalldirs, $(mkdir_p) was expecting exactly one
1378 argument. This caused two kinds of failures:
1379 - Rules installing data in a conditionally defined directory
1380 failed when that directory was undefined. In this case no
1381 argument was supplied.
1382 - `make installdirs' failed, because several directories were
1383 passed to $(mkdir_p). This was an issue only on platform
1384 were $(mkdir_p) is implemented with `install-sh -d'.
1385 $(mkdir_p) as been changed to accept 0 or more arguments, as
1388 * Long-standing bugs:
1390 - Fix an unexpected diagnostic occurring when users attempt
1391 to override some internal variables that Automake appends to.
1393 - aclocal now scans configure.ac for macro definitions (PR/319).
1395 - Fix a portability issue with OSF1/Tru64 Make. If a directory
1396 distributes files which are outside itself (this usually occurs
1397 when using AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR([../dir]) to use auxiliary files
1398 from a parent package), then `make distcheck' fails due to an
1399 optimization performed by OSF1/Tru64 Make in its VPATH handling.
1400 (tests/subpkg2.test failure)
1402 - Fix another portability issue with Sun and OSF1/Tru64 Make.
1403 In a VPATH-build configuration, `make install' would install
1404 nobase_ files to wrong locations.
1406 - Fix a Perl `uninitialized value' diagnostic occurring when
1407 automake complains that a Texinfo file does not have a
1408 @setfilename statement.
1410 - Erase config.status.lineno during `make distclean'. This file
1411 can be created by config.status. Automake already knew about
1412 configure.lineno, but forgot config.status.lineno.
1414 - Distribute all files, even those which are built and installed
1415 conditionally. This change affects files listed in conditionally
1416 defined *_HEADERS and *_PYTHON variable (unless they are nodist_*)
1417 as well as those listed in conditionally defined dist_*_DATA,
1418 dist_*_JAVA, dist_*_LISP, and dist_*_SCRIPTS variables.
1420 - Fix AM_PATH_LISPDIR to avoid \? in sed regular expressions; it
1421 doesn't conform to POSIX.
1423 - Normalize help strings for configure variables and options added
1428 - Check for python2.4 in AM_PATH_PYTHON.
1430 * Spurious failures in test suite:
1432 - tests/libtool5.test, tests/ltcond.test, tests/ltcond2.test,
1433 tests/ltconv.test: fix failures with CVS Libtool.
1434 - tests/aclocal6.test: fix failure if autom4te.cache is disabled.
1435 - tests/txinfo24.test, tests/txinfo25.test, tests/txinfo28.test:
1436 fix failures with old Texinfo versions.
1438 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1444 - The NEWS file is more verbose.
1448 - Autoconf 2.58 or greater is required.
1452 - Default source file names in the absence of a _SOURCES declaration
1453 are made by removing any target extension before appending `.c', so
1454 to make the libtool module `foo.la' from `foo.c', you only need to
1457 lib_LTLIBRARIES = foo.la
1458 foo_la_LDFLAGS = -module
1460 For backward compatibility, foo_la.c will be used instead of
1461 foo.c if this file exists or is the explicit target of a rule.
1462 However -Wobsolete will warn about this deprecated naming.
1464 - AR's `cru' flags are now set in a global ARFLAGS variable instead
1465 of being hard-coded in each $(AR) invocation, so they can be
1466 substituted from configure.ac. This has been requested by people
1467 dealing with non-POSIX ar implementations.
1469 - New warning option: -Woverride. This will warn about any user
1470 target or variable definitions which override Automake
1473 - Texinfo rules back up and restore info files when makeinfo fails.
1475 - Texinfo rules now support the `html' target.
1476 Running this requires Texinfo 4.0 or greater.
1478 `html' is a new recursive target, so if your package mixes
1479 hand-crafted `Makefile.in's with Automake-generated
1480 `Makefile.in's, you should adjust the former to support (or
1481 ignore) this target so that `make html' recurses successfully. If
1482 you had a custom `html' rule in your `Makefile.am', it's better to
1483 rename it as `html-local', otherwise your rule will override
1484 Automake's new rule (you can check that by running `automake
1485 -Woverride') and that will stop the recursion to subdirectories.
1487 Last but not least, this `html' rule is declared PHONY, even when
1488 overridden. Fortunately, it appears that few packages use a
1489 non-PHONY `html' rule.
