1 * WARNING: Future backward-incompatibilities!
3 - Starting from the next major Automake version (1.13), the parallel
4 testsuite harness (previously only enabled by the 'parallel-tests'
5 option) will become the default one; the older serial testsuite
6 harness will still be available through the use of the 'serial-tests'
9 - The following long-obsolete m4 macros will be removed in the
10 next major Automake version (1.13):
12 AM_PROG_CC_STDC: superseded by AC_PROG_CC since October 2002
13 fp_PROG_CC_STDC: broken alias for AM_PROG_CC_STDC
14 fp_WITH_DMALLOC: old alias for AM_WITH_DMALLOC
15 AM_CONFIG_HEADER: superseded by AC_CONFIG_HEADERS since July 2002
16 ud_PATH_LISPDIR: old alias for AM_PATH_LISPDIR
17 jm_MAINTAINER_MODE: old alias for AM_MAINTAINER_MODE
18 ud_GNU_GETTEXT: old alias for AM_GNU_GETTEXT
19 gm_PROG_LIBTOOL: old alias for AC_PROG_LIBTOOL
20 fp_C_PROTOTYPES: old alias for AM_C_PROTOTYPES (which was part
21 of the now-removed automatic de-ANSI-fication
24 - All the "old alias" macros in 'm4/obsolete.m4' will be removed in
25 the next major Automake version (1.13).
27 - Support for the two- and three-arguments invocation forms of the
28 AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE macro will be deprecated in the next minor version
29 of Automake (1.12.1) and removed in the next major version (1.13).
31 - The long-obsolete (since 1.10) automake-provided $(mkdir_p) make
32 variable, @mkdir_p@ substitution and AM_PROG_MKDIR m4 macro will
33 all be deprecated in the next minor version of Automake (1.12.1)
34 and removed in the next major version (1.13).
36 - The '--acdir' option of aclocal is deprecated, and will probably
37 be removed in the next major Automake release (1.13). You should
38 use the options '--automake-acdir' and '--system-acdir' instead
39 (which have been introduced in Automake 1.11.2).
41 - The exact order in which the directories in the aclocal macro
42 search path are looked up is probably going to be changed in the
43 next Automake release (1.13).
47 * Obsolete features removed:
49 - Support for automatic de-ANSI-fication has been removed.
51 - The support for the "obscure" multilib feature has been removed
52 from Automake core (but remains available in the 'contrib/'
53 directory of the Automake distribution).
55 - Support for ".log -> .html" conversion and the check-html and
56 recheck-html targets has been removed from Automake core (but
57 remains available in the 'contrib/' directory of the Automake
60 - The deprecated 'lzma' compression format for distribution archives
61 has been removed, in favor of 'xz' and 'lzip'.
63 - The obsolete AM_WITH_REGEX macro has been removed.
65 - The long-deprecated options '--output-dir', '--Werror' and
66 '--Wno-error' have been removed.
68 - The chapter on the history of Automake has been moved out of the
69 reference manual, into a new dedicated Texinfo file.
73 - New 'cscope' target to build a cscope database for the source tree.
75 * Changes to Automake-generated testsuite harnesses:
77 - The new automake option 'serial-tests' has been introduced. It can
78 be used to explicitly instruct automake to use the older serial
79 testsuite harness. This is still the default at the moment, but it
80 might change in future versions.
82 - Test scripts that exit with status 99 to signal an "hard error" (e.g.,
83 and unexpected or internal error, or a failure to set up the test case
84 scenario) have their outcome reported as an 'ERROR' now. Previous
85 versions of automake reported such an outcome as a 'FAIL' (the only
86 difference with normal failures being that hard errors were counted
87 as failures even when the test originating them was listed in
90 - The testsuite summary displayed by the parallel-test harness has a
91 completely new format, that always list the numbers of passed, failed,
92 xfailed, xpassed, skipped and errored tests, even when these numbers
93 are zero (but using smart coloring when the color-tests option is in
96 - The default testsuite driver offered by the 'parallel-tests' option is
97 now implemented (partly at least) with the help of automake-provided
98 auxiliary scripts (e.g., 'test-driver'), instead of relying entirely
99 on code in the generated Makefile.in.
100 This has two noteworthy implications. The first one is that projects
101 using the 'parallel-tests' option should now either run automake with
102 the '--add-missing' option, or manually copy the 'test-driver' script
103 into their tree. The second, and more important, implication is that
104 now, when the 'parallel-tests' option is in use, TESTS_ENVIRONMENT can
105 not be used anymore to define a test runner, and the command specified
106 in LOG_COMPILER (and <ext>_LOG_COMPILER) must be a *real* executable
107 program or script. For example, this is still a valid usage (albeit
110 TESTS_ENVIRONMENT = \
111 if test -n '$(STRICT_TESTS)'; then \
112 maybe_errexit='-e'; \
116 LOG_COMPILER = $(SHELL) $$maybe_errexit
118 while this is not anymore:
120 TESTS_ENVIRONMENT = \
121 $(SHELL) `test -n '$(STRICT_TESTS_CHECKING)' && echo ' -e'`
125 TESTS_ENVIRONMENT = \
126 run_with_perl_or_shell () \
128 if grep -q '^#!.*perl' $$1; then
134 LOG_COMPILER = run_with_per_or_shell
136 - The package authors can now use customary testsuite drivers within
137 the framework provided by the 'parallel-tests' testsuite harness.
138 Consistently with the existing syntax, this can be done by defining
139 special makefile variables 'LOG_DRIVER' and '<ext>_LOG_DRIVER'.
141 - A new developer-reserved variable 'AM_TESTS_FD_REDIRECT' can be used
142 to redirect/define file descriptors used by the test scripts.
144 - The parallel-tests harness generates now, in addition the '.log' files
145 holding the output produced by the test scripts, a new set of '.trs'
146 files, holding "metadata" derived by the execution of the test scripts;
147 among such metadata are the outcomes of the test cases run by a script.
149 - Initial and still experimental support for the TAP test protocol is
152 * Changes to Yacc and Lex support:
154 - C source and header files derived from non-distributed Yacc and/or
155 Lex sources are now removed by a simple "make clean" (while they were
156 previously removed only by "make maintainer-clean").
158 - Slightly backward-incompatible change, relevant only for use of Yacc
159 with C++: the extensions of the header files produced by the Yacc
160 rules are now modelled after the extension of the corresponding
161 sources. For example, yacc files named "foo.y++" and "bar.yy" will
162 produce header files named "foo.h++" and "bar.hh" respectively, where
163 they would have previously produced header files named simply "foo.h"
164 and "bar.h". This change offers better compatibility with 'bison -o'.
166 * Miscellaneous changes:
168 - Automake now prefers to quote 'like this' or "like this", rather
169 than `like this', in diagnostic message and generated Makefiles,
170 to accommodate the new GNU Coding Standards recommendations.
172 - Automake has a new option '--print-libdir' that prints the path of the
173 directory containing the Automake-provided scripts and data files.
175 - The 'dist' and 'dist-all' targets now can run compressors in parallel.
177 - Automake can now generate silenced rules for texinfo outputs.
179 - Some auxiliary files that are automatically distributed by Automake
180 (e.g., 'install-sh', or the 'depcomp' script for packages compiling
181 C sources) might now be listed in the DIST_COMMON variable in many
182 Makefile.in files, rather than in the top-level one.
184 - Messages of types warning or error from 'automake' and 'aclocal'
185 are now prefixed with the respective type, and presence of -Werror
188 - Automake's early configure-time sanity check now tries to avoid
189 sleeping for a second, which slowed down cached configure runs
190 noticeably. In that case, it will check back at the end of the
191 configure script to ensure that at least one second has passed, to
192 avoid time stamp issues with makefile rules rerunning autotools
195 - For programs and libraries, automake now detect EXTRA_foo_DEPENDENCIES
196 and adds them to the normal list of dependencies, but without
197 overwriting the foo_DEPENDENCIES variable, which is normally computed
200 - The warnings in the category 'extra-portability' are now enabled by
201 '-Wall'. In previous versions, one has to use '-Wextra-portability'
204 - The 'ar-lib' script now ignores the "s" (symbol index) and "S" (no
205 symbol index) modifiers as well as the "s" action, as the symbol index
206 is created unconditionally by Microsoft lib. Also, the "q" (quick)
207 action is now a synonym for "r" (replace). Also, the script has been
208 ignoring the "v" (verbose) modifier already since Automake 1.11.3.
212 - Various minor bugfixes for recent or long-standing bugs.
214 * Bugs introduced by 1.11:
216 - The AM_COND_IF macro also works if the shell expression for the
217 conditional is no longer valid for the condition.
219 - The automake-provided parallel testsuite harness does not fail anymore
220 with BSD make used in parallel mode when there are test scripts in a
221 subdirectory, like in:
223 TESTS = sub/foo.test sub/bar.test
225 * Long-standing bugs:
227 - Automake's own build system finally have a real "installcheck" target.
229 - Files listed with the AC_REQUIRE_AUX_FILE macro in configure.ac are
230 now automatically distributed also if the directory of the auxiliary
231 files coincides with the top-level directory.
233 - Automake now detects the presence of the '-d' flag in the various
234 '*YFLAGS' variables even when their definitions involve indirections
235 through other variables, such as in:
237 AM_YFLAGS = $(foo_opts)
239 - Automake now complains if a '*YFLAGS' variable has any conditional
240 content, not only a conditional definition.
242 - Explicit enabling and/or disabling of Automake warning categories
243 through the '-W...' options now always takes precedence over the
244 implicit warning level implied by Automake strictness (foreign, gnu
245 or gnits), regardless of the order in which such strictness and
246 warning flags appear. For example, a setting like:
247 AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = -Wall --foreign
248 will cause the warnings in category 'portability' to be enabled, even
249 if those warnings are by default disabled in 'foreign' strictness.
