1 * WARNING: New versioning scheme for Automake.
3 - Starting with this version onward, Automake will use an update and
4 more rational versioning scheme, one that will allow users to know
5 which kind of changes can be expected from a new version, based on
8 + Micro versions (e.g., 1.13.3, 2.0.1, 3.2.8) will introduce only
9 documentation updates and bug and regression fixes; they will
10 not introduce new features, nor any backward-incompatibility (any
11 such incompatibility would be considered a bug, to be fixed with
12 a further micro release).
14 + Minor versions (e.g., 1.14, 2.1) can introduce new backward
15 compatible features; the only backward-incompatibilities allowed
16 in such a release are new *non-fatal* deprecations and warnings,
17 and possibly fixes for old or non-trivial bugs (or even inefficient
18 behaviours) that could unfortunately have been seen, and used, by
19 some developers as "corner case features". Possible disruptions
20 caused by this kind of fixes should hopefully be quite rare.
22 + Major versions (now expected to be released every 18 or 24 months,
23 and not more often) can introduce new big features (possibly with
24 rough edges and not-fully-stabilized APIs), removal of deprecated
25 features, backward-incompatible changes of behaviour, and possibly
26 major refactorings (that, while ideally transparent to the user,
27 could introduce new bugs). Incompatibilities should however not
28 be introduced gratuitously and abruptly; a proper deprecation path
29 should be duly implemented in the preceding minor releases.
31 - According to this new scheme, the next major version of Automake
32 (the one that has until now been labelled as '1.14') will actually
33 become "Automake 2.0". Automake 1.14 will be the next minor version,
34 which will introduce new features, deprecations and bug fixes, but
35 no real backward incompatibility.
37 - See discussion about automake bug#13578 for more details and
38 background: <http://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=13578>
40 * WARNING: Future backward-incompatibilities!
42 - Makefile recipes generated by Automake 2.0 will expect to use an
43 'rm' program that doesn't complain when called without any non-option
44 argument if the '-f' option is given (so that commands like "rm -f"
45 and "rm -rf" will act as a no-op, instead of raising usage errors).
46 Accordingly, AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE will expand new shell code checking
47 that the default 'rm' program in PATH satisfies this requirement, and
48 aborting the configure process if this is not the case. This behavior
49 of 'rm' is very widespread in the wild, and it will be required in the
51 <http://austingroupbugs.net/view.php?id=542>
53 - Automake 2.0 will require Autoconf 2.70 or later (which is still
54 unreleased at the moment of writing, but is planned to be released
55 before Automake 2.0 is).
57 - Automake 2.0 will drop support for the long-deprecated 'configure.in'
58 name for the Autoconf input file. You are advised to start using the
59 recommended name 'configure.ac' instead, ASAP.
61 - The ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS special make variable will be fully deprecated
62 in Automake 2.0 (where it will raise warnings in the "obsolete"
63 category). You are advised to start relying on the new Automake
64 support for AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIRS instead (which was introduced in
67 - Automake 2.0 will remove support for automatic dependency tracking
68 with the SGI C/C++ compilers on IRIX. The SGI depmode has been
69 reported broken "in the wild" already, and we don't think investing
70 time in debugging and fixing is worthwhile, especially considering
71 that SGI has last updated those compilers in 2006, and is expected
72 to retire support for them in December 2013:
73 <http://www.sgi.com/services/support/irix_mips_support.html>
75 - Future versions of Automake might remove support for MS-DOS and
76 Windows 95/98/ME (support for them was offered by relying on the
77 DJGPP project). Note however that both Cygwin and MSYS/MinGW on
78 modern Windows versions will continue to be fully supported.
80 - Automake-provided scripts and makefile recipes might (finally!)
81 start assuming a POSIX shell in Automake 2.0.
83 - Starting from Automake 2.0, third-party m4 files located in the
84 system-wide aclocal directory, as well as in any directory listed
85 in the ACLOCAL_PATH environment variable, will take precedence
86 over "built-in" Automake macros. For example (assuming Automake
87 is installed in the /usr/local hierarchy), a definition of the
88 AM_PROG_VALAC macro found in '/usr/local/share/aclocal/my-vala.m4'
89 should take precedence over the same-named automake-provided macro
90 (defined in '/usr/local/share/aclocal-2.0/vala.m4').
92 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
96 * Documentation fixes:
98 - The documentation no longer mistakenly report that the obsolete
99 'AM_MKDIR_PROG_P' macro and '$(mkdir_p)' make variable are going
100 to be removed in Automake 2.0.
104 - Byte-compilation of Emacs lisp files could fail spuriously on Solaris,
105 when /bin/ksh or /usr/xpg4/bin/sh were used as shell.
109 - The test cases no longer have the executable bit set. This should
110 make it clear that they are not meant to be run directly; as
111 explained in t/README, the can only be run through the custom
112 'runtest' script, or by a "make check" invocation.
114 - The testsuite has seen the introduction of a new helper function
115 'run_make', and several related changes. These serve a two-fold
118 1. Removing brittleness due to the use of "make -e" in test cases.
120 2. Seamlessly allowing the use of parallel make ("make -j...") in
121 the test cases, even where redirection of make output is involved
122 (see automake bug#11413 for a description of the subtle issues in
125 - Some other minor, miscellaneous changes and fixlets.
127 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
131 * Obsolescent features:
133 - Use of suffix-less info files (that can be specified through the
134 '@setfilename' macro in Texinfo input files) is discouraged, and
135 its use will raise warnings in the 'obsolete' category.
137 - Use of Texinfo input files with '.txi' or '.texinfo' extensions
138 is discouraged, and its use will raise warnings in the 'obsolete'
139 category. You are advised to simply use the '.texi' extension
142 * Documentation fixes:
144 - The long-deprecated but still supported two-arguments invocation form
145 of AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE is documented once again. This seems the sanest
146 thing to do, given that support for such an usage might need to remain
147 in place for a unspecified amount of time in order to cater for people
148 who want to define the version number for their package dynamically at
149 configure runtime (unfortunately, Autoconf does not yet support this
150 scenario, so we cannot delegate the work to it).
152 - The serial testsuite harness is no longer reported as "deprecated",
153 but as "discouraged". We have no plan to remove it, not to make its
154 use cause runtime warnings.
156 - The parallel testsuite is no longer reported as "experimental"; it
157 is well tested, and should be stable now.
159 - The 'shar' and 'tarZ' distribution formats and the 'dist-shar' and
160 'dist-tarZ' options are obsolescent, and their use is deprecated
161 in the documentation.
163 - Other minor miscellaneous fixes and improvements; in particular,
164 some improvements in cross-references.
168 - When the 'ustar' option is used, the generated configure script no
169 longer risks hanging during the tests for the availability of the
170 'pax' utility, even if the user running configure has a UID or GID
171 that requires more than 21 bits to be represented.
172 See automake bug#8343 and bug#13588.
174 - The obsolete macros AM_CONFIG_HEADER or AM_PROG_CC_STDC work once
175 again, as they did in Automake 1.12.x (albeit printing runtime
176 warnings in the 'obsolete' category). Removing them has turned
177 out to be a very bad idea, because it complicated distro packing
178 enormously. Making them issue fatal warnings, as we did in
179 Automake 1.13, has turned out to be a similarly very bad idea,
180 for exactly the same reason.
182 - aclocal will no longer error out if the first local m4 directory
183 (as specified by the '-I' option or the 'AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIRS' or
184 'AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR' macros) doesn't exist; it will merely report
185 a warning in the 'unsupported' category. This is done to support
186 some pre-existing real-world usages. See automake bug#13514.