1491 - Any file which is m4_included from configure.ac will appear as a
1492 configure and Makefile.in dependency, and will be automatically
1495 - The rules for rebuilding Makefiles and Makefile.ins will now
1496 rebuild all Makefiles and all Makefile.ins at once when one of
1497 configure's dependencies has changed. This is considerably faster
1498 than previous implementations, where config.status and automake
1499 were run separately in each directory (this still happens when you
1500 change a Makefile.am locally, without touching configure.ac or
1501 friends). Doing this also solves a longstanding issue: these
1502 rebuild rules failed to work when adding new directories to the
1503 tree, forcing you to run automake manually.
1505 - For similar reasons, the rules to rebuild configure,
1506 config.status, and aclocal.m4 are now defined in all directories.
1507 Note that if you were using the CONFIG_STATUS_DEPENDENCIES and
1508 CONFIGURE_DEPENDENCIES (formerly undocumented) variables, you
1509 should better define them in all directories. This is easily done
1510 using an AC_SUBST (make sure you prefix these dependencies with
1511 $(top_srcdir) since this variable will appear at different
1512 levels of the build tree).
1514 - aclocal will now use `m4_include' instead of copying local m4
1515 files into aclocal.m4. (Local m4 files are those you ship with
1516 your project, other files will be copied as usual.)
1518 Because m4_included files are automatically distributed, it means
1519 for most projects there is no point in EXTRA_DISTing the list of
1520 m4 files which are used. (You can probably get rid of
1521 m4/Makefile.am if you had one.)
1523 - aclocal will avoid touching aclocal.m4 when possible, so that
1524 Autom4te's cache isn't needlessly invalidated. This behavior can
1525 be switched off with the new `--force' option.
1527 - aclocal now uses Autoconf's --trace to detect macros which are
1528 actually used and will no longer include unused macros simply
1529 because they where mentioned. This was often the case for macros
1530 called conditionally.
1532 - New options no-dist and no-dist-gzip.
1534 - compile, depcomp, elisp-comp, install-sh, mdate-sh, mkinstalldirs,
1535 py-compile, and ylwrap, now all understand --version and --help.
1537 - Automake will now recognize AC_CONFIG_LINKS so far as removing created
1538 links as part of the distclean target and including source files in
1541 - AM_PATH_PYTHON now supports ACTION-IF-FOUND and ACTION-IF-NOT-FOUND
1542 argument. The latter can be used to override the default behavior
1543 (which is to abort).
1545 - Automake will exit with $? = 63 on version mismatch. (So does
1546 Autoconf 2.58) missing knows this, and in this case it will
1547 emulate the tools as if they were absent. Because older versions
1548 of Automake and Autoconf did not use this exit code, this change
1549 will only be useful in projects generated with future versions of
1552 - When using AC_CONFIG_FILES with multiple input files, Automake
1553 generates the first ".in" input file for which a ".am" exists.
1554 (Former versions would try to use only the first input file.)
1556 - lisp_DATA is now allowed. If you are using the empty ELCFILES
1557 idiom to disable byte-compilation of lisp_LISP files, it is
1558 recommended that you switch to using lisp_DATA. Note that
1559 this is not strictly equivalent: lisp_DATA will install elisp
1560 files even if emacs is not installed, while *_LISP do not
1561 install anything unless emacs is found.
1563 - Makefiles will prefer `mkdir -p' over mkinstalldirs if it is
1564 available. This selection is achieved through the Makefile
1565 variable $(mkdir_p) that is set by AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE to either
1566 `mkdir -m 0755 -p --', `$(mkinstalldirs) -m 0755', or
1567 `$(install_sh) -m 0755 -d'.
1571 - Because `mkdir -p' is available on most platforms, and we can use
1572 `install-sh -d' when it is not, the use of the mkinstalldirs
1573 script is being phased out. `automake --add-missing' no longer
1574 installs it, and if you remove mkinstalldirs from your package,
1575 automake will define $(mkinstalldirs) as an alias for $(mkdir_p).
1577 Gettext 0.12.1 still requires mkinstalldirs. Fortunately
1578 gettextize and autopoint will install it when needed. Automake
1579 will continue to define the $(mkinstalldirs) and to distribute
1580 mkinstalldirs when this script is in the source tree.
1582 - AM_PROG_CC_STDC is now empty. The content of this macro was
1583 merged in AC_PROG_CC. If your code uses $am_cv_prog_cc_stdc, you
1584 should adjust it to use $ac_cv_prog_cc_stdc instead. (This
1585 renaming should be safe, even if you have to support several,
1586 versions of Automake, because AC_PROG_CC defines this variable
1587 since Autoconf 2.54.)