251 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
255 * WARNING: Future backward-incompatibilities!
257 - The obsolescent AM_WITH_REGEX macro has been deprecated, since the
258 GNU rx library has been decommissioned.
260 - The `lzma' compression format for distribution archives has been
261 deprecated in favor of `xz' and `lzip'.
263 * Miscellaneous changes:
265 - Automake's own build system is more silent by default, making use of
266 the 'silent-rules' option.
268 - The master copy of the `gnupload' script is now maintained in gnulib,
271 - The `missing' script doesn't try to wrap calls to `tar' anymore.
273 - "make dist" doesn't wrap `tar' invocations with the `missing' script
274 anymore. Similarly, the obsolescent variable `$(AMTAR)' (which you
275 shouldn't be using BTW ;-) does not invoke the missing script anymore
276 to wrap tar, but simply invokes the `tar' program itself.
278 - "make dist" can now create lzip-compressed tarballs.
280 - In the Automake info documentation, the Top node and the nodes about
281 the invocation of the automake and aclocal programs have been renamed;
282 now, calling "info automake" will open the Top node, while calling
283 "info automake-invocation" and "info aclocal-invocation" will access
284 the nodes about the invocation of respectively automake and aclocal.
286 - Automake is now distributed as a gzip-compressed and an xz-compressed
287 tarball. Previously, bzip2 was used instead of xz.
289 - The last relics of Python 1.5 support have been removed from the
290 AM_PATH_PYTHON macro.
292 Bugs fixed in 1.11.3:
294 * Long-standing bugs:
296 - The "deleted header file problem" for *.am files is avoided by stub
297 rules. This allows `make' to trigger a rerun of `automake' also if
298 some previously needed `.am' file has been removed.
300 - The `silent-rules' option now generates working makefiles even
301 for the uncommon `make' implementations that do not support the
302 nested-variables extension to POSIX 2008. For such `make'
303 implementations, whether a build is silent is determined at
304 configure time, and cannot be overridden at make time with
305 `make V=0' or `make V=1'.
307 - Vala support now works better in VPATH setups.
309 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
313 * Changes to aclocal:
315 - The `--acdir' option is deprecated. Now you should use the new options
316 `--automake-acdir' and `--system-acdir' instead.
318 - The `ACLOCAL_PATH' environment variable is now interpreted as a
319 colon-separated list of additional directories to search after the
320 automake internal acdir (by default ${prefix}/share/aclocal-APIVERSION)
321 and before the system acdir (by default ${prefix}/share/aclocal).
323 * Miscellaneous changes:
325 - The Automake support for automatic de-ANSI-fication has been
328 - The `lzma' compression scheme and associated automake option `dist-lzma'
329 is obsoleted by `xz' and `dist-xz' due to upstream changes.
331 - You may adjust the compression options used in dist-xz and dist-bzip2.
332 The default is now merely -e for xz, but still -9 for bzip; you may
333 specify a different level via the XZ_OPT and BZIP2 envvars respectively.
334 E.g., "make dist-xz XZ_OPT=-7" or "make dist-bzip2 BZIP2=-5"
336 - The `compile' script now converts some options for MSVC for a better
337 user experience. Similarly, the new `ar-lib' script wraps Microsoft lib.
339 - The py-compile script now accepts empty arguments passed to the options
340 `--destdir' and `--basedir', and complains about unrecognized options.
341 Moreover, a non-option argument or a special `--' argument terminates
344 - A developer that needs to pass specific flags to configure at "make
345 distcheck" time can now, and indeed is advised to, do so by defining
346 the developer-reserved makefile variable AM_DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS,
347 instead of the old DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS.
348 The DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS variable should now be reserved for the
349 user; still, the old Makefile.am files that used to define it will
350 still continue to work as before.
352 - New macro AM_PROG_AR that looks for an archiver and wraps it in the new
353 'ar-lib' auxiliary script if the selected archiver is Microsoft lib.
354 This new macro is required for LIBRARIES and LTLIBRARIES when automake
355 is run with -Wextra-portability and -Werror.
357 - When using DejaGnu-based testsuites, the user can extend the `site.exp'
358 file generated by automake-provided rules by defining the special make
359 variable `$(EXTRA_DEJAGNU_SITE_CONFIG)'.
361 - The `install-info' rule can now be instructed not to create/update
362 the `${infodir}/dir' file, by exporting the new environment variable
363 `AM_UPDATE_INFO_DIR' to the value "no".
365 Bugs fixed in 1.11.2:
367 * Bugs introduced by 1.11.2:
369 - Automake now correctly recognizes the prefix/primary combination
370 `pkglibexec_SCRIPTS' as valid.
372 * Bugs introduced by 1.11:
374 - The parallel-tests driver no longer produces erroneous results with
375 Tru64/OSF 5.1 sh upon unreadable log files.
377 - The `parallel-tests' test driver does not report spurious successes
378 when used with concurrent FreeBSD make (e.g., "make check -j3").
380 - When the parallel-tests driver is in use, automake now explicitly
381 rejects invalid entries and conditional contents in TEST_EXTENSIONS,
382 instead of issuing confusing and apparently unrelated error messages
383 (e.g., "non-POSIX variable name", "bad characters in variable name",
384 or "redefinition of TEST_EXTENSIONS), or even, in some situations,
385 silently producing broken `Makefile.in' files.
387 - The `silent-rules' option now truly silences all compile rules, even
388 when dependency tracking is disabled. Also, when `silent-rules' is
389 not used, `make' output no longer contains spurious backslash-only
390 lines, thus once again matching what Automake did before 1.11.
392 - The AM_COND_IF macro also works if the shell expression for the
393 conditional is no longer valid for the condition.
395 * Long-standing bugs:
397 - The order of Yacc and Lex flags is fixed to be consistent with other
398 languages: $(AM_YFLAGS) comes before $(YFLAGS), and $(AM_LFLAGS) before
399 $(LFLAGS), so that the user variables override the developer variables.
401 - "make distcheck" now correctly complains also when "make uninstall"
402 leaves one and only one file installed in $(prefix).
404 - A "make uninstall" issued before a "make install", or after a mere
405 "make install-data" or a mere "make install-exec" does not spuriously
408 - Automake now warns about more primary/directory invalid combinations,
409 such as "doc_LIBRARIES" or "pkglib_PROGRAMS".
411 - Rules generated by Automake now try harder to not change any files when
412 `make -n' is invoked. Fixes include compilation of Emacs Lisp, Vala, or
413 Yacc source files and the rule to update config.h.
415 - Several scripts and the parallel-tests testsuite driver now exit with
416 the right exit status upon receiving a signal.
418 - A per-Makefile.am setting of -Werror does not erroneously carry over
419 to the handling of other Makefile.am files.
421 - The code for automatic dependency tracking works around a Solaris
422 make bug triggered by sources containing repeated slashes when the
423 `subdir-objects' option was used.
425 - The makedepend and hp depmodes now work better with VPATH builds.
427 - Java sources specified with check_JAVA are no longer compiled for
428 "make all", but only for "make check".
430 - An usage like "java_JAVA = foo.java" will now cause Automake to warn
431 and error out if `javadir' is undefined, instead of silently producing
432 a broken Makefile.in.
434 - aclocal and automake now honour the configure-time definitions of
435 AUTOCONF and AUTOM4TE when they spawn autoconf or autom4te processes.
437 - The `install-info' recipe no longer tries to guess whether the
438 `install-info' program is from Debian or from GNU, and adaptively
439 change its behaviour; this has proven to be frail and easy to
442 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
444 Bugs fixed in 1.11.1:
446 - Lots of minor bugfixes.
448 * Bugs introduced by 1.11:
450 - The `parallel-tests' test driver works around a GNU make 3.80 bug with
451 trailing white space in the test list (`TESTS = foo $(EMPTY)').
453 * Long standing bugs:
455 - On Darwin 9, `pythondir' and `pyexecdir' pointed below `/Library/Python'
456 even if the `--prefix' argument pointed outside of a system directory.
457 AM_PATH_PYTHON has been fixed to ignore the value returned from python's
458 `get_python_lib' function if it points outside the configured prefix,
459 unless the `--prefix' argument was either `/usr' or below `/System'.
461 - The testsuite does not try to change the mode of `ltmain.sh' files from
462 a Libtool installation (symlinked to test directories) any more.
464 - AM_PROG_GCJ uses AC_CHECK_TOOLS to look for `gcj' now, so that prefixed
465 tools are preferred in a cross-compile setup.
467 - The distribution is tarred up with mode 755 now by the `dist*' targets.
468 This fixes a race condition where untrusted users could modify files
469 in the $(PACKAGE)-$(VERSION) distdir before packing if the toplevel
470 build directory was world-searchable. This is CVE-2009-4029.
472 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
476 * Version requirements:
478 - Autoconf 2.62 or greater is required.
480 * Changes to aclocal:
482 - The autoconf version check implemented by aclocal in aclocal.m4
483 (and new in Automake 1.10) is degraded to a warning. This helps
484 in the common case where the Autoconf versions used are compatible.
486 * Changes to automake:
488 - The automake program can run multiple threads for creating most
489 Makefile.in files concurrently, if at least Perl 5.7.2 is available
490 with interpreter-based threads enabled. Set the environment variable
491 AUTOMAKE_JOBS to the maximum number of threads to use, in order to
492 enable this experimental feature.
494 * Changes to Libtool support:
496 - Libtool generic flags are now passed to the install and uninstall
499 - distcheck works with Libtool 2.x even when LT_OUTPUT is used, as
500 config.lt is removed correctly now.
504 - subdir-object mode works now with Fortran (F77, FC, preprocessed
505 Fortran, and Ratfor).
507 - For files with extension .f90, .f95, .f03, or .f08, the flag
508 $(FCFLAGS_f[09]x) computed by AC_FC_SRCEXT is now used in compile rules.