188 - aclocal will no longer consider directories for extra m4 files more
189 than once, even if they are specified multiple times. This ensures
190 packages that specify both
192 AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR([m4]) in configure.ac
193 ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS = -I m4 in Makefile.am
195 will work correctly, even when the 'm4' directory contains no
196 package-specific files, but is used only to install third-party
197 m4 files (as can happen with e.g., "libtoolize --install").
198 See automake bug#13514.
200 - Analysis of make flags in Automake-generated rules has been made more
201 robust, and more future-proof. For example, in presence of make that
202 (like '-I') take an argument, the characters in said argument will no
203 longer be spuriously considered as a set of additional make options.
204 In particular, automake-generated rules will no longer spuriously
205 believe to be running in dry mode ("make -n") if run with an invocation
206 like "make -I noob"; nor will they believe to be running in keep-going
207 mode ("make -k") if run with an invocation like "make -I kool"
208 (automake bug#12554).
210 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
216 - Use of the obsolete macros AM_CONFIG_HEADER or AM_PROG_CC_STDC now
217 causes a clear and helpful error message, instead of obscure ones
218 (issue introduced in Automake 1.13).
220 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
226 - ylwrap renames properly header guards in generated header files
227 (*.h), instead of leaving Y_TAB_H.
229 - ylwrap now also converts header guards in implementation files
230 (*.c). Because ylwrap failed to rename properly #include in the
231 implementation files, current versions of Bison (e.g., 2.7)
232 duplicate the generated header file in the implementation file.
233 The header guard then protects the implementation file from
234 duplicate definitions from the header file.
236 * Version requirements:
238 - Autoconf 2.65 or greater is now required.
240 - The rules to build PDF and DVI output from Texinfo input now
241 require Texinfo 4.9 or later.
245 - Support for the "Cygnus-style" trees (once enabled by the 'cygnus'
246 option) has been removed. See discussion about automake bug#11034
247 for more background: <http://debbugs.gnu.org/11034>.
249 - The deprecated aclocal option '--acdir' has been removed. You
250 should use the options '--automake-acdir' and '--system-acdir'
251 instead (which have been introduced in Automake 1.11.2).
253 - The following long-obsolete m4 macros have been removed:
255 AM_PROG_CC_STDC: superseded by AC_PROG_CC since October 2002
256 fp_PROG_CC_STDC: broken alias for AM_PROG_CC_STDC
257 fp_WITH_DMALLOC: old alias for AM_WITH_DMALLOC
258 AM_CONFIG_HEADER: superseded by AC_CONFIG_HEADERS since July 2002
259 ud_PATH_LISPDIR: old alias for AM_PATH_LISPDIR
260 jm_MAINTAINER_MODE: old alias for AM_MAINTAINER_MODE
261 ud_GNU_GETTEXT: old alias for AM_GNU_GETTEXT
262 gm_PROG_LIBTOOL: old alias for AC_PROG_LIBTOOL
263 fp_C_PROTOTYPES: old alias for AM_C_PROTOTYPES (which was part
264 of the now-removed automatic de-ANSI-fication
267 - All the "old alias" macros in 'm4/obsolete.m4' have been removed.
269 - Use of the long-deprecated two- and three-arguments invocation forms
270 of the AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE is no longer documented. It's still supported
271 though (albeit with a warning in the 'obsolete' category), to cater
272 for people who want to define the version number for their package
273 dynamically (e.g., from the current VCS revision). We'll have to
274 continue this support until Autoconf itself is fixed to allow better
275 support for such dynamic version numbers.
277 * Elisp byte-compilation:
279 - The byte compilation of '.el' files into '.elc' files is now done
280 with a suffix rule. This has simplified the compilation process, and
281 more importantly made it less brittle. The downside is that emacs is
282 now invoked once for each '.el' files, which cause some noticeable
283 slowdowns. These should however be mitigated on multicore machines
284 (which are becoming the norm today) if concurrent make ("make -j")
287 - Elisp files placed in a subdirectory are now byte-compiled to '.elc'
288 files in the same subdirectory; for example, byte-compiling of file
289 'sub/foo.el' file will result in 'sub/foo.elc' rather than in
290 'foo.elc'. This behaviour is backward-incompatible with older
291 Automake versions, but it is more natural and more sane. See also
294 - The Emacs invocation performing byte-compilation of '.el' files honors
295 the $(AM_ELCFLAGS) and $(ELCFLAGS) variables; as typical, the former
296 one is developer-reserved and the latter one user-reserved.
298 - The 'elisp-comp' script, once provided by Automake, has been rendered
299 obsoleted by the just-described changes, and thus removed.
301 * Changes to Automake-generated testsuite harnesses:
303 - The parallel testsuite harness (previously only enabled by the
304 'parallel-tests' option) is the default one; the older serial
305 testsuite harness will still be available through the use of the
306 'serial-tests' option (introduced in Automake 1.12).
308 - The 'color-tests' option is now unconditionally activated by default.
309 In particular, this means that testsuite output is now colorized by
310 default if the attached terminal seems to support ANSI escapes, and
311 that the user can force output colorization by setting the variable
312 AM_COLOR_TESTS to "always". The 'color-tests' is still recognized
313 for backward-compatibility, although it's a handled as a no-op now.
315 * Silent rules support:
317 - Support for silent rules is now always active in Automake-generated
318 Makefiles. So, although the verbose output is still the default,
319 the user can now always use "./configure --enable-silent-rules" or
320 "make V=0" to enable quieter output in the package he's building.
322 - The 'silent-rules' option has now become a no-op, preserved for
323 backward-compatibility only. In particular, its use no longer
324 disables the warnings in the 'portability-recursive' category.
328 - The rules to build PDF and DVI files from Texinfo input now require
329 Texinfo 4.9 or later.
331 - The rules to build PDF and DVI files from Texinfo input now use the
332 '--build-dir' option, to keep the auxiliary files used by texi2dvi
333 and texi2pdf around without cluttering the build directory, and to
334 make it possible to run the "dvi" and "pdf" recipes in parallel.
336 * Automatic remake rules and 'missing' script:
338 - The 'missing' script no longer tries to update the timestamp of
339 out-of-date files that require a maintainer-specific tool to be
340 remade, in case the user lacks such a tool (or has a too-old version
341 of it). It just gives a useful warning, and in some cases also a
342 tip about how to obtain such a tool.
344 - The missing script has thus become useless as a (poor) way to work
345 around the sketched-timestamps issues that can happen for projects
346 that keep generated files committed in their VCS repository. Such
347 projects are now encouraged to write a custom "fix-timestamps.sh"
348 script to avoid such issues; a simple example is provided in the
349 "CVS and generated files" chapter of the automake manual.
353 - The user can now define his own recursive targets that recurse
354 in the directories specified in $(SUBDIRS). This can be done by
355 specifying the name of such targets in invocations of the new
356 'AM_EXTRA_RECURSIVE_TARGETS' m4 macro.
360 - Any failure in the recipe of the "tags", "ctags", "cscope" or
361 "cscopelist" targets in a subdirectory is now propagated to the
362 top-level make invocation.
364 - Tags are correctly computed also for files in _SOURCES variables that
365 only list files with non-standard suffixes (see automake bug#12372).
367 * Improvements to aclocal and related rebuilds rules:
369 - Autoconf-provided macros AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR and AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIRS
370 are now traced by aclocal, and can be used to declare the local m4
371 include directories. Formerly, one had to specify it with an explicit
372 '-I' option to the 'aclocal' invocation.