1589 - Some users where using the undocumented ACLOCAL_M4_SOURCES
1590 variable to override the aclocal.m4 dependencies computed
1591 (inaccurately) by older versions of Automake. Because Automake
1592 now tracks configure's m4 dependencies accurately (see m4_include
1593 above), the use of ACLOCAL_M4_SOURCES should be considered
1594 obsolete and will be flagged as such when running `automake
1599 - Defining programs conditionally using Automake conditionals no
1600 longer leads to a combinatorial explosion. The following
1601 construct used to be troublesome when used with dozens of
1616 Likewise for _SOURCES, _LDADD, and _LIBADD variables.
1618 - Due to implementation constraints, previous versions of Automake
1619 proscribed multiple conditional definitions of some variables
1629 All _PROGRAMS, _LDADD, and _LIBADD variables were affected.
1630 This restriction has been lifted, and these variables now
1631 support multiple conditional definitions as do other variables.
1633 - Cleanup the definitions of $(distdir) and $(top_distdir).
1634 $(top_distdir) now points to the root of the distribution
1635 directory created during `make dist', as it did in Automake 1.4,
1636 not to the root of the build tree as it did in intervening
1637 versions. Furthermore these two variables are now only defined in
1638 the top level Makefile, and passed to sub-directories when running
1641 - The --no-force option now correctly checks the Makefile.in's
1642 dependencies before deciding not to update it.
1644 - Do not assume that make files are called Makefile in cleaning rules.
1646 - Update .info files in the source tree, not in the build tree. This
1647 is what the GNU Coding Standard recommend. Only Automake 1.7.x
1648 used to update these files in the build tree (previous versions did
1649 it in the source tree too), and it caused several problems, varying
1650 from mere annoyance to portability issues.
1652 - COPYING, COPYING.LIB, and COPYING.LESSER are no longer overwritten
1653 when --add-missing and --force-missing are used. For backward
1654 compatibility --add-missing will continue to install COPYING (in
1655 `gnu' strictness) when none of these three files exist, but this
1656 use is deprecated: you should better choose a license yourself and
1657 install it once for all in your source tree (and in your code
1660 - Fix ylwrap so that it does not overwrite header files that haven't
1661 changed, as the inline rule already does.
1663 - User-defined rules override automake-defined rules for the same
1664 targets, even when rules do not have commands. This is not new
1665 (and was documented), however some of the automake-generated
1666 rules have escaped this principle in former Automake versions.
1667 Rules for the following targets are affected by this fix:
1669 clean, clean-am, dist-all, distclean, distclean-am, dvi, dvi-am,
1670 info, info-am, install-data-am, install-exec-am, install-info,
1671 install-info-am, install-man, installcheck-am, maintainer-clean,
1672 maintainer-clean-am, mostlyclean, mostlyclean-am, pdf, pdf-am,
1673 ps, ps-am, uninstall-am, uninstall-info, uninstall-man
1675 Practically it means that an attempt to supplement the dependencies
1676 of some target, as in
1678 clean: my-clean-rule
1680 will now *silently override* the automake definition of the
1681 rule for this target. Running `automake -Woverride' will diagnose
1682 all such overriding definitions.
1684 It should be noted that almost all of these targets support a *-local
1685 variant that is meant to supplement the automake-defined rule
1686 (See node `Extending' in the manual). The above rule should
1689 clean-local: my-clean-rule
1691 These *-local targets have been documented since at least
1692 Automake 1.2, so you should not fear the change if you have
1693 to support multiple automake versions.
1697 - The Automake manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
1699 - Targets dist-gzip, dist-bzip2, dist-tarZ, dist-zip are always defined.
1701 - core dumps are no longer removed by the cleaning rules. There are
1702 at least three reasons for this:
1703 1. These files should not be created by any build step,
1704 so their removal do not fit any of the cleaning rules.
1705 Actually, they may be precious to the developer.
1706 2. If such file is created during a build, then it's clearly a
1707 bug Automake should not hide. Not removing the file will
1708 cause `make distcheck' to complain about its presence.
1709 3. Operating systems have different naming conventions for
1710 core dump files. A core file on one system might be a
1711 completely legitimate data file on another system.