510 - Files with extension .sx are also treated as preprocessed assembler.
512 - The default source file extension (.c) can be overridden with
513 AM_DEFAULT_SOURCE_EXT now.
515 - Python 3.0 is supported now, Python releases prior to 2.0 are no
518 - AM_PATH_PYTHON honors python's idea about the site directory.
520 - There is initial support for the Vala programming language, when using
523 * Miscellaneous changes:
525 - Automake development is done in a git repository on Savannah now, see
527 http://git.sv.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=automake.git
529 A read-only CVS mirror is provided at
531 cvs -d :pserver:anonymous@pserver.git.sv.gnu.org:/automake.git \
532 checkout -d automake HEAD
534 - "make dist" can now create xz-compressed tarballs,
535 as well as (deprecated?) lzma-compressed tarballs.
537 - `automake --add-missing' will by default install the GPLv3 file as
538 COPYING if it is missing. It will also warn that the license file
539 should be added to source control. Note that Automake will never
540 overwrite an existing COPYING file, even when the `--force-missing'
543 - The manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL 1.3.
545 - Automake ships and installs man pages for automake and aclocal now.
547 - New shorthand `$(pkglibexecdir)' for `$(libexecdir)/@PACKAGE@'.
549 - install-sh supports -C, which does not update the installed file
550 (and its time stamps) if the contents did not change.
552 - The `gnupload' script has been revamped.
554 - The `depcomp' and `compile' scripts now work with MSVC under MSYS.
556 - The targets `install' and `uninstall' are more efficient now, in that
557 for example multiple files from one Automake variable such as
558 `bin_SCRIPTS' are copied in one `install' (or `libtool --mode=install')
559 invocation if they do not have to be renamed.
561 Both install and uninstall may sometimes enter (`cd' into) the target
562 installation directory now, when no build-local scripts are used.
564 Both install and uninstall do not fail anymore but do nothing if an
565 installation directory variable like `bindir' is set to the empty string.
567 For built-in rules, `make install' now fails reliably if installation
568 of a file failed. Conversely, `make uninstall' even succeeds when
569 issued multiple times.
571 These changes may need some adjustments from users: For example,
572 some `install' programs refuse to install multiple copies of the
573 same file in one invocation, so you may need to remove duplicate
574 entries from file lists.
576 Also, within one set of files, say, nobase_data_DATA, the order of
577 installation may be changed, or even unstable among different hosts,
578 due to the use of associative arrays in awk. The increased use of
579 awk matches a similar move in Autoconf to provide for better scaling.
581 Further, most undocumented per-rule install command variables such as
582 binSCRIPT_INSTALL have been removed because they are not needed any
583 more. Packages which use them should be using the appropriate one of
584 INSTALL_{DATA,PROGRAM,SCRIPT} or their install_sh_{DATA,PROGRAM,SCRIPT}
585 counterpart, depending on the type of files and the need for automatic
586 target directory creation.
588 - The "deleted header file problem" for *.m4 files is avoided by
589 stub rules. This allows `make' to trigger a rerun of `aclocal'
590 also if some previously needed macro file has been removed.
592 - Rebuild rules now also work for a removed `subdir/Makefile.in' in
593 an otherwise up to date tree.
595 - The `color-tests' option causes colored test result output on terminals.
597 - The `parallel-tests' option enables a new test driver that allows for
598 parallel test execution, inter-test dependencies, lazy test execution
599 for unit-testing, re-testing only failed tests, and formatted result output
600 as RST (reStructuredText) and HTML. Enabling this option may require some
601 changes to your test suite setup; see the manual for details.
603 - The `silent-rules' option enables Linux kernel-style silent build output.
604 This option requires the widely supported but non-POSIX `make' feature
605 of recursive variable expansion, so do not use it if your package needs
606 to build with `make' implementations that do not support it.
608 To enable less verbose build output, the developer has to use the Automake
609 option `silent-rules' in `AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE', or call the `AM_SILENT_RULES'
610 macro. The user may then set the default verbosity by passing the
611 `--enable-silent-rules' option to `configure'. At `make' run time, this
612 default may be overridden using `make V=0' for less verbose, and `make V=1'
613 for backward-compatible verbose output.
615 - New prefix `notrans_' for manpages which should not be transformed
616 by --program-transform.
618 - New macro AM_COND_IF for conditional evaluation and conditional
621 - For AC_CONFIG_LINKS, if source and destination are equal, do not
622 remove the file in a non-VPATH build. Such setups work with Autoconf
625 - AM_MAINTAINER_MODE now allows for an optional argument specifying
628 - AM_SUBST_NOTMAKE may prevent substitution of AC_SUBSTed variables,
629 useful especially for multi-line values.
631 - Automake's early configure-time sanity check now diagnoses an
632 unsafe absolute source directory name and makes configure fail.
634 - The Automake macros and rules cope better with whitespace in the
635 current directory name, as long as the relative path to `configure'
636 does not contain whitespace. To this end, the values of `$(MISSING)'
637 and `$(install_sh)' may contain suitable quoting, and their expansion
638 might need `eval'uation if used outside of a makefile. These
639 undocumented variables may be used in several documented macros such
640 as $(AUTOCONF) or $(MAKEINFO).
644 * Long-standing bugs:
646 - Fix aix dependency tracking for libtool objects.
648 - Work around AIX sh quoting issue in AC_PROG_CC_C_O, leading to
649 unnecessary use of the `compile' script.
651 - For nobase_*_LTLIBRARIES with nonempty directory components, the
652 correct `-rpath' argument is used now.
654 - `config.status --file=Makefile depfiles' now also works with the
655 extra quoting used internally by Autoconf 2.62 and newer
656 (it used to work only without the `--file=' bit).
658 - The `missing' script works better with versioned tool names.
660 - Semantics for `missing help2man' have been revamped:
662 Previously, if `help2man' was not present, `missing help2man' would have
663 the following semantics: if some man page was out of date but present, then
664 a warning would be printed, but the exit status was 0. If the man page was
665 not present at all, then `missing' would create a replacement man page
666 containing an error message, and exit with a status of 2. This does not play
667 well with `make': the next run will see this particular man page as being up
668 to date, and will only error out on the next generated man page, if any;
669 repeat until all pages are done. This was not desirable.
671 These are the new semantics: if some man page is not present, and help2man
672 is not either, then `missing' will warn and generate the replacement page
673 containing the error message, but exit successfully. However, `make dist'
674 will ensure that no such bogus man pages are packaged into a tarball.
676 - Targets provided by automake behave better with `make -n', in that they
677 take care not to create files.
679 - `config.status Makefile... depfiles' works fine again in the presence of
680 disabled dependency tracking.
682 - The default no-op recursive rules for these targets also work with BSD make
683 now: html, install-html, install-dvi, install-pdf, install-pdf, install-info.
685 - `make distcheck' works also when both a directory and some file below it
686 have been added to a distribution variable, such as EXTRA_DIST or *_SOURCES.
688 - Texinfo dvi, ps, pdf, and html output files are not removed upon
689 `make mostlyclean' any more; only the LaTeX by-products are.
691 - Renamed objects also work with the `subdir-objects' option and
692 source file languages which Automake does not know itself.
694 - `automake' now correctly complains about variable assignments which are
695 preceded by a comment, extend over multiple lines with backslash-escaped
696 newlines, and end in a comment sign. Previous versions would silently
697 and wrongly ignore such assignments completely.
699 * Bugs introduced by 1.10:
701 - Fix output of dummy dependency files in presence of post-processed
702 Makefile.in's again, but also cope with long lines.
704 - $(EXEEXT) is automatically appended to filenames of XFAIL_TESTS
705 that have been declared as programs in the same Makefile.
706 This is for consistency with the analogous change to TESTS in 1.10.
708 - Fix order of standard includes to again be `-I. -I$(srcdir)',
709 followed by directories containing config headers.
711 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
715 * Version requirements:
717 - Autoconf 2.60 or greater is required.
719 - Perl 5.6 or greater is required.
721 * Changes to aclocal:
723 - aclocal now also supports -Wmumble and -Wno-mumble options.
725 - `dirlist' entries (for the aclocal search path) may use shell
726 wildcards such as `*', `?', or `[...]'.
728 - aclocal supports an --install option that will cause system-wide
729 third-party macros to be installed in the local directory
730 specified with the first -I flag. This option also uses #serial
731 lines in M4 files to upgrade local macros.
733 The new aclocal options --dry-run and --diff help to review changes
734 before they are installed.
736 - aclocal now outputs an autoconf version check in aclocal.m4 in
737 projects using automake.
739 For a few years, automake and aclocal have been calling autoconf
740 (or its underlying engine autom4te) to accurately retrieve the
741 data they need from configure.ac and its siblings. Doing so can
742 only work if all autotools use the same version of autoconf. For
743 instance a Makefile.in generated by automake for one version of
744 autoconf may stop working if configure is regenerated with another
745 version of autoconf, and vice versa.
747 This new version check ensures that the whole build system has
748 been generated using the same autoconf version.
750 * Support for new Autoconf macros:
752 - The new AC_REQUIRE_AUX_FILE Autoconf macro is supported.
754 - If `subdir-objects' is set, and AC_CONFIG_LIBOBJ_DIR is specified,
755 $(LIBOBJS), $(LTLIBOBJS), $(ALLOCA), and $(LTALLOCA) can be used
756 in different directories. However, only one instance of such a
757 library objects directory is supported.
759 * Change to Libtool support:
761 - Libtool generic flags (those that go before the --mode=MODE option)
762 can be specified using AM_LIBTOOLFLAGS and target_LIBTOOLFLAGS.