374 - The special make variable ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS is deprecated; future
375 Automake versions will warn about its use, and later version will
376 remove support for it altogether.
378 * The depcomp script:
380 - Dropped support for libtool 1.4.
382 - Various internal refactorings. They should cause no visible change,
383 but the chance for regression is there anyway, so please report any
384 unexpected or suspicious behaviour.
386 - Support for pre-8.0 versions of the Intel C Compiler has been dropped.
387 This should cause no problem, since icc 8.0 has been released in
388 December 2003 -- almost nine years ago.
390 - Support for tcc (the Tiny C Compiler) has been improved, and is now
391 handled through a dedicated 'tcc' mode.
395 - ylwrap generates header guards with a single '_' for series of non
396 alphabetic characters, instead of several. This is what Bison >=
399 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
401 Bugs fixed in 1.12.6:
403 * Python-related bugs:
405 - The default installation location for python modules has been improved
406 for Python 3 on Debian and Ubuntu systems, changing from:
408 ${prefix}/lib/python3/dist-packages
412 ${prefix}/lib/python3.x/site-packages
414 This change should ensure modules installed using the default ${prefix}
415 "/usr/local" are found by default by system python 3.x installations.
416 See automake bug#10227.
418 - Python byte-compilation supports the new layout mandated by PEP-3147,
419 with its __pycache__ directory (automake bug#8847).
421 * Build system issues:
423 - The maintainer rebuild rules for Makefiles and aclocal.m4 in
424 Automake's own build system works correctly again (bug introduced
429 - The Vala-related tests has been changed to adjust to the removal of
430 the 'posix' profile in the valac compiler. See automake bug#12934
433 - Some spurious testsuite failures related to older tools and systems
436 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
442 - The AM_PROG_VALAC macro has been enhanced to takes two further
443 optional arguments; it's signature now being
445 AM_PROG_VALAC([MINIMUM-VERSION], [ACTION-IF-FOUND],
446 [ACTION-IF-NOT-FOUND])
448 - By default, AM_PROG_VALAC no longer aborts the configure invocation
449 if the Vala compiler found is too old, but simply prints a warning
450 messages (as it did when the Vala compiler was not found). This
451 should avoid unnecessary difficulties for end users that just want
452 to compile the unmodified, distributed Vala-generated C sources,
453 but happens to have an old Vala compiler in their PATH. This fixes
456 - If no proper Vala compiler is found at configure runtime, AM_PROG_VALAC
457 will set the AC_SUBST'd variable 'VALAC' to 'valac' rather than to ':'.
458 This is a better default, because with it a triggered makefile rule
459 invoking a Vala compilation will clearly fail with an informative error
460 message like "valac: command not found", rather than silently, with
461 the error possibly going unnoticed or triggering harder-to-diagnose
462 fallout failures in later steps.
464 * Miscellaneous changes:
466 - automake and aclocal no longer honours the 'perllibdir' environment
467 variable. That had always been intended only as an hack required in
468 the testsuite, not meant for any use beyond that.
470 Bugs fixed in 1.12.5:
472 * Long-standing bugs:
474 - Automake no longer generates spurious remake rules invoking autoheader
475 to regenerate the template corresponding to header files specified after
476 the first one in AC_CONFIG_HEADERS (automake bug#12495).
478 - When wrapping Microsoft tools, the 'compile' script falls back to
479 finding classic 'libname.a' style libraries when 'name.lib' and
480 'name.dll.lib' aren't available.
482 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
486 * Warnings and deprecations:
488 - Warnings in the 'obsolete' category are enabled by default both in
489 automake and aclocal.
491 * Miscellaneous changes:
493 - Some testsuite weaknesses and spurious failures have been fixed.
495 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
499 * Miscellaneous changes:
501 - The '.m4' files provided by Automake no longer define serial numbers.
502 This should cause no difference in the behaviour of aclocal though.
504 - Some testsuite weaknesses and spurious failures have been fixed.
506 - There is initial support for automatic dependency tracking with the
507 Portland Group C/C++ compilers, thanks to the new new depmode 'pgcc'.
509 Bugs fixed in 1.12.3:
511 * Long-standing bugs:
513 - Instead of renaming only self-references of files (typically for
514 #lines), ylwrap now also renames references to the other generated
515 files. This fixes support for GLR and C++ parsers from Bison (PR
516 automake/491 and automake bug#7648): 'parser.c' now properly
517 #includes 'parser.h' instead of 'y.tab.h'.
519 - Generated files unknown to ylwrap are now preserved. This fixes
520 C++ support for Bison (automake bug#7648): location.hh and the
521 like are no longer discarded.
523 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
527 * Warnings and deprecations:
529 - Automake now issues a warning (in the 'portability' category) if
530 'configure.in' is used instead of 'configure.ac' as the Autoconf
531 input file. Such a warning will also be present in the next
532 Autoconf version (2.70).
536 - Recursive cleaning rules descends into the $(SUBDIRS) in the natural
537 order (as done by the other recursive rules), rather than in the
538 inverse order. They used to do that in order to work a round a
539 limitation in an older implementation of the automatic dependency
540 tracking support, but that limitation had been lifted years ago
541 already, when the automatic dependency tracking based on side-effects
542 of compilation had been introduced.
544 - Cleaning rules for compiled objects (both "plain" and libtool) work
545 better when subdir objects are involved, not triggering a distinct
546 'rm' invocation for each such object. They do so by removing *any*
547 compiled object file that is in the same directory of a subdir
548 object. See automake bug#10697.
550 * Silent rules support:
552 - A new predefined $(AM_V_P) make variable is provided; it expands
553 to a shell conditional that can be used in recipes to know whether
554 make is being run in silent or verbose mode.
556 Bugs fixed in 1.12.2:
558 * SECURITY VULNERABILITIES!
560 - The 'distcheck' recipe no longer grants temporary world-write
561 permissions on the extracted distdir. Even if such rights were
562 only granted for a vanishingly small time window, the implied
563 race condition proved to be enough to allow a local attacker
564 to run arbitrary code with the privileges of the user running
565 "make distcheck". This is CVE-2012-3386.
567 * Long-standing bugs:
569 - The "recheck" targets behaves better in the face of build failures
570 related to previously failed tests. For example, if a test is a
571 compiled program that must be rerun by "make recheck", and its
572 compilation fails, it will still be rerun by further "make recheck"
573 invocations. See automake bug#11791.
575 * Bugs introduced by 1.12.1:
577 - Automake provides once again the '$(mkdir_p)' make variable and the
578 '@mkdir_p@' substitution (both as simple aliases for '$(MKDIR_P)'),
579 for better backward-compatibility.
581 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
585 * New supported languages:
587 - Support for Objective C++ has been added; it should work similarly to
588 the support for Objective C.
590 * Deprecated obsolescent features:
592 - Use of the long-deprecated two- and three-arguments invocation forms
593 of the AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE macro now elicits a warning in the 'obsolete'
594 category. Starting from some future major Automake release (likely
595 post-1.13), such usages will no longer be allowed.
597 - Support for the "Cygnus-style" trees (enabled by the 'cygnus' option) is
598 now deprecated (its use triggers a warning in the 'obsolete' category).
599 It will be removed in the next major Automake release (1.13).
601 - The long-obsolete (since 1.10) automake-provided $(mkdir_p) make
602 variable, @mkdir_p@ configure-time substitution and AM_PROG_MKDIR
603 m4 macro are deprecated, eliciting a warning in the 'obsolete'
606 * Miscellaneous changes:
608 - The Automake test cases now require a proper POSIX-conforming shell.