1713 - RUNTESTFLAGS, CTAGSFLAGS, ETAGSFLAGS, JAVACFLAGS are no longer
1714 defined by Automake. This means that any definition in the
1715 environment will be used, unless overridden in the Makefile.am or
1716 on the command line. The old behavior, where these variables were
1717 defined empty in each Makefile, can be obtained by AC_SUBSTing or
1718 AC_ARG_VARing each variable from configure.ac.
1720 - CONFIGURE_DEPENDENCIES and CONFIG_STATUS_DEPENDENCIES are now
1721 documented. (The is not a new feature, these variables have
1722 been there since at least Automake 1.4.)
1724 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1726 Bugs fixed in 1.7.9:
1727 * Fix install-strip to work with nobase_ binaries.
1728 * Fix renaming of #line directives in ylwrap.
1729 * Rebuild with Autoconf 2.59. (1.7.8 was not installable with pdksh.)
1731 Bugs fixed in 1.7.8:
1732 * Remove spurious blank lines in cleaning rules introduced in 1.7.7.
1733 * Fix detection of Debian's install-info, broken since version 1.5.
1734 (Debian bug #213524).
1735 * Honor -module if it appears in AM_LDFLAGS (i.e., relax name checking)
1736 This was only done for libfoo_LDFLAGS and LDFLAGS in previous versions.
1738 Bugs fixed in 1.7.7:
1739 * The implementation of automake's --no-force option is unreliable,
1740 so this option is ignored in this version. A real fix will appear in
1741 Automake 1.8. (Debian Bug #206299)
1742 * AM_PATH_PYTHON: really check the whole list of interpreters if no
1743 argument is given. (PR/399)
1744 * Do not warn about leading `_' in variable names, even with -Wportability.
1745 * Support user redefinitions of TEXINFO_TEX.
1746 * depcomp: support AIX Compiler version 6.
1747 * Fix missing rebuilds during `make dist' with BSD make.
1748 (Could produce tarballs containing out-of-date files.)
1749 * Resurrect multilib support.
1750 * Noteworthy manual updates:
1751 - Extending aclocal: how to write m4 macros that won't trigger warnings
1753 - A Shared Library: Rewrite and split into subsections.
1755 Bugs fixed in 1.7.6:
1756 * Fix depcomp's icc mode for ICC 7.1.
1757 * Diagnose calls to AC_CONFIG_FILES and friends with not enough arguments.
1758 * Fix maintainer-clean's removal of autom4te.cache in VPATH builds.
1759 * Fix AM_PATH_LISPDIR to work with POSIXLY_CORRECT=1.
1760 * Fix the location reported in some diagnostics related to AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS.
1761 * Remove Latin-1 characters from elisp-comp.
1762 * Update the manual's @dircategory to match the Free Software Directory.
1764 Bugs fixed in 1.7.5:
1765 * Update install-sh's license to remove an advertising clause.
1766 (Debian bug #191717)
1767 * Fix a bug introduced in 1.7.4, related to BUILT_SOURCE handling,
1768 that caused invalid Makefile.ins to be generated.
1769 * Make sure AM_MAKE_INCLUDE doesn't fail when a `doit' file exists.
1770 * New FAQ entry: renamed objects.
1772 Bugs fixed in 1.7.4:
1773 * Tweak the TAGS rule to support Exuberant Ctags (in addition to
1774 the Emacs implementation)
1775 * Fix output of aclocal.m4 dependencies in subdirectories.
1776 * Use `mv -f' instead of `mv' in fastdep rules.
1777 * Upgrade mdate-sh to work on OS/2.
1778 * Don't byte-compile elisp files when ELCFILES is set empty.
1779 (this documented feature was broken by 1.7.3)
1780 * Diagnose trailing backslashes on last line of Makefile.am.
1781 * Diagnose whitespace following trailing backslashes.
1782 * Multiple tests are now correctly supported in DEJATOOL. (PR/388)
1783 * Fix rebuilt rules for AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile:Makefile.in:Makefile.bot])
1785 * `make install' will build `BUILT_SOURCES' first.
1786 * Minor documentation fixes.
1788 Bugs fixed in 1.7.3:
1789 * Fix stamp files numbering (when using multiple AC_CONFIG_HEADERS).
1790 * Query distutils for `pythondir' and `pythonexecdir', instead of
1791 using an hardcoded path. This should allow builds on 64-bit
1792 distributions that usually use lib64/ instead of lib/.
1793 * AM_PATH_PYTHON will also search for python2.3.
1794 * elisp files are now built all at once instead of one by one. Besides
1795 incurring a speed-up, this is required to support interdependent elisp files.