764 * Yacc and Lex changes:
766 - The rebuild rules for distributed Yacc and Lex output will avoid
767 overwriting existing files if AM_MAINTAINER_MODE and maintainer-mode
770 - ylwrap is now always used for lex and yacc source files,
771 regardless of whether there is more than one source per directory.
775 - Preprocessed assembler (*.S) compilation now honors CPPFLAGS,
776 AM_CPPFLAGS and per-target _CPPFLAGS, and supports dependency
777 tracking, unlike non-preprocessed assembler (*.s).
779 - subdir-object mode works now with Assembler. Automake assumes
780 that the compiler understands `-c -o'.
782 - Preprocessed assembler (*.S) compilation now also honors
783 $(DEFS) $(DEFAULT_INCLUDES) $(INCLUDES).
785 - Improved support for Objective C:
786 - Autoconf's new AC_PROG_OBJC will enable automatic dependency tracking.
787 - A new section of the manual documents the support.
789 - New support for Unified Parallel C:
790 - AM_PROG_UPC looks for a UPC compiler.
791 - A new section of the manual documents the support.
793 - Per-target flags are now correctly handled in link rules.
795 For instance maude_CFLAGS correctly overrides AM_CFLAGS; likewise
796 for maude_LDFLAGS and AM_LDFLAGS. Previous versions bogusly
797 preferred AM_CFLAGS over maude_CFLAGS while linking, and they
798 used both AM_LDFLAGS and maude_LDFLAGS on the same link command.
800 The fix for compiler flags (i.e., using maude_CFLAGS instead of
801 AM_CFLAGS) should not hurt any package since that is how _CFLAGS
802 is expected to work (and actually works during compilation).
804 However using maude_LDFLAGS "instead of" AM_LDFLAGS rather than
805 "in addition to" breaks backward compatibility with older versions.
806 If your package used both variables, as in
808 AM_LDFLAGS = common flags
810 a_LDFLAGS = more flags
813 and assumed *_LDFLAGS would sum up, you should rewrite it as
815 AM_LDFLAGS = common flags
817 a_LDFLAGS = $(AM_LDFLAGS) more flags
820 This new behavior of *_LDFLAGS is more coherent with other
821 per-target variables, and the way *_LDFLAGS variables were
822 considered internally.
824 * New installation targets:
826 - New targets mandated by GNU Coding Standards:
831 By default they will only install Texinfo manuals.
832 You can customize them with *-local variants:
838 - The undocumented recursive target `uninstall-info' no longer exists.
839 (`uninstall' is in charge of removing all possible documentation
840 flavors, including optional formats such as dvi, ps, or info even
841 when `no-installinfo' is used.)
843 * Miscellaneous changes:
845 - Automake no longer complains if input files for AC_CONFIG_FILES
846 are specified using shell variables.
848 - clean, distribution, or rebuild rules are normally disabled for
849 inputs and outputs of AC_CONFIG_FILES, AC_CONFIG_HEADERS, and
850 AC_CONFIG_LINK specified using shell variables. However, if these
851 variables are used as ${VAR}, and AC_SUBSTed, then Automake will
852 be able to output rules anyway.
853 (See the Automake documentation for AC_CONFIG_FILES.)
855 - $(EXEEXT) is automatically appended to filenames of TESTS
856 that have been declared as programs in the same Makefile.
857 This is mostly useful when some check_PROGRAMS are listed in TESTS.
859 - `-Wportability' has finally been turned on by default for `gnu' and
860 `gnits' strictness. This means, automake will complain about %-rules
861 or $(GNU Make functions) unless you switch to `foreign' strictness or
862 use `-Wno-portability'.
864 - Automake now uses AC_PROG_MKDIR_P (new in Autoconf 2.60), and uses
865 $(MKDIR_P) instead of $(mkdir_p) to create directories. The
866 $(mkdir_p) variable is still defined (to the same value as
867 $(MKDIR_P)) but should be considered obsolete. If you are using
868 $(mkdir_p) in some of your rules, please plan to update them to
869 $(MKDIR_P) at some point.
871 - AM_C_PROTOTYPES and ansi2knr are now documented as being obsolete.
872 They still work in this release, but may be withdrawn in a future one.
874 - Inline compilation rules for gcc3-style dependency tracking are
877 - Automake installs a "Hello World!" example package in $(docdir).
878 This example is used throughout the new "Autotools Introduction"
879 chapter of the manual.
881 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
885 * Makefile.in bloat reduction:
887 - Inference rules are used to compile sources in subdirectories when
888 the `subdir-objects' option is used and no per-target flags are
889 used. This should reduce the size of some projects a lot, because
890 Automake used to output an explicit rule for each such object in
893 - Automake no longer outputs three rules (.o, .obj, .lo) for each
894 object that must be built with explicit rules. It just outputs
895 the rules required to build the kind of object considered: either
896 the two .o and .obj rules for usual objects, or the .lo rule for
899 * Change to Libtool support:
901 - Libtool tags are used with libtool versions that support them.
902 (I.e., with Libtool 1.5 or greater.)
904 - Automake is now able to handle setups where a libtool library is
905 conditionally installed in different directories, as in
908 lib_LTLIBRARIES = liba.la
910 pkglib_LTLIBRARIES = liba.la
912 liba_la_SOURCES = ...
914 * Changes to aclocal:
916 - aclocal now ensures that AC_DEFUNs and AU_DEFUNs it discovers are
917 really evaluated, before it decides to include them in aclocal.m4.
918 This solves nasty problems with conditional redefinitions of
919 Autoconf macros in /usr/share/aclocal/*.m4 files causing extraneous
920 *.m4 files to be included in any project using these macros.
921 (Calls to AC_PROG_EGREP causing libtool.m4 to be included is the
922 most famous instance of this bug.)
924 - Do not complain about missing conditionally AC_REQUIREd macros
925 that are not actually used. In 1.8.x aclocal would correctly
926 determine which of these macros were really needed (and include
927 only these in the package); unfortunately it would also require
928 all of them to be present in order to run. This created
929 situations were aclocal would not work on a tarball distributing
930 all the macros it uses. For instance running aclocal on a project
931 containing only the subset of the Gettext macros in use by the
932 project did not work, because gettext conditionally requires other
935 * Portability improvements:
937 - Tar format can be chosen with the new options tar-v7, tar-ustar, and
938 tar-pax. The new option filename-length-max=99 helps diagnosing
939 filenames that are too long for tar-v7. (PR/414)
941 - Variables aumented with `+=' are now automatically flattened (i.e.,
942 trailing backslashes removed) and then wrapped around 80 colummns
943 (adding trailing backslashes). In previous versions, a long series
949 would result in a single-line definition of VAR that could possibly
950 exceed the maximum line length of some make implementations.
952 Non-augmented variables are still output as they are defined in
957 - Support Fortran 90/95 with the new "fc" and "ppfc" languages.
958 Works the same as the old Fortran 77 implementation; just replace
959 F77 with FC everywhere (exception: FFLAGS becomes FCFLAGS).
960 Requires a version of autoconf which provides AC_PROG_FC (>=2.59).
962 - Support for conditional _LISP.
964 - Support for conditional -hook and -local rules (PR/428).
966 - Diagnose AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR calls following AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE. (PR/49)
968 - Automake will not write any Makefile.ins after the first error it
969 encounters. The previous Makefile.ins (if any) will be left in
970 place. (Warnings will not prevent output, but remember they can
971 be turned into errors with -Werror.)
973 - The restriction that SUBDIRS must contain direct children is gone.
976 - The manual tells more about SUBDIRS vs. DIST_SUBDIRS.
977 It also gives an example of nested packages using AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS.
979 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
983 * Long-standing bugs:
985 - Define DIST_SUBDIRS even when the `no-dist' or `cygnus' options are used
986 so that `make distclean' and `make maintainer-clean' can work.
988 - Define AR and ARFLAGS even when only EXTRA_LIBRARIES are defined.
990 - Fix many rules to please FreeBSD make, which runs commands with `sh -e'.
992 - Polish diagnostic when no input file is found.
994 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
998 * Long-standing bugs:
1000 - Fix AM_PATH_PYTHON to correctly display $PYTHON when it has been
1001 overridden by the user.
1003 - Honor PATH_SEPARATOR in various places of the Automake package, for
1006 - Adjust dependency tracking mode detection to ICC 8.0's new output.
1009 - Fix install-sh so it can install the `mv' binary... using `mv'.
1011 - Fix tru64 dependency tracking for libtool objects.
1013 - Work around Exuberant Ctags when creating a TAGS files in a directory
1014 without files to scan but with subdirectories to include.
1016 * Bugs introduced by 1.8:
1018 - Fix an "internal error" when @LIBOBJS@ is used in a variable that is
1019 not defined in the same conditions as the _LDADD that uses it.
1021 - Do not warn when JAVAROOT is overridden, this is legitimate.
1023 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1025 Bugs fixed in 1.8.3:
1027 * Long-standing bugs:
1029 - Quote filenames in installation rules, in case $DESTDIR, $prefix,
1030 or any of the other *dir variables contain a space.
1032 Please note that Automake does not and cannot support spaces in
1033 filenames that are involved during the build. This change affects
1034 only installation paths, so that `make install' does not bomb out
1035 in packages configured with
1036 ./configure --prefix '/c/Program Files'
1038 - Fix the depfiles output so it works with GNU sed (<4.1) even when
1039 POSIXLY_CORRECT is set.
1041 - Do not AC_SUBST(LIBOBJS) in AM_WITH_REGEX. This macro was unusable
1042 since Autoconf 2.54, which defines LIBOBJS itself.
1044 - Fix a potential (but unlikely) race condition in parallel elisp
1045 builds. (Introduced in 1.7.3.)
1047 - Do not assume that users override _DEPENDENCIES in all conditions
1048 where Automake will try to define them.