609 Older non-POSIX Bourne shells (like Solaris 10 /bin/sh) will no longer
610 be accepted. In most cases, the user shouldn't have to specify such
611 POSIX shell explicitly, since it will be looked up at configure time.
612 Still, when this lookup fails, or when the user wants to override its
613 conclusion, the variable 'AM_TEST_RUNNER_SHELL' can be used (pointing
614 to the shell that will be used to run the Automake test cases).
616 Bugs fixed in 1.12.1:
618 * Bugs introduced by 1.12:
620 - Several weaknesses in Automake's own build system and test suite
623 * Bugs introduced by 1.11.3:
625 - When given non-option arguments, aclocal rejects them, instead of
626 silently ignoring them.
628 * Long-standing bugs:
630 - When the 'color-tests' option is in use, forcing of colored testsuite
631 output through "AM_COLOR_TESTS=always" works even if the terminal is
632 a non-ANSI one, i.e., if the TERM environment variable has a value of
635 - Several inefficiencies and poor performances in the implementation
636 of the parallel-tests 'check' and 'recheck' targets have been fixed.
638 - The post-processing of output "#line" directives done the ylwrap
639 script is more faithful w.r.t. files in a subdirectory; for example,
640 if the processed file is "src/grammar.y", ylwrap will correctly
641 produce directives like:
642 #line 7 "src/grammar.y"
647 * Bugs with new Perl versions:
649 - Aclocal works correctly with perl 5.16.0 (automake bug#11543).
651 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
655 * Obsolete features removed:
657 - The never documented nor truly used script 'acinstall' has been
660 - Support for automatic de-ANSI-fication has been removed.
662 - The support for the "obscure" multilib feature has been removed
663 from Automake core (but remains available in the 'contrib/'
664 directory of the Automake distribution).
666 - Support for ".log -> .html" conversion and the check-html and
667 recheck-html targets has been removed from Automake core (but
668 remains available in the 'contrib/' directory of the Automake
671 - The deprecated 'lzma' compression format for distribution archives
672 has been removed, in favor of 'xz' and 'lzip'.
674 - The obsolete AM_WITH_REGEX macro has been removed.
676 - The long-deprecated options '--output-dir', '--Werror' and
677 '--Wno-error' have been removed.
679 - The chapter on the history of Automake has been moved out of the
680 reference manual, into a new dedicated Texinfo file.
684 - New 'cscope' target to build a cscope database for the source tree.
686 * Changes to Automake-generated testsuite harnesses:
688 - The new automake option 'serial-tests' has been introduced. It can
689 be used to explicitly instruct automake to use the older serial
690 testsuite harness. This is still the default at the moment, but it
691 might change in future versions.
693 - The 'recheck' target (provided by the parallel testsuite harness) now
694 depends on the 'all' target. This allows for a better user-experience
695 in test-driven development. See automake bug#11252.
697 - Test scripts that exit with status 99 to signal an "hard error" (e.g.,
698 and unexpected or internal error, or a failure to set up the test case
699 scenario) have their outcome reported as an 'ERROR' now. Previous
700 versions of automake reported such an outcome as a 'FAIL' (the only
701 difference with normal failures being that hard errors were counted
702 as failures even when the test originating them was listed in
705 - The testsuite summary displayed by the parallel-test harness has a
706 completely new format, that always list the numbers of passed, failed,
707 xfailed, xpassed, skipped and errored tests, even when these numbers
708 are zero (but using smart coloring when the color-tests option is in
711 - The default testsuite driver offered by the 'parallel-tests' option is
712 now implemented (partly at least) with the help of automake-provided
713 auxiliary scripts (e.g., 'test-driver'), instead of relying entirely
714 on code in the generated Makefile.in.
715 This has two noteworthy implications. The first one is that projects
716 using the 'parallel-tests' option should now either run automake with
717 the '--add-missing' option, or manually copy the 'test-driver' script
718 into their tree. The second, and more important, implication is that
719 now, when the 'parallel-tests' option is in use, TESTS_ENVIRONMENT can
720 no longer be used to define a test runner, and the command specified
721 in LOG_COMPILER (and <ext>_LOG_COMPILER) must be a *real* executable
722 program or script. For example, this is still a valid usage (albeit
725 TESTS_ENVIRONMENT = \
726 if test -n '$(STRICT_TESTS)'; then \
727 maybe_errexit='-e'; \
731 LOG_COMPILER = $(SHELL) $$maybe_errexit
733 OTOH, this is no longer a valid usage:
735 TESTS_ENVIRONMENT = \
736 $(SHELL) `test -n '$(STRICT_TESTS_CHECKING)' && echo ' -e'`
740 TESTS_ENVIRONMENT = \
741 run_with_perl_or_shell () \
743 if grep -q '^#!.*perl' $$1; then
749 LOG_COMPILER = run_with_perl_or_shell
751 - The package authors can now use customary testsuite drivers within
752 the framework provided by the 'parallel-tests' testsuite harness.
753 Consistently with the existing syntax, this can be done by defining
754 special makefile variables 'LOG_DRIVER' and '<ext>_LOG_DRIVER'.
756 - A new developer-reserved variable 'AM_TESTS_FD_REDIRECT' can be used
757 to redirect/define file descriptors used by the test scripts.
759 - The parallel-tests harness generates now, in addition the '.log' files
760 holding the output produced by the test scripts, a new set of '.trs'
761 files, holding "metadata" derived by the execution of the test scripts;
762 among such metadata are the outcomes of the test cases run by a script.
764 - Initial and still experimental support for the TAP test protocol is
767 * Changes to Yacc and Lex support:
769 - C source and header files derived from non-distributed Yacc and/or
770 Lex sources are now removed by a simple "make clean" (while they were
771 previously removed only by "make maintainer-clean").
773 - Slightly backward-incompatible change, relevant only for use of Yacc
774 with C++: the extensions of the header files produced by the Yacc
775 rules are now modelled after the extension of the corresponding
776 sources. For example, yacc files named "foo.y++" and "bar.yy" will
777 produce header files named "foo.h++" and "bar.hh" respectively, where
778 they would have previously produced header files named simply "foo.h"
779 and "bar.h". This change offers better compatibility with 'bison -o'.
781 * Miscellaneous changes:
783 - The AM_PROG_VALAC macro now causes configure to exit with status 77,
784 rather than 1, if the vala compiler found is too old.
786 - The build system of Automake itself now avoids the use of make
787 recursion as much as possible.
789 - Automake now prefers to quote 'like this' or "like this", rather
790 than `like this', in diagnostic message and generated Makefiles,
791 to accommodate the new GNU Coding Standards recommendations.
793 - Automake has a new option '--print-libdir' that prints the path of the
794 directory containing the Automake-provided scripts and data files.
796 - The 'dist' and 'dist-all' targets now can run compressors in parallel.
798 - The rules to create pdf, dvi and ps output from Texinfo files now
799 works better with modern 'texi2dvi' script, by explicitly passing
800 it the '--clean' option to ensure stray auxiliary files are not
801 left to clutter the build directory.
803 - Automake can now generate silenced rules for texinfo outputs.
805 - Some auxiliary files that are automatically distributed by Automake
806 (e.g., 'install-sh', or the 'depcomp' script for packages compiling
807 C sources) might now be listed in the DIST_COMMON variable in many
808 Makefile.in files, rather than in the top-level one.
810 - Messages of types warning or error from 'automake' and 'aclocal'
811 are now prefixed with the respective type, and presence of -Werror
814 - Automake's early configure-time sanity check now tries to avoid
815 sleeping for a second, which slowed down cached configure runs
816 noticeably. In that case, it will check back at the end of the
817 configure script to ensure that at least one second has passed, to
818 avoid time stamp issues with makefile rules rerunning autotools
821 - The warnings in the category 'extra-portability' are now enabled by
822 '-Wall'. In previous versions, one has to use '-Wextra-portability'
827 - Various minor bugfixes for recent or long-standing bugs.