1796 * Support for DJGPP:
1797 - `make distcheck' will now work in `_inst/' and `_build' instead
1798 of `=inst/' and `=build/'
1799 - use `_dirstamp' when the file-system doesn't support `.dirstamp'
1800 - install/uninstall `*.i[0-9][0-9]'-style info files
1801 - more changes that affect only the Automake package (not its output)
1802 * Fix some incompatibilities with upcoming perl-5.10.
1803 * Properly quote AC_PACKAGE_TARNAME and AC_PACKAGE_VERSION when defining
1804 PACKAGE and VERSION.
1806 - dashmstdout and dashXmstdout modes: don't use `-o /dev/null', this
1807 is troublesome with gcc and Solaris compilers. (PR/385)
1808 - makedepend mode: work with Libtool. (PR/385 too)
1810 * better support for unusual gettext setups, such as multiple po/ directories
1812 - Flag missing po/ and intl/ directories as warnings, not errors.
1813 - Disable these warnings if po/ does not exist.
1814 * Noteworthy manual updates:
1816 - Document how AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR interacts with missing files.
1818 - Document `AM_YFLAGS = -d'. (PR/382)
1820 Bugs fixed in 1.7.2:
1821 * Fix installation and uninstallation of Info files built in subdirectories.
1822 * Do not run `./configure --with-included-gettext' during `make distcheck'
1823 if AM_GNU_GETTEXT([external]) is used.
1824 * Correctly uninstall renamed man pages.
1825 * Do not strip escaped newline in variables defined in one condition
1826 and augmented in another condition.
1827 * Fix ansi2knr rules for LIBOBJS sources.
1828 * Clean all known Texinfo index files, not only those which appear to
1829 be used, because we cannot know which indexes are used in included files.
1830 (PR/375, Debian Bug #168671)
1831 * Honor only the first @setfilename seen in a Texinfo file.
1832 * Treat "required file X not found" diagnostics as errors (exit status 1).
1833 * Don't complain that a required file is not found when it is a Makefile
1835 * Don't use single suffix inference rules when building `.info'-less
1836 Info files, for the sake of Solaris make.
1837 * The `check' target now depends on `$(BUILT_SOURCES)'. (PR/359)
1838 * Recognize multiple inference rules such as `.a.b .c.d:'. (PR/371)
1839 * Warn about multiple inference rules when -Wportability is used. (PR/372)
1840 * Fix building of deansified files from subdirectories. (PR/370)
1841 * Add missing `fi' in the .c->.obj rules.
1842 * Improve install-sh to work even when names contain spaces or certain
1843 (but not all) shell metachars.
1844 * Fix the following spurious failures in the test suite:
1845 depcomp2.test, gnits2.test, gnits3.test, python3.test, texinfo13.test
1846 * Noteworthy manual updates:
1847 - Augment the section about BUILT_SOURCES.
1848 - Mention that AM_PROG_CC_STDC is a relic that is better avoided today.
1850 Bugs fixed in 1.7.1:
1851 * Honor `ansi2knr' for files built in subdirectories, or using per-targets
1853 * Aclocal should now recognize macro names containing parentheses, e.g.
1854 AC_DEFUN([AC_LANG_PREPROC(Fortran 90)], [...]).
1855 * Erase *.sum and *.log files created by DejaGnu, during `make distclean'.
1857 * Install Python files even if they were built. (PR/369)
1858 * Have stamp-vti dependent upon configure instead of configure.ac, as the
1859 version might not be defined in the latter. (PR/358)
1860 * Reorder arguments passed to a couple of commands, so things works
1861 when POSIXLY_CORRECT=1.
1862 * Fix a regex that can cause Perl to segfault on large input.
1864 * Fix distribution of packages that have some sources defined conditionally,
1865 as in the `Conditional compilation using Automake conditionals' example
1867 * Fix spurious test suite failures on IRIX.
1868 * Don't report a required variable as undefined if it has been
1869 defined conditionally for the "right" conditions.
1870 * Fix cleaning of the /tmp subdirectory used by `make distcheck', in case
1871 `make distcheck' fails.
1872 * Fix distribution of included Makefile fragment, so we don't create
1873 spurious directories in the distribution. (PR/366)
1874 * Don't complain that a target lacks `.$(EXEEXT)' when it has it.
1877 * Autoconf 2.54 is required.
1878 * `aclocal' and `automake' will no longer warn about obsolete
1879 configure macros. This is done by `autoconf -Wobsolete'.