1050 - Do not use `mkdir -p' in mkinstalldirs, unless this is GNU mkdir.
1051 Solaris 8's `mkdir -p' is not thread-safe and can break parallel
1054 This fix also affects the $(mkdir_p) variable defined since
1055 Automake 1.8. It will be set to `mkdir -p' only if mkdir is GNU
1056 mkdir, and to `mkinstalldirs' or `install-sh -d' otherwise.
1058 - Secure temporary directory creation in `make distcheck'. (PR/413)
1060 - Do not generate two build rules for `parser.h' when the
1061 parser appears in two different conditionals.
1063 - Work around a Solaris 8 /bin/sh bug in the test for dependency
1064 checking. Usually ./configure will not pick this shell; so this
1065 fix only helps cases where the shell is forced to /bin/sh.
1067 * Bugs introduced by 1.8:
1069 - In some situations (hand-written `m4_include's), aclocal would
1070 call the `File::Spec->rel2abs' method, which was only introduced
1071 in Perl 5.6. This new version reestablish support Perl 5.005.
1073 It is likely that the next major Automake releases will require at
1074 least Perl 5.6. Consider upgrading your development environment
1075 if you are still using the five-year-old Perl 5.005.
1077 - Automake would sometimes fail to define rules for targets listed
1078 in variables defined in multiple conditions. For instance on
1084 it would define only the `a.$(OBJEXT): a.c' rule and omit the
1085 `b.$(OBJEXT): b.c' rule.
1087 * New sections in manual:
1089 - Third-Party Makefiles: how to interface third party Makefiles.
1090 - Upgrading: upgrading packages to newer Automake versions.
1091 - Multiple Outputs: handling tools that produce many outputs.
1093 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1097 * A (well known) portability bug slipped in the changes made to
1098 install-sh in Automake 1.8.1. The broken install-sh would refuse to
1099 install anything on Tru64.
1101 * Fix install rules for conditionally built python files. (This never
1104 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1108 * Bugs introduced by 1.8:
1110 - Fix Config.pm import error with old Perl versions (at least
1111 5.005_03). One symptom is that aclocal could not find its macro
1114 - Automake 1.8 used `mkdir -m 0755 -p --' to ensure that directories
1115 created by `make install' are always world readable, even if the
1116 installer happens to have an overly restrictive umask (e.g. 077).
1117 This was a mistake and has been reverted. There are at least two
1118 reasons why we must not use `-m 0755':
1119 - it causes special bits like SGID to be ignored,
1120 - it may be too restrictive (some setups expect 775 directories).
1122 - Fix aclocal to honor definitions located in files which have been
1123 m4_included manually. aclocal 1.8 had been updated to check
1124 m4_included files for new requirements, but forgot that these
1125 m4_included files can also provide new definitions.
1127 Note that if you have such a setup, we recommend you get rid of
1128 it. In the past, there was a reason to m4_include files manually:
1129 aclocal used to duplicate entire M4 files into aclocal.m4, even
1130 files that were distributed. Some packages were therefore
1131 m4_including the distributed file directly, and playing some
1132 tricks to ensure aclocal would not copy that file to aclocal.m4,
1133 in order to limit the amount of duplication. Since aclocal 1.8.x
1134 will precisely output m4_includes for local M4 files, we recommend
1135 that you clean up your setup, removing all manual m4_includes and
1136 letting aclocal output them.
1138 - Output detailed menus in the Info version if the Automake manual,
1139 so that Emacs can locate the indexes.
1141 - configure.ac and configure were listed twice in DIST_COMMON (an
1142 internal variable where Automake lists configury files to
1143 distribute). This was harmless, but unaesthetic.
1145 - Use `chmod a-w' instead of `chmod -w' as the latter honors umask.
1146 This was an issue only in the Automake package itself, not in
1149 - Automake assumed that all AC_CONFIG_LINKS arguments had the form
1150 DEST:SRC. This was wrong, as some packages do
1151 AC_CONFIG_LINKS($computedlinks). This version no longer abort in
1154 - Contrary to mkinstalldirs, $(mkdir_p) was expecting exactly one
1155 argument. This caused two kinds of failures:
1156 - Rules installing data in a conditionally defined directory
1157 failed when that directory was undefined. In this case no
1158 argument was supplied.
1159 - `make installdirs' failed, because several directories were
1160 passed to $(mkdir_p). This was an issue only on platform
1161 were $(mkdir_p) is implemented with `install-sh -d'.
1162 $(mkdir_p) as been changed to accept 0 or more arguments, as
1165 * Long-standing bugs:
1167 - Fix an unexpected diagnostic occurring when users attempt
1168 to override some internal variables that Automake appends to.
1170 - aclocal now scans configure.ac for macro definitions (PR/319).
1172 - Fix a portability issue with OSF1/Tru64 Make. If a directory
1173 distributes files which are outside itself (this usually occurs
1174 when using AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR([../dir]) to use auxiliary files
1175 from a parent package), then `make distcheck' fails due to an
1176 optimization performed by OSF1/Tru64 Make in its VPATH handling.
1177 (tests/subpkg2.test failure)
1179 - Fix another portability issue with Sun and OSF1/Tru64 Make.
1180 In a VPATH-build configuration, `make install' would install
1181 nobase_ files to wrong locations.
1183 - Fix a Perl `uninitialized value' diagnostic occurring when
1184 automake complains that a Texinfo file does not have a
1185 @setfilename statement.
1187 - Erase config.status.lineno during `make distclean'. This file
1188 can be created by config.status. Automake already knew about
1189 configure.lineno, but forgot config.status.lineno.
1191 - Distribute all files, even those which are built and installed
1192 conditionally. This change affects files listed in conditionally
1193 defined *_HEADERS and *_PYTHON variable (unless they are nodist_*)
1194 as well as those listed in conditionally defined dist_*_DATA,
1195 dist_*_JAVA, dist_*_LISP, and dist_*_SCRIPTS variables.
1197 - Fix AM_PATH_LISPDIR to avoid \? in sed regular expressions; it
1198 doesn't conform to POSIX.
1200 - Normalize help strings for configure variables and options added
1205 - Check for python2.4 in AM_PATH_PYTHON.
1207 * Spurious failures in test suite:
1209 - tests/libtool5.test, tests/ltcond.test, tests/ltcond2.test,
1210 tests/ltconv.test: fix failures with CVS Libtool.
1211 - tests/aclocal6.test: fix failure if autom4te.cache is disabled.
1212 - tests/txinfo24.test, tests/txinfo25.test, tests/txinfo28.test:
1213 fix failures with old Texinfo versions.
1215 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1221 - The NEWS file is more verbose.
1225 - Autoconf 2.58 or greater is required.
1229 - Default source file names in the absence of a _SOURCES declaration
1230 are made by removing any target extension before appending `.c', so
1231 to make the libtool module `foo.la' from `foo.c', you only need to
1234 lib_LTLIBRARIES = foo.la
1235 foo_la_LDFLAGS = -module
1237 For backward compatibility, foo_la.c will be used instead of
1238 foo.c if this file exists or is the explicit target of a rule.
1239 However -Wobsolete will warn about this deprecated naming.
1241 - AR's `cru' flags are now set in a global ARFLAGS variable instead
1242 of being hard-coded in each $(AR) invocation, so they can be
1243 substituted from configure.ac. This has been requested by people
1244 dealing with non-POSIX ar implementations.
1246 - New warning option: -Woverride. This will warn about any user
1247 target or variable definitions which override Automake
1250 - Texinfo rules back up and restore info files when makeinfo fails.
1252 - Texinfo rules now support the `html' target.
1253 Running this requires Texinfo 4.0 or greater.
1255 `html' is a new recursive target, so if your package mixes
1256 hand-crafted `Makefile.in's with Automake-generated
1257 `Makefile.in's, you should adjust the former to support (or
1258 ignore) this target so that `make html' recurses successfully. If
1259 you had a custom `html' rule in your `Makefile.am', it's better to
1260 rename it as `html-local', otherwise your rule will override
1261 Automake's new rule (you can check that by running `automake
1262 -Woverride') and that will stop the recursion to subdirectories.
1264 Last but not least, this `html' rule is declared PHONY, even when
1265 overridden. Fortunately, it appears that few packages use a
1266 non-PHONY `html' rule.
1268 - Any file which is m4_included from configure.ac will appear as a
1269 configure and Makefile.in dependency, and will be automatically
1272 - The rules for rebuilding Makefiles and Makefile.ins will now
1273 rebuild all Makefiles and all Makefile.ins at once when one of
1274 configure's dependencies has changed. This is considerably faster
1275 than previous implementations, where config.status and automake
1276 were run separately in each directory (this still happens when you
1277 change a Makefile.am locally, without touching configure.ac or
1278 friends). Doing this also solves a longstanding issue: these
1279 rebuild rules failed to work when adding new directories to the
1280 tree, forcing you to run automake manually.
1282 - For similar reasons, the rules to rebuild configure,
1283 config.status, and aclocal.m4 are now defined in all directories.
1284 Note that if you were using the CONFIG_STATUS_DEPENDENCIES and
1285 CONFIGURE_DEPENDENCIES (formerly undocumented) variables, you
1286 should better define them in all directories. This is easily done
1287 using an AC_SUBST (make sure you prefix these dependencies with
1288 $(top_srcdir) since this variable will appear at different
1289 levels of the build tree).
1291 - aclocal will now use `m4_include' instead of copying local m4
1292 files into aclocal.m4. (Local m4 files are those you ship with
1293 your project, other files will be copied as usual.)
1295 Because m4_included files are automatically distributed, it means
1296 for most projects there is no point in EXTRA_DISTing the list of
1297 m4 files which are used. (You can probably get rid of
1298 m4/Makefile.am if you had one.)