829 * Bugs introduced by 1.11:
831 - The AM_COND_IF macro also works if the shell expression for the
832 conditional is no longer valid for the condition.
834 - The automake-provided parallel testsuite harness no longer fails
835 with BSD make used in parallel mode when there are test scripts in
836 a subdirectory, like in:
838 TESTS = sub/foo.test sub/bar.test
840 * Long-standing bugs:
842 - Automake's own build system finally have a real "installcheck" target.
844 - Vala-related cleanup rules are now more complete, and work better in
847 - Files listed with the AC_REQUIRE_AUX_FILE macro in configure.ac are
848 now automatically distributed also if the directory of the auxiliary
849 files coincides with the top-level directory.
851 - Automake now detects the presence of the '-d' flag in the various
852 '*YFLAGS' variables even when their definitions involve indirections
853 through other variables, such as in:
855 AM_YFLAGS = $(foo_opts)
857 - Automake now complains if a '*YFLAGS' variable has any conditional
858 content, not only a conditional definition.
860 - Explicit enabling and/or disabling of Automake warning categories
861 through the '-W...' options now always takes precedence over the
862 implicit warning level implied by Automake strictness (foreign, gnu
863 or gnits), regardless of the order in which such strictness and
864 warning flags appear. For example, a setting like:
865 AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = -Wall --foreign
866 will cause the warnings in category 'portability' to be enabled, even
867 if those warnings are by default disabled in 'foreign' strictness.
869 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
871 Bugs fixed in 1.11.5:
873 * Bugs introduced by 1.11.3:
875 - Vala files with '.vapi' extension are now recognized and handled
876 correctly again. See automake bug#11222.
878 - Vala support work again for projects that contain some program
879 built from '.vala' (and possibly '.c') sources and some other
880 program built from '.c' sources *only*. See automake bug#11229.
882 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
886 * Miscellaneous changes:
888 - The 'ar-lib' script now ignores the "s" (symbol index) and "S" (no
889 symbol index) modifiers as well as the "s" action, as the symbol index
890 is created unconditionally by Microsoft lib. Also, the "q" (quick)
891 action is now a synonym for "r" (replace). Also, the script has been
892 ignoring the "v" (verbose) modifier already since Automake 1.11.3.
894 - When the 'compile' script is used to wrap MSVC, it now accepts an
895 optional space between the -I, -L and -l options and their respective
896 arguments, for better POSIX compliance.
898 - There is an initial, experimental support for automatic dependency
899 tracking with tcc (the Tiny C Compiler). Its associated depmode is
900 currently recognized as "icc" (but this and other details are likely
901 to change in future versions).
903 - Automatic dependency tracking now works also with the IBM XL C/C++
904 compilers, thanks to the new new depmode 'xlc'.
906 Bugs fixed in 1.11.4:
908 * Bugs introduced by 1.11.2:
910 - A definition of 'noinst_PYTHON' before 'python_PYTHON' (or similar)
911 no longer cause spurious failures upon "make install".
913 - The user can now instruct the 'uninstall-info' rule not to update
914 the '${infodir}/dir' file by exporting the environment variable
915 'AM_UPDATE_INFO_DIR' to the value "no". This is done for consistency
916 with how the 'install-info' rule operates since automake 1.11.2.
918 * Long-standing bugs:
920 - It is now possible for a foo_SOURCES variable to hold Vala sources
921 together with C header files, as well as with sources and headers for
922 other supported languages (e.g., C++). Previously, only mixing C and
923 Vala sources was supported.
925 - If "aclocal --install" is used, and the first directory specified with
926 '-I' is non-existent, aclocal will now create it before trying to copy
929 - An empty declaration of a "foo_PRIMARY" no longer cause the generated
930 install rules to create an empty $(foodir) directory; for example, if
931 Makefile.am contains something like:
935 pkglibexec_SCRIPTS += bar.sh
938 the $(pkglibexec) directory will not be created upon "make install".
940 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
944 * Miscellaneous changes:
946 - Automake's own build system is more silent by default, making use of
947 the 'silent-rules' option.
949 - The master copy of the 'gnupload' script is now maintained in gnulib,
952 - The 'missing' script no longer tries to wrap calls to 'tar'.
954 - "make dist" no longer wraps 'tar' invocations with the 'missing'
955 script. Similarly, the obsolescent variable '$(AMTAR)' (which you
956 shouldn't be using BTW ;-) no longer invokes the 'missing' script
957 to wrap tar, but simply invokes the 'tar' program itself.
959 - "make dist" can now create lzip-compressed tarballs.
961 - In the Automake info documentation, the Top node and the nodes about
962 the invocation of the automake and aclocal programs have been renamed;
963 now, calling "info automake" will open the Top node, while calling
964 "info automake-invocation" and "info aclocal-invocation" will access
965 the nodes about the invocation of respectively automake and aclocal.
967 - Automake is now distributed as a gzip-compressed and an xz-compressed
968 tarball. Previously, bzip2 was used instead of xz.
970 - The last relics of Python 1.5 support have been removed from the
971 AM_PATH_PYTHON macro.
973 - For programs and libraries, automake now detects EXTRA_foo_DEPENDENCIES
974 and adds them to the normal list of dependencies, but without
975 overwriting the foo_DEPENDENCIES variable, which is normally computed
978 Bugs fixed in 1.11.3:
980 * Bugs introduced by 1.11.2:
982 - Automake now correctly recognizes the prefix/primary combination
983 'pkglibexec_SCRIPTS' as valid.
985 - The parallel-tests harness no longer trips on sed implementations
986 with stricter limits on the length of input lines (problem seen at
989 * Long-standing bugs:
991 - The "deleted header file problem" for *.am files is avoided by stub
992 rules. This allows 'make' to trigger a rerun of 'automake' also if
993 some previously needed '.am' file has been removed.
995 - The 'silent-rules' option now generates working makefiles even
996 for the uncommon 'make' implementations that do not support the
997 nested-variables extension to POSIX 2008. For such 'make'
998 implementations, whether a build is silent is determined at
999 configure time, and cannot be overridden at make time with
1000 "make V=0" or "make V=1".
1002 - Vala support now works better in VPATH setups.
1004 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1008 * Changes to aclocal:
1010 - The `--acdir' option is deprecated. Now you should use the new options
1011 `--automake-acdir' and `--system-acdir' instead.
1013 - The `ACLOCAL_PATH' environment variable is now interpreted as a
1014 colon-separated list of additional directories to search after the
1015 automake internal acdir (by default ${prefix}/share/aclocal-APIVERSION)
1016 and before the system acdir (by default ${prefix}/share/aclocal).
1018 * Miscellaneous changes:
1020 - The Automake support for automatic de-ANSI-fication has been
1021 deprecated. It will probably be removed in the next major Automake
1024 - The `lzma' compression scheme and associated automake option `dist-lzma'
1025 is obsoleted by `xz' and `dist-xz' due to upstream changes.
1027 - You may adjust the compression options used in dist-xz and dist-bzip2.
1028 The default is now merely -e for xz, but still -9 for bzip; you may
1029 specify a different level via the XZ_OPT and BZIP2 envvars respectively.