1880 * AM_CONFIG_HEADER, AM_SYS_POSIX_TERMIOS and
1881 AM_HEADER_TIOCGWINSZ_NEEDS_SYS_IOCTL are obsolete (although still
1882 supported). You should use AC_CONFIG_HEADERS, AC_SYS_POSIX_TERMIOS,
1883 and AC_HEADER_TIOCGWINSZ instead. `autoupdate' can upgrade
1884 `configure.ac' for you.
1885 * Support for per-program and per-library `_CPPFLAGS'.
1886 * New `ctags' target (builds CTAGS files).
1887 * Support for -Wmumble and -Wno-mumble, where mumble is a warning category
1888 (see `automake --help' or the manual for a list of them).
1889 * Honor the WARNINGS environment variable.
1890 * Omit the call to depcomp when using gcc3: call the compiler directly.
1891 * A new option, std-options, tests that programs support --help and --version
1892 when `make installcheck' is run. This is enabled by --gnits.
1893 * Texinfo rules now support the `ps' and `pdf' targets.
1894 * Info files are now created in the build directory, not the source directory.
1895 * info_TEXINFOS supports files in subdirectories (this requires Texinfo 4.1
1897 * `make distcheck' will enforce DESTDIR support by attempting
1899 * `+=' can be used in conditionals, even if the augmented variable
1900 was defined for another condition.
1901 * Makefile fragments (inserted with `include') are always distributed.
1902 * Use Autoconf's --trace interface to inspect configure.ac and get
1903 a more accurate view of it.
1904 * Add support for extending aclocal's default macro search path
1905 using a `dirlist' file within the aclocal directory.
1906 * automake --output-dir is deprecated.
1907 * The part of the distcheck target that checks whether uninstall actually
1908 removes all installed files has been moved in a separate target,
1909 distuninstallcheck, so it can be overridden easily.
1913 * Support for AM_INIT_GETTEXT([external])
1914 * Bug fixes, including:
1915 - Fix Automake's own `make install' so it works even if `ln' doesn't.
1916 - nobase_ programs and scripts honor --program-transform correctly.
1917 - Erase configure.lineno during `make distclean'.
1918 - Erase YACC and LEX outputs during `make maintainer-clean'.
1921 * Many bug fixes, including:
1922 - Requiring the current version works.
1923 - Fix "$@" portability issues (for Zsh).
1924 - Fix output of dummy dependency files in presence of post-processed
1926 - Don't compute dependencies in background to avoid races with libtool.
1927 - Fix handling of _OBJECTS variables for targets sharing source variables.
1928 - Check dependency mode for Java when AM_PROG_GCJ is used.
1931 * automake --output-dir is deprecated
1932 * Many bug fixes, including:
1933 - Don't choke on AM_LDFLAGS definitions.
1934 - Clean libtool objects from subdirectories.
1935 - Allow configure variables with reserved suffix and unknown prefix
1936 (e.g. AC_SUBST(mumble_LDFLAGS) when 'mumble' is not a target).
1937 - Fix the definition of AUTOMAKE and ACLOCAL in configure.
1940 * Autoconf 2.52 is required.
1941 * automake no longer run libtoolize.
1942 This is the job of autoreconf (from GNU Autoconf).
1943 * `dist' generates all the archive flavors, as did `dist-all'.
1944 * `dist-gzip' generates the Gzip tar file only.
1945 * Combining Automake Makefile conditionals no longer lead to a combinatorial
1946 explosion. Makefile.in's keep a reasonable size.
1947 * AM_FUNC_ERROR_AT_LINE, AM_FUNC_STRTOD, AM_FUNC_OBSTACK, AM_PTRDIFF_T
1948 are no longer shipped, since Autoconf 2.52 provides them (both as AM_
1950 * `#line' of Lex and Yacc files are properly set.
1951 * EXTRA_DIST can contain generated directories.
1952 * Support for dot-less extensions in suffix rules.
1953 * The part of the distcheck target that checks whether distclean actually
1954 cleans all built files has been moved in a separate target, distcleancheck,
1955 so it can be overridden easily.
1956 * `make distcheck' will pass additional options defined in
1957 $(DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS) to configure.
1958 * Fixed CDPATH portability problems, in particular for MacOS X.
1959 * Fixed handling of nobase_ targets.
1960 * Fixed support of implicit rules leading to .lo objects.
1961 * Fixed late inclusion of --add-missing files (e.g. depcomp) in DIST_COMMON
1962 * Added uninstall-hook target
1963 * `AC_INIT AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE(tarname,version)' is an obsolete construct.