1300 - aclocal will avoid touching aclocal.m4 when possible, so that
1301 Autom4te's cache isn't needlessly invalidated. This behavior can
1302 be switched off with the new `--force' option.
1304 - aclocal now uses Autoconf's --trace to detect macros which are
1305 actually used and will no longer include unused macros simply
1306 because they where mentioned. This was often the case for macros
1307 called conditionally.
1309 - New options no-dist and no-dist-gzip.
1311 - compile, depcomp, elisp-comp, install-sh, mdate-sh, mkinstalldirs,
1312 py-compile, and ylwrap, now all understand --version and --help.
1314 - Automake will now recognize AC_CONFIG_LINKS so far as removing created
1315 links as part of the distclean target and including source files in
1318 - AM_PATH_PYTHON now supports ACTION-IF-FOUND and ACTION-IF-NOT-FOUND
1319 argument. The latter can be used to override the default behavior
1320 (which is to abort).
1322 - Automake will exit with $? = 63 on version mismatch. (So does
1323 Autoconf 2.58) missing knows this, and in this case it will
1324 emulate the tools as if they were absent. Because older versions
1325 of Automake and Autoconf did not use this exit code, this change
1326 will only be useful in projects generated with future versions of
1329 - When using AC_CONFIG_FILES with multiple input files, Automake
1330 generates the first ".in" input file for which a ".am" exists.
1331 (Former versions would try to use only the first input file.)
1333 - lisp_DATA is now allowed. If you are using the empty ELCFILES
1334 idiom to disable byte-compilation of lisp_LISP files, it is
1335 recommended that you switch to using lisp_DATA. Note that
1336 this is not strictly equivalent: lisp_DATA will install elisp
1337 files even if emacs is not installed, while *_LISP do not
1338 install anything unless emacs is found.
1340 - Makefiles will prefer `mkdir -p' over mkinstalldirs if it is
1341 available. This selection is achieved through the Makefile
1342 variable $(mkdir_p) that is set by AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE to either
1343 `mkdir -m 0755 -p --', `$(mkinstalldirs) -m 0755', or
1344 `$(install_sh) -m 0755 -d'.
1348 - Because `mkdir -p' is available on most platforms, and we can use
1349 `install-sh -d' when it is not, the use of the mkinstalldirs
1350 script is being phased out. `automake --add-missing' no longer
1351 installs it, and if you remove mkinstalldirs from your package,
1352 automake will define $(mkinstalldirs) as an alias for $(mkdir_p).
1354 Gettext 0.12.1 still requires mkinstalldirs. Fortunately
1355 gettextize and autopoint will install it when needed. Automake
1356 will continue to define the $(mkinstalldirs) and to distribute
1357 mkinstalldirs when this script is in the source tree.
1359 - AM_PROG_CC_STDC is now empty. The content of this macro was
1360 merged in AC_PROG_CC. If your code uses $am_cv_prog_cc_stdc, you
1361 should adjust it to use $ac_cv_prog_cc_stdc instead. (This
1362 renaming should be safe, even if you have to support several,
1363 versions of Automake, because AC_PROG_CC defines this variable
1364 since Autoconf 2.54.)
1366 - Some users where using the undocumented ACLOCAL_M4_SOURCES
1367 variable to override the aclocal.m4 dependencies computed
1368 (inaccurately) by older versions of Automake. Because Automake
1369 now tracks configure's m4 dependencies accurately (see m4_include
1370 above), the use of ACLOCAL_M4_SOURCES should be considered
1371 obsolete and will be flagged as such when running `automake
1376 - Defining programs conditionally using Automake conditionals no
1377 longer leads to a combinatorial explosion. The following
1378 construct used to be troublesome when used with dozens of
1393 Likewise for _SOURCES, _LDADD, and _LIBADD variables.
1395 - Due to implementation constraints, previous versions of Automake
1396 proscribed multiple conditional definitions of some variables
1406 All _PROGRAMS, _LDADD, and _LIBADD variables were affected.
1407 This restriction has been lifted, and these variables now
1408 support multiple conditional definitions as do other variables.
1410 - Cleanup the definitions of $(distdir) and $(top_distdir).
1411 $(top_distdir) now points to the root of the distribution
1412 directory created during `make dist', as it did in Automake 1.4,
1413 not to the root of the build tree as it did in intervening
1414 versions. Furthermore these two variables are now only defined in
1415 the top level Makefile, and passed to sub-directories when running
1418 - The --no-force option now correctly checks the Makefile.in's
1419 dependencies before deciding not to update it.
1421 - Do not assume that make files are called Makefile in cleaning rules.
1423 - Update .info files in the source tree, not in the build tree. This
1424 is what the GNU Coding Standard recommend. Only Automake 1.7.x
1425 used to update these files in the build tree (previous versions did
1426 it in the source tree too), and it caused several problems, varying
1427 from mere annoyance to portability issues.
1429 - COPYING, COPYING.LIB, and COPYING.LESSER are no longer overwritten
1430 when --add-missing and --force-missing are used. For backward
1431 compatibility --add-missing will continue to install COPYING (in
1432 `gnu' strictness) when none of these three files exist, but this
1433 use is deprecated: you should better choose a license yourself and
1434 install it once for all in your source tree (and in your code
1437 - Fix ylwrap so that it does not overwrite header files that haven't
1438 changed, as the inline rule already does.
1440 - User-defined rules override automake-defined rules for the same
1441 targets, even when rules do not have commands. This is not new
1442 (and was documented), however some of the automake-generated
1443 rules have escaped this principle in former Automake versions.
1444 Rules for the following targets are affected by this fix:
1446 clean, clean-am, dist-all, distclean, distclean-am, dvi, dvi-am,
1447 info, info-am, install-data-am, install-exec-am, install-info,
1448 install-info-am, install-man, installcheck-am, maintainer-clean,
1449 maintainer-clean-am, mostlyclean, mostlyclean-am, pdf, pdf-am,
1450 ps, ps-am, uninstall-am, uninstall-info, uninstall-man
1452 Practically it means that an attempt to supplement the dependencies
1453 of some target, as in
1455 clean: my-clean-rule
1457 will now *silently override* the automake definition of the
1458 rule for this target. Running `automake -Woverride' will diagnose
1459 all such overriding definitions.
1461 It should be noted that almost all these targets support a *-local
1462 variant that is meant to supplement the automake-defined rule
1463 (See node `Extending' in the manual). The above rule should
1466 clean-local: my-clean-rule
1468 These *-local targets have been documented since at least
1469 Automake 1.2, so you should not fear the change if you have
1470 to support multiple automake versions.
1474 - The Automake manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
1476 - Targets dist-gzip, dist-bzip2, dist-tarZ, dist-zip are always defined.
1478 - core dumps are no longer removed by the cleaning rules. There are
1479 at least three reasons for this:
1480 1. These files should not be created by any build step,
1481 so their removal do not fit any of the cleaning rules.
1482 Actually, they may be precious to the developer.
1483 2. If such file is created during a build, then it's clearly a
1484 bug Automake should not hide. Not removing the file will
1485 cause `make distcheck' to complain about its presence.
1486 3. Operating systems have different naming conventions for
1487 core dump files. A core file on one system might be a
1488 completely legitimate data file on another system.
1490 - RUNTESTFLAGS, CTAGSFLAGS, ETAGSFLAGS, JAVACFLAGS are no longer
1491 defined by Automake. This means that any definition in the
1492 environment will be used, unless overridden in the Makefile.am or
1493 on the command line. The old behavior, where these variables were
1494 defined empty in each Makefile, can be obtained by AC_SUBSTing or
1495 AC_ARG_VARing each variable from configure.ac.
1497 - CONFIGURE_DEPENDENCIES and CONFIG_STATUS_DEPENDENCIES are now
1498 documented. (The is not a new feature, these variables have
1499 been there since at least Automake 1.4.)
1501 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1503 Bugs fixed in 1.7.9:
1504 * Fix install-strip to work with nobase_ binaries.
1505 * Fix renaming of #line directives in ylwrap.
1506 * Rebuild with Autoconf 2.59. (1.7.8 was not installable with pdksh.)
1508 Bugs fixed in 1.7.8:
1509 * Remove spurious blank lines in cleaning rules introduced in 1.7.7.
1510 * Fix detection of Debian's install-info, broken since version 1.5.
1511 (Debian bug #213524).
1512 * Honor -module if it appears in AM_LDFLAGS (i.e., relax name checking)
1513 This was only done for libfoo_LDFLAGS and LDFLAGS in previous versions.
1515 Bugs fixed in 1.7.7:
1516 * The implementation of automake's --no-force option is unreliable,
1517 so this option is ignored in this version. A real fix will appear in
1518 Automake 1.8. (Debian Bug #206299)
1519 * AM_PATH_PYTHON: really check the whole list of interpreters if no
1520 argument is given. (PR/399)
1521 * Do not warn about leading `_' in variable names, even with -Wportability.
1522 * Support user redefinitions of TEXINFO_TEX.
1523 * depcomp: support AIX Compiler version 6.
1524 * Fix missing rebuilds during `make dist' with BSD make.
1525 (Could produce tarballs containing out-of-date files.)
1526 * Resurrect multilib support.
1527 * Noteworthy manual updates:
1528 - Extending aclocal: how to write m4 macros that won't trigger warnings
1530 - A Shared Library: Rewrite and split into subsections.
1532 Bugs fixed in 1.7.6:
1533 * Fix depcomp's icc mode for ICC 7.1.
1534 * Diagnose calls to AC_CONFIG_FILES and friends with not enough arguments.
1535 * Fix maintainer-clean's removal of autom4te.cache in VPATH builds.
1536 * Fix AM_PATH_LISPDIR to work with POSIXLY_CORRECT=1.
1537 * Fix the location reported in some diagnostics related to AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS.