1030 E.g., "make dist-xz XZ_OPT=-7" or "make dist-bzip2 BZIP2=-5"
1032 - The `compile' script now converts some options for MSVC for a better
1033 user experience. Similarly, the new `ar-lib' script wraps Microsoft lib.
1035 - The py-compile script now accepts empty arguments passed to the options
1036 `--destdir' and `--basedir', and complains about unrecognized options.
1037 Moreover, a non-option argument or a special `--' argument terminates
1038 the list of options.
1040 - A developer that needs to pass specific flags to configure at "make
1041 distcheck" time can now, and indeed is advised to, do so by defining
1042 the developer-reserved makefile variable AM_DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS,
1043 instead of the old DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS.
1044 The DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS variable should now be reserved for the
1045 user; still, the old Makefile.am files that used to define it will
1046 still continue to work as before.
1048 - New macro AM_PROG_AR that looks for an archiver and wraps it in the new
1049 'ar-lib' auxiliary script if the selected archiver is Microsoft lib.
1050 This new macro is required for LIBRARIES and LTLIBRARIES when automake
1051 is run with -Wextra-portability and -Werror.
1053 - When using DejaGnu-based testsuites, the user can extend the `site.exp'
1054 file generated by automake-provided rules by defining the special make
1055 variable `$(EXTRA_DEJAGNU_SITE_CONFIG)'.
1057 - The `install-info' rule can now be instructed not to create/update
1058 the `${infodir}/dir' file, by exporting the new environment variable
1059 `AM_UPDATE_INFO_DIR' to the value "no".
1061 Bugs fixed in 1.11.2:
1063 * Bugs introduced by 1.11:
1065 - The parallel-tests driver no longer produces erroneous results with
1066 Tru64/OSF 5.1 sh upon unreadable log files.
1068 - The `parallel-tests' test driver does not report spurious successes
1069 when used with concurrent FreeBSD make (e.g., "make check -j3").
1071 - When the parallel-tests driver is in use, automake now explicitly
1072 rejects invalid entries and conditional contents in TEST_EXTENSIONS,
1073 instead of issuing confusing and apparently unrelated error messages
1074 (e.g., "non-POSIX variable name", "bad characters in variable name",
1075 or "redefinition of TEST_EXTENSIONS), or even, in some situations,
1076 silently producing broken `Makefile.in' files.
1078 - The `silent-rules' option now truly silences all compile rules, even
1079 when dependency tracking is disabled. Also, when `silent-rules' is
1080 not used, `make' output no longer contains spurious backslash-only
1081 lines, thus once again matching what Automake did before 1.11.
1083 - The AM_COND_IF macro also works if the shell expression for the
1084 conditional is no longer valid for the condition.
1086 * Long-standing bugs:
1088 - The order of Yacc and Lex flags is fixed to be consistent with other
1089 languages: $(AM_YFLAGS) comes before $(YFLAGS), and $(AM_LFLAGS) before
1090 $(LFLAGS), so that the user variables override the developer variables.
1092 - "make distcheck" now correctly complains also when "make uninstall"
1093 leaves one and only one file installed in $(prefix).
1095 - A "make uninstall" issued before a "make install", or after a mere
1096 "make install-data" or a mere "make install-exec" does not spuriously
1099 - Automake now warns about more primary/directory invalid combinations,
1100 such as "doc_LIBRARIES" or "pkglib_PROGRAMS".
1102 - Rules generated by Automake now try harder to not change any files when
1103 `make -n' is invoked. Fixes include compilation of Emacs Lisp, Vala, or
1104 Yacc source files and the rule to update config.h.
1106 - Several scripts and the parallel-tests testsuite driver now exit with
1107 the right exit status upon receiving a signal.
1109 - A per-Makefile.am setting of -Werror does not erroneously carry over
1110 to the handling of other Makefile.am files.
1112 - The code for automatic dependency tracking works around a Solaris
1113 make bug triggered by sources containing repeated slashes when the
1114 `subdir-objects' option was used.
1116 - The makedepend and hp depmodes now work better with VPATH builds.
1118 - Java sources specified with check_JAVA are no longer compiled for
1119 "make all", but only for "make check".
1121 - An usage like "java_JAVA = foo.java" will now cause Automake to warn
1122 and error out if `javadir' is undefined, instead of silently producing
1123 a broken Makefile.in.
1125 - aclocal and automake now honour the configure-time definitions of
1126 AUTOCONF and AUTOM4TE when they spawn autoconf or autom4te processes.
1128 - The `install-info' recipe no longer tries to guess whether the
1129 `install-info' program is from Debian or from GNU, and adaptively
1130 change its behaviour; this has proven to be frail and easy to
1133 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1135 Bugs fixed in 1.11.1:
1137 - Lots of minor bugfixes.
1139 * Bugs introduced by 1.11:
1141 - The `parallel-tests' test driver works around a GNU make 3.80 bug with
1142 trailing white space in the test list (`TESTS = foo $(EMPTY)').
1144 * Long standing bugs:
1146 - On Darwin 9, `pythondir' and `pyexecdir' pointed below `/Library/Python'
1147 even if the `--prefix' argument pointed outside of a system directory.
1148 AM_PATH_PYTHON has been fixed to ignore the value returned from python's
1149 `get_python_lib' function if it points outside the configured prefix,
1150 unless the `--prefix' argument was either `/usr' or below `/System'.
1152 - The testsuite does not try to change the mode of `ltmain.sh' files from
1153 a Libtool installation (symlinked to test directories) any more.
1155 - AM_PROG_GCJ uses AC_CHECK_TOOLS to look for `gcj' now, so that prefixed
1156 tools are preferred in a cross-compile setup.
1158 - The distribution is tarred up with mode 755 now by the `dist*' targets.
1159 This fixes a race condition where untrusted users could modify files
1160 in the $(PACKAGE)-$(VERSION) distdir before packing if the toplevel
1161 build directory was world-searchable. This is CVE-2009-4029.
1163 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1167 * Version requirements:
1169 - Autoconf 2.62 or greater is required.
1171 * Changes to aclocal:
1173 - The autoconf version check implemented by aclocal in aclocal.m4
1174 (and new in Automake 1.10) is degraded to a warning. This helps
1175 in the common case where the Autoconf versions used are compatible.
1177 * Changes to automake:
1179 - The automake program can run multiple threads for creating most
1180 Makefile.in files concurrently, if at least Perl 5.7.2 is available
1181 with interpreter-based threads enabled. Set the environment variable
1182 AUTOMAKE_JOBS to the maximum number of threads to use, in order to
1183 enable this experimental feature.
1185 * Changes to Libtool support:
1187 - Libtool generic flags are now passed to the install and uninstall
1190 - distcheck works with Libtool 2.x even when LT_OUTPUT is used, as
1191 config.lt is removed correctly now.
1193 * Languages changes:
1195 - subdir-object mode works now with Fortran (F77, FC, preprocessed
1196 Fortran, and Ratfor).
1198 - For files with extension .f90, .f95, .f03, or .f08, the flag
1199 $(FCFLAGS_f[09]x) computed by AC_FC_SRCEXT is now used in compile rules.
1201 - Files with extension .sx are also treated as preprocessed assembler.
1203 - The default source file extension (.c) can be overridden with
1204 AM_DEFAULT_SOURCE_EXT now.
1206 - Python 3.0 is supported now, Python releases prior to 2.0 are no
1209 - AM_PATH_PYTHON honors python's idea about the site directory.