1964 You can now use `AC_INIT(pkgname,version) AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE' instead.
1965 (Note that "pkgname" is not "tarname", see the manual for details.)
1966 It is also possible to pass a list of global Automake options as
1967 first argument to this new form of AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE.
1968 * Compiler-based assembler is now called `CCAS'; people expected `AS'
1969 to be a real assembler.
1970 * AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE will set STRIP itself when it needs it. Adding
1971 AC_CHECK_TOOL([STRIP], [strip]) manually is no longer required.
1972 * aclocal and automake are also installed with the version number
1973 appended, and some of the install directory names have changed.
1974 This lets you have multiple versions installed simultaneously.
1975 * Support for parsers and lexers in subdirectories.
1978 * Support for `configure.ac'.
1979 * Support for `else COND', `endif COND' and negated conditions `!COND'.
1980 * `make dist-all' is much faster.
1981 * Allows '@' AC_SUBSTs in macro names.
1982 * Faster AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE (requires update of `missing' script)
1983 * User-side dependency tracking. Developers no longer need GNU make
1985 * Uses DIST_SUBDIRS in some situations when SUBDIRS is conditional
1986 * Most files are correctly handled if they appear in subdirs
1987 For instance, a _DATA file can appear in a subdir
1988 * GNU tar is no longer required for `make dist'
1989 * Added support for `dist_' and `nodist_' prefixes
1990 * Added support for `nobase_' prefix
1991 * Compiled Java support
1992 * Support for per-executable and per-library compilation flags
1996 * Added support for the Fortran 77 programming language.
1997 * Re-indexed the Automake Texinfo manual.
1998 * Added `AM_FOOFLAGS' variable for each compiler invocation;
1999 e.g. AM_CFLAGS can be used in Makefile.am to set C compiler flags
2000 * Support for latest autoconf, including support for objext
2001 * Can now put `.' in SUBDIRS to control build order
2002 * `include' command and `+=' support for macro assignment
2003 * Dependency tracking no long susceptible to deleted header file problem
2004 * Maintainer mode now a conditional. @MAINT@ is now an anachronism.
2009 * Better Cygwin32 support
2010 * Support for suffix rules with _SOURCES variables
2011 * New options `readme-alpha' and `check-news'; Gnits mode sets these
2012 * @LEXLIB@ no longer required when lex source seen
2013 Lex support in `missing', and new lex macro. Update your missing script.
2014 * Built-in support for assembly
2015 * aclocal gives error if `AM_' macro not found
2016 * Passed YFLAGS, not YACCFLAGS, to yacc
2017 * AM_PROG_CC_STDC does not have to come before AC_PROG_CPP
2018 * Dependencies computed as a side effect of compilation
2019 * Preliminary support for Java
2020 * DESTDIR support at "make install" time
2021 * Improved ansi2knr support; you must use the latest ansi2knr.c (included)
2025 * Better DejaGnu support
2026 * Added no-installinfo option
2027 * Added Emacs Lisp support
2028 * Added --no-force option
2029 * Included `aclocal' program
2030 * Automake will now generate rules to regenerate aclocal.m4, if appropriate
2031 * Now uses `AM_' macro names everywhere
2032 * ansi2knr option can have directory prefix (eg `../lib/ansi2knr')
2033 ansi2knr now works correctly on K&R sources
2034 * Better C++, yacc, lex support
2035 * Will compute _DEPENDENCIES variables automatically if not supplied
2036 * Will interpolate $(...) and ${...} when examining contents of a variable
2037 * .deps files now in build directory, not source directory; dependency
2038 handling generally rewritten
2039 * DATA, MANS and BUILT_SOURCES no longer included in distribution
2040 * can now put config.h into a subdir
2041 * Added dist-all target
2042 * Support for install-info program (see texinfo 3.9)
2043 * Support for "yacc -d"
2044 * configure substitutions are automatically discovered and included
2045 in generated Makefile.in
2046 * Special --cygnus mode
2047 * OMIT_DEPENDENCIES can now hold list of dependencies to be omitted
2048 when making distribution. Some dependencies are auto-ignored.
2049 * Changed how libraries are specified in _LIBRARIES variable
2050 * Full libtool support, from Gord Matzigkeit
2051 * No longer have to explicitly touch stamp-h when using AC_CONFIG_HEADER;
2052 AM_CONFIG_HEADER handles it automatically
2053 * Texinfo output files no longer need .info extension
2054 * Added `missing' support
2056 * Conditionals in Makefile.am, from Ian Taylor
2060 * distcheck target runs install and installcheck targets
2061 * Added preliminary support for DejaGnu.