1538 * Remove Latin-1 characters from elisp-comp.
1539 * Update the manual's @dircategory to match the Free Software Directory.
1541 Bugs fixed in 1.7.5:
1542 * Update install-sh's license to remove an advertising clause.
1543 (Debian bug #191717)
1544 * Fix a bug introduced in 1.7.4, related to BUILT_SOURCE handling,
1545 that caused invalid Makefile.ins to be generated.
1546 * Make sure AM_MAKE_INCLUDE doesn't fail when a `doit' file exists.
1547 * New FAQ entry: renamed objects.
1549 Bugs fixed in 1.7.4:
1550 * Tweak the TAGS rule to support Exuberant Ctags (in addition to
1551 the Emacs implementation)
1552 * Fix output of aclocal.m4 dependencies in subdirectories.
1553 * Use `mv -f' instead of `mv' in fastdep rules.
1554 * Upgrade mdate-sh to work on OS/2.
1555 * Don't byte-compile elisp files when ELCFILES is set empty.
1556 (this documented feature was broken by 1.7.3)
1557 * Diagnose trailing backslashes on last line of Makefile.am.
1558 * Diagnose whitespace following trailing backslashes.
1559 * Multiple tests are now correctly supported in DEJATOOL. (PR/388)
1560 * Fix rebuilt rules for AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile:Makefile.in:Makefile.bot])
1562 * `make install' will build `BUILT_SOURCES' first.
1563 * Minor documentation fixes.
1565 Bugs fixed in 1.7.3:
1566 * Fix stamp files numbering (when using multiple AC_CONFIG_HEADERS).
1567 * Query distutils for `pythondir' and `pythonexecdir', instead of
1568 using an hardcoded path. This should allow builds on 64-bit
1569 distributions that usually use lib64/ instead of lib/.
1570 * AM_PATH_PYTHON will also search for python2.3.
1571 * elisp files are now built all at once instead of one by one. Besides
1572 incurring a speed-up, this is required to support interdependent elisp files.
1573 * Support for DJGPP:
1574 - `make distcheck' will now work in `_inst/' and `_build' instead
1575 of `=inst/' and `=build/'
1576 - use `_dirstamp' when the file-system doesn't support `.dirstamp'
1577 - install/uninstall `*.i[0-9][0-9]'-style info files
1578 - more changes that affect only the Automake package (not its output)
1579 * Fix some incompatibilities with upcoming perl-5.10.
1580 * Properly quote AC_PACKAGE_TARNAME and AC_PACKAGE_VERSION when defining
1581 PACKAGE and VERSION.
1583 - dashmstdout and dashXmstdout modes: don't use `-o /dev/null', this
1584 is troublesome with gcc and Solaris compilers. (PR/385)
1585 - makedepend mode: work with Libtool. (PR/385 too)
1587 * better support for unusual gettext setups, such as multiple po/ directories
1589 - Flag missing po/ and intl/ directories as warnings, not errors.
1590 - Disable these warnings if po/ does not exist.
1591 * Noteworthy manual updates:
1593 - Document how AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR interacts with missing files.
1595 - Document `AM_YFLAGS = -d'. (PR/382)
1597 Bugs fixed in 1.7.2:
1598 * Fix installation and uninstallation of Info files built in subdirectories.
1599 * Do not run `./configure --with-included-gettext' during `make distcheck'
1600 if AM_GNU_GETTEXT([external]) is used.
1601 * Correctly uninstall renamed man pages.
1602 * Do not strip escaped newline in variables defined in one condition
1603 and augmented in another condition.
1604 * Fix ansi2knr rules for LIBOBJS sources.
1605 * Clean all known Texinfo index files, not only those which appear to
1606 be used, because we cannot know which indexes are used in included files.
1607 (PR/375, Debian Bug #168671)
1608 * Honor only the first @setfilename seen in a Texinfo file.
1609 * Treat "required file X not found" diagnostics as errors (exit status 1).
1610 * Don't complain that a required file is not found when it is a Makefile
1612 * Don't use single suffix inference rules when building `.info'-less
1613 Info files, for the sake of Solaris make.
1614 * The `check' target now depends on `$(BUILT_SOURCES)'. (PR/359)
1615 * Recognize multiple inference rules such as `.a.b .c.d:'. (PR/371)
1616 * Warn about multiple inference rules when -Wportability is used. (PR/372)
1617 * Fix building of deansified files from subdirectories. (PR/370)
1618 * Add missing `fi' in the .c->.obj rules.
1619 * Improve install-sh to work even when names contain spaces or certain
1620 (but not all) shell metachars.
1621 * Fix the following spurious failures in the test suite:
1622 depcomp2.test, gnits2.test, gnits3.test, python3.test, texinfo13.test
1623 * Noteworthy manual updates:
1624 - Augment the section about BUILT_SOURCES.
1625 - Mention that AM_PROG_CC_STDC is a relic that is better avoided today.
1627 Bugs fixed in 1.7.1:
1628 * Honor `ansi2knr' for files built in subdirectories, or using per-targets
1630 * Aclocal should now recognize macro names containing parentheses, e.g.
1631 AC_DEFUN([AC_LANG_PREPROC(Fortran 90)], [...]).
1632 * Erase *.sum and *.log files created by DejaGnu, during `make distclean'.
1634 * Install Python files even if they were built. (PR/369)
1635 * Have stamp-vti dependent upon configure instead of configure.ac, as the
1636 version might not be defined in the latter. (PR/358)
1637 * Reorder arguments passed to a couple of commands, so things works
1638 when POSIXLY_CORRECT=1.
1639 * Fix a regex that can cause Perl to segfault on large input.
1641 * Fix distribution of packages that have some sources defined conditionally,
1642 as in the `Conditional compilation using Automake conditionals' example
1644 * Fix spurious test suite failures on IRIX.
1645 * Don't report a required variable as undefined if it has been
1646 defined conditionally for the "right" conditions.
1647 * Fix cleaning of the /tmp subdirectory used by `make distcheck', in case
1648 `make distcheck' fails.
1649 * Fix distribution of included Makefile fragment, so we don't create
1650 spurious directories in the distribution. (PR/366)
1651 * Don't complain that a target lacks `.$(EXEEXT)' when it has it.
1654 * Autoconf 2.54 is required.
1655 * `aclocal' and `automake' will no longer warn about obsolete
1656 configure macros. This is done by `autoconf -Wobsolete'.
1657 * AM_CONFIG_HEADER, AM_SYS_POSIX_TERMIOS and
1658 AM_HEADER_TIOCGWINSZ_NEEDS_SYS_IOCTL are obsolete (although still
1659 supported). You should use AC_CONFIG_HEADERS, AC_SYS_POSIX_TERMIOS,
1660 and AC_HEADER_TIOCGWINSZ instead. `autoupdate' can upgrade
1661 `configure.ac' for you.
1662 * Support for per-program and per-library `_CPPFLAGS'.
1663 * New `ctags' target (builds CTAGS files).
1664 * Support for -Wmumble and -Wno-mumble, where mumble is a warning category
1665 (see `automake --help' or the manual for a list of them).
1666 * Honor the WARNINGS environment variable.
1667 * Omit the call to depcomp when using gcc3: call the compiler directly.
1668 * A new option, std-options, tests that programs support --help and --version
1669 when `make installcheck' is run. This is enabled by --gnits.
1670 * Texinfo rules now support the `ps' and `pdf' targets.
1671 * Info files are now created in the build directory, not the source directory.
1672 * info_TEXINFOS supports files in subdirectories (this requires Texinfo 4.1
1674 * `make distcheck' will enforce DESTDIR support by attempting
1676 * `+=' can be used in conditionals, even if the augmented variable
1677 was defined for another condition.
1678 * Makefile fragments (inserted with `include') are always distributed.
1679 * Use Autoconf's --trace interface to inspect configure.ac and get
1680 a more accurate view of it.
1681 * Add support for extending aclocal's default macro search path
1682 using a `dirlist' file within the aclocal directory.
1683 * automake --output-dir is deprecated.
1684 * The part of the distcheck target that checks whether uninstall actually
1685 removes all installed files has been moved in a separate target,
1686 distuninstallcheck, so it can be overridden easily.
1690 * Support for AM_INIT_GETTEXT([external])
1691 * Bug fixes, including:
1692 - Fix Automake's own `make install' so it works even if `ln' doesn't.
1693 - nobase_ programs and scripts honor --program-transform correctly.
1694 - Erase configure.lineno during `make distclean'.
1695 - Erase YACC and LEX outputs during `make maintainer-clean'.
1698 * Many bug fixes, including:
1699 - Requiring the current version works.
1700 - Fix "$@" portability issues (for Zsh).
1701 - Fix output of dummy dependency files in presence of post-processed
1703 - Don't compute dependencies in background to avoid races with libtool.
1704 - Fix handling of _OBJECTS variables for targets sharing source variables.
1705 - Check dependency mode for Java when AM_PROG_GCJ is used.
1708 * automake --output-dir is deprecated
1709 * Many bug fixes, including:
1710 - Don't choke on AM_LDFLAGS definitions.
1711 - Clean libtool objects from subdirectories.
1712 - Allow configure variables with reserved suffix and unknown prefix
1713 (e.g. AC_SUBST(mumble_LDFLAGS) when 'mumble' is not a target).
1714 - Fix the definition of AUTOMAKE and ACLOCAL in configure.
1717 * Autoconf 2.52 is required.
1718 * automake no longer run libtoolize.
1719 This is the job of autoreconf (from GNU Autoconf).
1720 * `dist' generates all the archive flavors, as did `dist-all'.
1721 * `dist-gzip' generates the Gzip tar file only.
1722 * Combining Automake Makefile conditionals no longer lead to a combinatorial
1723 explosion. Makefile.in's keep a reasonable size.