1211 - There is initial support for the Vala programming language, when using
1212 Vala 0.7.0 or later.
1214 * Miscellaneous changes:
1216 - Automake development is done in a git repository on Savannah now, see
1218 http://git.sv.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=automake.git
1220 A read-only CVS mirror is provided at
1222 cvs -d :pserver:anonymous@pserver.git.sv.gnu.org:/automake.git \
1223 checkout -d automake HEAD
1225 - "make dist" can now create xz-compressed tarballs,
1226 as well as (deprecated?) lzma-compressed tarballs.
1228 - `automake --add-missing' will by default install the GPLv3 file as
1229 COPYING if it is missing. It will also warn that the license file
1230 should be added to source control. Note that Automake will never
1231 overwrite an existing COPYING file, even when the `--force-missing'
1234 - The manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL 1.3.
1236 - Automake ships and installs man pages for automake and aclocal now.
1238 - New shorthand `$(pkglibexecdir)' for `$(libexecdir)/@PACKAGE@'.
1240 - install-sh supports -C, which does not update the installed file
1241 (and its time stamps) if the contents did not change.
1243 - The `gnupload' script has been revamped.
1245 - The `depcomp' and `compile' scripts now work with MSVC under MSYS.
1247 - The targets `install' and `uninstall' are more efficient now, in that
1248 for example multiple files from one Automake variable such as
1249 `bin_SCRIPTS' are copied in one `install' (or `libtool --mode=install')
1250 invocation if they do not have to be renamed.
1252 Both install and uninstall may sometimes enter (`cd' into) the target
1253 installation directory now, when no build-local scripts are used.
1255 Both install and uninstall do not fail anymore but do nothing if an
1256 installation directory variable like `bindir' is set to the empty string.
1258 For built-in rules, `make install' now fails reliably if installation
1259 of a file failed. Conversely, `make uninstall' even succeeds when
1260 issued multiple times.
1262 These changes may need some adjustments from users: For example,
1263 some `install' programs refuse to install multiple copies of the
1264 same file in one invocation, so you may need to remove duplicate
1265 entries from file lists.
1267 Also, within one set of files, say, nobase_data_DATA, the order of
1268 installation may be changed, or even unstable among different hosts,
1269 due to the use of associative arrays in awk. The increased use of
1270 awk matches a similar move in Autoconf to provide for better scaling.
1272 Further, most undocumented per-rule install command variables such as
1273 binSCRIPT_INSTALL have been removed because they are not needed any
1274 more. Packages which use them should be using the appropriate one of
1275 INSTALL_{DATA,PROGRAM,SCRIPT} or their install_sh_{DATA,PROGRAM,SCRIPT}
1276 counterpart, depending on the type of files and the need for automatic
1277 target directory creation.
1279 - The "deleted header file problem" for *.m4 files is avoided by
1280 stub rules. This allows `make' to trigger a rerun of `aclocal'
1281 also if some previously needed macro file has been removed.
1283 - Rebuild rules now also work for a removed `subdir/Makefile.in' in
1284 an otherwise up to date tree.
1286 - The `color-tests' option causes colored test result output on terminals.
1288 - The `parallel-tests' option enables a new test driver that allows for
1289 parallel test execution, inter-test dependencies, lazy test execution
1290 for unit-testing, re-testing only failed tests, and formatted result output
1291 as RST (reStructuredText) and HTML. Enabling this option may require some
1292 changes to your test suite setup; see the manual for details.
1294 - The `silent-rules' option enables Linux kernel-style silent build output.
1295 This option requires the widely supported but non-POSIX `make' feature
1296 of recursive variable expansion, so do not use it if your package needs
1297 to build with `make' implementations that do not support it.
1299 To enable less verbose build output, the developer has to use the Automake
1300 option `silent-rules' in `AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE', or call the `AM_SILENT_RULES'
1301 macro. The user may then set the default verbosity by passing the
1302 `--enable-silent-rules' option to `configure'. At `make' run time, this
1303 default may be overridden using `make V=0' for less verbose, and `make V=1'
1304 for backward-compatible verbose output.
1306 - New prefix `notrans_' for manpages which should not be transformed
1307 by --program-transform.
1309 - New macro AM_COND_IF for conditional evaluation and conditional
1312 - For AC_CONFIG_LINKS, if source and destination are equal, do not
1313 remove the file in a non-VPATH build. Such setups work with Autoconf
1316 - AM_MAINTAINER_MODE now allows for an optional argument specifying
1317 the default setting.
1319 - AM_SUBST_NOTMAKE may prevent substitution of AC_SUBSTed variables,
1320 useful especially for multi-line values.
1322 - Automake's early configure-time sanity check now diagnoses an
1323 unsafe absolute source directory name and makes configure fail.
1325 - The Automake macros and rules cope better with whitespace in the
1326 current directory name, as long as the relative path to `configure'
1327 does not contain whitespace. To this end, the values of `$(MISSING)'
1328 and `$(install_sh)' may contain suitable quoting, and their expansion
1329 might need `eval'uation if used outside of a makefile. These
1330 undocumented variables may be used in several documented macros such
1331 as $(AUTOCONF) or $(MAKEINFO).
1335 * Long-standing bugs:
1337 - Fix aix dependency tracking for libtool objects.
1339 - Work around AIX sh quoting issue in AC_PROG_CC_C_O, leading to
1340 unnecessary use of the `compile' script.
1342 - For nobase_*_LTLIBRARIES with nonempty directory components, the
1343 correct `-rpath' argument is used now.
1345 - `config.status --file=Makefile depfiles' now also works with the
1346 extra quoting used internally by Autoconf 2.62 and newer
1347 (it used to work only without the `--file=' bit).
1349 - The `missing' script works better with versioned tool names.
1351 - Semantics for `missing help2man' have been revamped:
1353 Previously, if `help2man' was not present, `missing help2man' would have
1354 the following semantics: if some man page was out of date but present, then
1355 a warning would be printed, but the exit status was 0. If the man page was
1356 not present at all, then `missing' would create a replacement man page
1357 containing an error message, and exit with a status of 2. This does not play
1358 well with `make': the next run will see this particular man page as being up
1359 to date, and will only error out on the next generated man page, if any;
1360 repeat until all pages are done. This was not desirable.
1362 These are the new semantics: if some man page is not present, and help2man
1363 is not either, then `missing' will warn and generate the replacement page
1364 containing the error message, but exit successfully. However, `make dist'
1365 will ensure that no such bogus man pages are packaged into a tarball.
1367 - Targets provided by automake behave better with `make -n', in that they
1368 take care not to create files.
1370 - `config.status Makefile... depfiles' works fine again in the presence of
1371 disabled dependency tracking.
1373 - The default no-op recursive rules for these targets also work with BSD make
1374 now: html, install-html, install-dvi, install-pdf, install-pdf, install-info.
1376 - `make distcheck' works also when both a directory and some file below it
1377 have been added to a distribution variable, such as EXTRA_DIST or *_SOURCES.
1379 - Texinfo dvi, ps, pdf, and html output files are not removed upon
1380 `make mostlyclean' any more; only the LaTeX by-products are.
1382 - Renamed objects also work with the `subdir-objects' option and
1383 source file languages which Automake does not know itself.
1385 - `automake' now correctly complains about variable assignments which are
1386 preceded by a comment, extend over multiple lines with backslash-escaped
1387 newlines, and end in a comment sign. Previous versions would silently
1388 and wrongly ignore such assignments completely.
1390 * Bugs introduced by 1.10:
1392 - Fix output of dummy dependency files in presence of post-processed
1393 Makefile.in's again, but also cope with long lines.
1395 - $(EXEEXT) is automatically appended to filenames of XFAIL_TESTS
1396 that have been declared as programs in the same Makefile.