2066 * More libtool fixes from Gord Matzigkeit; libtool support is still
2068 * Added support for jm_MAINTAINER_MODE
2070 * New "distcheck" target
2074 * mkinstalldirs and mdate-sh now appear in directory specified by
2076 * Removed DIST_SUBDIRS, DIST_OTHER
2077 * AC_ARG_PROGRAM only required when an actual program exists
2078 * dist-hook target now run before distribution packaged up; idea from
2079 Dieter Baron. Other hooks exist, too.
2080 * Preliminary (unfinished) support for libtool
2081 * Added short option names.
2082 * Better "dist" support when gluing together multiple packages
2086 * Documentation updates (many from François Pinard)
2087 * strictness `normal' now renamed to `foreign'
2088 * Renamed --install-missing to --add-missing
2089 * Now handles AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR
2090 * Now handles TESTS macro
2091 * DIST_OTHER renamed to EXTRA_DIST
2092 * DIST_SUBDIRS is deprecated
2093 * @ALLOCA@ and @LIBOBJS@ now work in _LDADD variables
2094 * Better error messages in many cases
2095 * Program names are canonicalized
2096 * Added "check" prefix; from Gord Matzigkeit
2100 * configure.in scanner knows about AC_PATH_XTRA, AC_OUTPUT ":" syntax
2101 * Beginnings of a test suite
2102 * Automatically adds -I options for $(srcdir), ".", and path to config.h
2103 * Doesn't print anything when running
2104 * Beginnings of MAINT_CHARSET support
2105 * Can specify version in AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS
2106 * Most errors recognizable by Emacs' M-x next-error
2107 * Added --verbose option
2108 * All "primary" variables now obsolete; use EXTRA_PRIMARY to supply
2109 configure-generated names
2110 * Required macros now distributed in aclocal.m4
2112 * --strictness=gnu is default
2116 * More sophisticated configure.in scanning; now understands ALLOCA and
2117 LIBOBJS directly, handles AC_CONFIG_HEADER more precisely, etc.
2118 * TEXINFOS and MANS now obsolete; use info_TEXINFOS and man_MANS instead.
2119 * CONFIG_HEADER variable now obsolete
2120 * Can handle multiple Texinfo sources
2121 * Allow hierarchies deeper than 2. From Gord Matzigkeit.
2122 * HEADERS variable no longer needed; now can put .h files directly into
2123 foo_SOURCES variable.
2124 * Automake automatically rebuilds files listed in AC_OUTPUT. The
2125 corresponding ".in" files are included in the distribution.
2128 * Added --gnu and --gnits options
2129 * More standards checking
2131 * Cleaned up 'dist' targets
2132 * Added AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS variable and several options
2133 * Now scans configure.in to get some information (preliminary)
2136 * Works with Perl 4 again
2139 * Added --install-missing option.
2140 * Pretty-prints generated macros and rules
2141 * Comments in Makefile.am are placed more intelligently in Makefile.in
2142 * Generates .PHONY target
2143 * Rule or macro in Makefile.am now overrides contents of Automake file
2144 * Substantial cleanups from François Pinard
2148 * Works with Perl 4 again.
2151 * New uniform naming scheme.
2152 * --strictness option
2154 * '.c' files corresponding to '.y' or '.l' files are automatically
2156 * Many bug fixes and cleanups
2159 * Allow objects to be conditionally included in libraries via lib_LIBADD.
2162 * Bug fixes in 'clean' code.
2163 * Now generates 'installdirs' target.
2164 * man page installation reworked.
2165 * 'make dist' no longer re-creates all Makefile.in's.
2168 * Reimplemented in Perl
2169 * Added --amdir option (for debugging)
2170 * Texinfo support cleaned up.
2171 * Automatic de-ANSI-fication cleaned up.
2172 * Cleaned up 'clean' targets.
2175 * Automatic dependency tracking
2176 * More documentation
2177 * New variables DATA and PACKAGEDATA
2178 * SCRIPTS installed using $(INSTALL_SCRIPT)
2179 * No longer uses double-colon rules
2181 * Changes in advance of internationalization
2185 Copyright (C) 1995-2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
2187 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
2188 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
2189 the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
2192 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
2193 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
2194 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
2195 GNU General Public License for more details.
2197 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
2198 along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.