1724 * AM_FUNC_ERROR_AT_LINE, AM_FUNC_STRTOD, AM_FUNC_OBSTACK, AM_PTRDIFF_T
1725 are no longer shipped, since Autoconf 2.52 provides them (both as AM_
1727 * `#line' of Lex and Yacc files are properly set.
1728 * EXTRA_DIST can contain generated directories.
1729 * Support for dot-less extensions in suffix rules.
1730 * The part of the distcheck target that checks whether distclean actually
1731 cleans all built files has been moved in a separate target, distcleancheck,
1732 so it can be overridden easily.
1733 * `make distcheck' will pass additional options defined in
1734 $(DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS) to configure.
1735 * Fixed CDPATH portability problems, in particular for MacOS X.
1736 * Fixed handling of nobase_ targets.
1737 * Fixed support of implicit rules leading to .lo objects.
1738 * Fixed late inclusion of --add-missing files (e.g. depcomp) in DIST_COMMON
1739 * Added uninstall-hook target
1740 * `AC_INIT AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE(tarname,version)' is an obsolete construct.
1741 You can now use `AC_INIT(pkgname,version) AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE' instead.
1742 (Note that "pkgname" is not "tarname", see the manual for details.)
1743 It is also possible to pass a list of global Automake options as
1744 first argument to this new form of AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE.
1745 * Compiler-based assembler is now called `CCAS'; people expected `AS'
1746 to be a real assembler.
1747 * AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE will set STRIP itself when it needs it. Adding
1748 AC_CHECK_TOOL([STRIP], [strip]) manually is no longer required.
1749 * aclocal and automake are also installed with the version number
1750 appended, and some of the install directory names have changed.
1751 This lets you have multiple versions installed simultaneously.
1752 * Support for parsers and lexers in subdirectories.
1755 * Support for `configure.ac'.
1756 * Support for `else COND', `endif COND' and negated conditions `!COND'.
1757 * `make dist-all' is much faster.
1758 * Allows '@' AC_SUBSTs in macro names.
1759 * Faster AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE (requires update of `missing' script)
1760 * User-side dependency tracking. Developers no longer need GNU make
1762 * Uses DIST_SUBDIRS in some situations when SUBDIRS is conditional
1763 * Most files are correctly handled if they appear in subdirs
1764 For instance, a _DATA file can appear in a subdir
1765 * GNU tar is no longer required for `make dist'
1766 * Added support for `dist_' and `nodist_' prefixes
1767 * Added support for `nobase_' prefix
1768 * Compiled Java support
1769 * Support for per-executable and per-library compilation flags
1773 * Added support for the Fortran 77 programming language.
1774 * Re-indexed the Automake Texinfo manual.
1775 * Added `AM_FOOFLAGS' variable for each compiler invocation;
1776 e.g. AM_CFLAGS can be used in Makefile.am to set C compiler flags
1777 * Support for latest autoconf, including support for objext
1778 * Can now put `.' in SUBDIRS to control build order
1779 * `include' command and `+=' support for macro assignment
1780 * Dependency tracking no long susceptible to deleted header file problem
1781 * Maintainer mode now a conditional. @MAINT@ is now an anachronism.
1786 * Better Cygwin32 support
1787 * Support for suffix rules with _SOURCES variables
1788 * New options `readme-alpha' and `check-news'; Gnits mode sets these
1789 * @LEXLIB@ no longer required when lex source seen
1790 Lex support in `missing', and new lex macro. Update your missing script.
1791 * Built-in support for assembly
1792 * aclocal gives error if `AM_' macro not found
1793 * Passed YFLAGS, not YACCFLAGS, to yacc
1794 * AM_PROG_CC_STDC does not have to come before AC_PROG_CPP
1795 * Dependencies computed as a side effect of compilation
1796 * Preliminary support for Java
1797 * DESTDIR support at "make install" time
1798 * Improved ansi2knr support; you must use the latest ansi2knr.c (included)
1802 * Better DejaGnu support
1803 * Added no-installinfo option
1804 * Added Emacs Lisp support
1805 * Added --no-force option
1806 * Included `aclocal' program
1807 * Automake will now generate rules to regenerate aclocal.m4, if appropriate
1808 * Now uses `AM_' macro names everywhere
1809 * ansi2knr option can have directory prefix (eg `../lib/ansi2knr')
1810 ansi2knr now works correctly on K&R sources
1811 * Better C++, yacc, lex support
1812 * Will compute _DEPENDENCIES variables automatically if not supplied
1813 * Will interpolate $(...) and ${...} when examining contents of a variable
1814 * .deps files now in build directory, not source directory; dependency
1815 handling generally rewritten
1816 * DATA, MANS and BUILT_SOURCES no longer included in distribution
1817 * can now put config.h into a subdir
1818 * Added dist-all target
1819 * Support for install-info program (see texinfo 3.9)
1820 * Support for "yacc -d"
1821 * configure substitutions are automatically discovered and included
1822 in generated Makefile.in
1823 * Special --cygnus mode
1824 * OMIT_DEPENDENCIES can now hold list of dependencies to be omitted
1825 when making distribution. Some dependencies are auto-ignored.
1826 * Changed how libraries are specified in _LIBRARIES variable
1827 * Full libtool support, from Gord Matzigkeit
1828 * No longer have to explicitly touch stamp-h when using AC_CONFIG_HEADER;
1829 AM_CONFIG_HEADER handles it automatically
1830 * Texinfo output files no longer need .info extension
1831 * Added `missing' support
1833 * Conditionals in Makefile.am, from Ian Taylor
1837 * distcheck target runs install and installcheck targets
1838 * Added preliminary support for DejaGnu.
1843 * More libtool fixes from Gord Matzigkeit; libtool support is still
1845 * Added support for jm_MAINTAINER_MODE
1847 * New "distcheck" target
1851 * mkinstalldirs and mdate-sh now appear in directory specified by
1853 * Removed DIST_SUBDIRS, DIST_OTHER
1854 * AC_ARG_PROGRAM only required when an actual program exists
1855 * dist-hook target now run before distribution packaged up; idea from
1856 Dieter Baron. Other hooks exist, too.
1857 * Preliminary (unfinished) support for libtool
1858 * Added short option names.
1859 * Better "dist" support when gluing together multiple packages
1863 * Documentation updates (many from François Pinard)
1864 * strictness `normal' now renamed to `foreign'
1865 * Renamed --install-missing to --add-missing
1866 * Now handles AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR
1867 * Now handles TESTS macro
1868 * DIST_OTHER renamed to EXTRA_DIST
1869 * DIST_SUBDIRS is deprecated
1870 * @ALLOCA@ and @LIBOBJS@ now work in _LDADD variables
1871 * Better error messages in many cases
1872 * Program names are canonicalized
1873 * Added "check" prefix; from Gord Matzigkeit
1877 * configure.in scanner knows about AC_PATH_XTRA, AC_OUTPUT ":" syntax
1878 * Beginnings of a test suite
1879 * Automatically adds -I options for $(srcdir), ".", and path to config.h
1880 * Doesn't print anything when running
1881 * Beginnings of MAINT_CHARSET support
1882 * Can specify version in AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS
1883 * Most errors recognizable by Emacs' M-x next-error
1884 * Added --verbose option
1885 * All "primary" variables now obsolete; use EXTRA_PRIMARY to supply
1886 configure-generated names
1887 * Required macros now distributed in aclocal.m4
1889 * --strictness=gnu is default
1893 * More sophisticated configure.in scanning; now understands ALLOCA and
1894 LIBOBJS directly, handles AC_CONFIG_HEADER more precisely, etc.
1895 * TEXINFOS and MANS now obsolete; use info_TEXINFOS and man_MANS instead.
1896 * CONFIG_HEADER variable now obsolete
1897 * Can handle multiple Texinfo sources
1898 * Allow hierarchies deeper than 2. From Gord Matzigkeit.
1899 * HEADERS variable no longer needed; now can put .h files directly into
1900 foo_SOURCES variable.
1901 * Automake automatically rebuilds files listed in AC_OUTPUT. The
1902 corresponding ".in" files are included in the distribution.
1905 * Added --gnu and --gnits options
1906 * More standards checking
1908 * Cleaned up 'dist' targets
1909 * Added AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS variable and several options
1910 * Now scans configure.in to get some information (preliminary)
1913 * Works with Perl 4 again
1916 * Added --install-missing option.
1917 * Pretty-prints generated macros and rules
1918 * Comments in Makefile.am are placed more intelligently in Makefile.in
1919 * Generates .PHONY target
1920 * Rule or macro in Makefile.am now overrides contents of Automake file
1921 * Substantial cleanups from François Pinard
1925 * Works with Perl 4 again.
1928 * New uniform naming scheme.
1929 * --strictness option
1931 * '.c' files corresponding to '.y' or '.l' files are automatically
1933 * Many bug fixes and cleanups
1936 * Allow objects to be conditionally included in libraries via lib_LIBADD.
1939 * Bug fixes in 'clean' code.
1940 * Now generates 'installdirs' target.
1941 * man page installation reworked.
1942 * 'make dist' no longer re-creates all Makefile.in's.
1945 * Reimplemented in Perl
1946 * Added --amdir option (for debugging)
1947 * Texinfo support cleaned up.
1948 * Automatic de-ANSI-fication cleaned up.
1949 * Cleaned up 'clean' targets.
1952 * Automatic dependency tracking
1953 * More documentation
1954 * New variables DATA and PACKAGEDATA
1955 * SCRIPTS installed using $(INSTALL_SCRIPT)
1956 * No longer uses double-colon rules
1958 * Changes in advance of internationalization
1962 Copyright (C) 1995-2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1964 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
1965 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
1966 the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
1969 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
1970 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
1971 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
1972 GNU General Public License for more details.
1974 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
1975 along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.