1397 This is for consistency with the analogous change to TESTS in 1.10.
1399 - Fix order of standard includes to again be `-I. -I$(srcdir)',
1400 followed by directories containing config headers.
1402 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1406 * Version requirements:
1408 - Autoconf 2.60 or greater is required.
1410 - Perl 5.6 or greater is required.
1412 * Changes to aclocal:
1414 - aclocal now also supports -Wmumble and -Wno-mumble options.
1416 - `dirlist' entries (for the aclocal search path) may use shell
1417 wildcards such as `*', `?', or `[...]'.
1419 - aclocal supports an --install option that will cause system-wide
1420 third-party macros to be installed in the local directory
1421 specified with the first -I flag. This option also uses #serial
1422 lines in M4 files to upgrade local macros.
1424 The new aclocal options --dry-run and --diff help to review changes
1425 before they are installed.
1427 - aclocal now outputs an autoconf version check in aclocal.m4 in
1428 projects using automake.
1430 For a few years, automake and aclocal have been calling autoconf
1431 (or its underlying engine autom4te) to accurately retrieve the
1432 data they need from configure.ac and its siblings. Doing so can
1433 only work if all autotools use the same version of autoconf. For
1434 instance a Makefile.in generated by automake for one version of
1435 autoconf may stop working if configure is regenerated with another
1436 version of autoconf, and vice versa.
1438 This new version check ensures that the whole build system has
1439 been generated using the same autoconf version.
1441 * Support for new Autoconf macros:
1443 - The new AC_REQUIRE_AUX_FILE Autoconf macro is supported.
1445 - If `subdir-objects' is set, and AC_CONFIG_LIBOBJ_DIR is specified,
1446 $(LIBOBJS), $(LTLIBOBJS), $(ALLOCA), and $(LTALLOCA) can be used
1447 in different directories. However, only one instance of such a
1448 library objects directory is supported.
1450 * Change to Libtool support:
1452 - Libtool generic flags (those that go before the --mode=MODE option)
1453 can be specified using AM_LIBTOOLFLAGS and target_LIBTOOLFLAGS.
1455 * Yacc and Lex changes:
1457 - The rebuild rules for distributed Yacc and Lex output will avoid
1458 overwriting existing files if AM_MAINTAINER_MODE and maintainer-mode
1461 - ylwrap is now always used for lex and yacc source files,
1462 regardless of whether there is more than one source per directory.
1464 * Languages changes:
1466 - Preprocessed assembler (*.S) compilation now honors CPPFLAGS,
1467 AM_CPPFLAGS and per-target _CPPFLAGS, and supports dependency
1468 tracking, unlike non-preprocessed assembler (*.s).
1470 - subdir-object mode works now with Assembler. Automake assumes
1471 that the compiler understands `-c -o'.
1473 - Preprocessed assembler (*.S) compilation now also honors
1474 $(DEFS) $(DEFAULT_INCLUDES) $(INCLUDES).
1476 - Improved support for Objective C:
1477 - Autoconf's new AC_PROG_OBJC will enable automatic dependency tracking.
1478 - A new section of the manual documents the support.
1480 - New support for Unified Parallel C:
1481 - AM_PROG_UPC looks for a UPC compiler.
1482 - A new section of the manual documents the support.
1484 - Per-target flags are now correctly handled in link rules.
1486 For instance maude_CFLAGS correctly overrides AM_CFLAGS; likewise
1487 for maude_LDFLAGS and AM_LDFLAGS. Previous versions bogusly
1488 preferred AM_CFLAGS over maude_CFLAGS while linking, and they
1489 used both AM_LDFLAGS and maude_LDFLAGS on the same link command.
1491 The fix for compiler flags (i.e., using maude_CFLAGS instead of
1492 AM_CFLAGS) should not hurt any package since that is how _CFLAGS
1493 is expected to work (and actually works during compilation).
1495 However using maude_LDFLAGS "instead of" AM_LDFLAGS rather than
1496 "in addition to" breaks backward compatibility with older versions.
1497 If your package used both variables, as in
1499 AM_LDFLAGS = common flags
1500 bin_PROGRAMS = a b c
1501 a_LDFLAGS = more flags
1504 and assumed *_LDFLAGS would sum up, you should rewrite it as
1506 AM_LDFLAGS = common flags
1507 bin_PROGRAMS = a b c
1508 a_LDFLAGS = $(AM_LDFLAGS) more flags
1511 This new behavior of *_LDFLAGS is more coherent with other
1512 per-target variables, and the way *_LDFLAGS variables were
1513 considered internally.
1515 * New installation targets:
1517 - New targets mandated by GNU Coding Standards:
1522 By default they will only install Texinfo manuals.
1523 You can customize them with *-local variants:
1529 - The undocumented recursive target `uninstall-info' no longer exists.
1530 (`uninstall' is in charge of removing all possible documentation
1531 flavors, including optional formats such as dvi, ps, or info even
1532 when `no-installinfo' is used.)
1534 * Miscellaneous changes:
1536 - Automake no longer complains if input files for AC_CONFIG_FILES
1537 are specified using shell variables.
1539 - clean, distribution, or rebuild rules are normally disabled for
1540 inputs and outputs of AC_CONFIG_FILES, AC_CONFIG_HEADERS, and
1541 AC_CONFIG_LINK specified using shell variables. However, if these
1542 variables are used as ${VAR}, and AC_SUBSTed, then Automake will
1543 be able to output rules anyway.
1544 (See the Automake documentation for AC_CONFIG_FILES.)
1546 - $(EXEEXT) is automatically appended to filenames of TESTS
1547 that have been declared as programs in the same Makefile.
1548 This is mostly useful when some check_PROGRAMS are listed in TESTS.
1550 - `-Wportability' has finally been turned on by default for `gnu' and
1551 `gnits' strictness. This means, automake will complain about %-rules
1552 or $(GNU Make functions) unless you switch to `foreign' strictness or
1553 use `-Wno-portability'.
1555 - Automake now uses AC_PROG_MKDIR_P (new in Autoconf 2.60), and uses
1556 $(MKDIR_P) instead of $(mkdir_p) to create directories. The
1557 $(mkdir_p) variable is still defined (to the same value as
1558 $(MKDIR_P)) but should be considered obsolete. If you are using
1559 $(mkdir_p) in some of your rules, please plan to update them to
1560 $(MKDIR_P) at some point.
1562 - AM_C_PROTOTYPES and ansi2knr are now documented as being obsolete.
1563 They still work in this release, but may be withdrawn in a future one.
1565 - Inline compilation rules for gcc3-style dependency tracking are
1568 - Automake installs a "Hello World!" example package in $(docdir).
1569 This example is used throughout the new "Autotools Introduction"
1570 chapter of the manual.
1572 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1576 * Makefile.in bloat reduction:
1578 - Inference rules are used to compile sources in subdirectories when
1579 the `subdir-objects' option is used and no per-target flags are
1580 used. This should reduce the size of some projects a lot, because
1581 Automake used to output an explicit rule for each such object in
1584 - Automake no longer outputs three rules (.o, .obj, .lo) for each
1585 object that must be built with explicit rules. It just outputs
1586 the rules required to build the kind of object considered: either
1587 the two .o and .obj rules for usual objects, or the .lo rule for
1590 * Change to Libtool support:
1592 - Libtool tags are used with libtool versions that support them.
1593 (I.e., with Libtool 1.5 or greater.)
1595 - Automake is now able to handle setups where a libtool library is
1596 conditionally installed in different directories, as in
1599 lib_LTLIBRARIES = liba.la
1601 pkglib_LTLIBRARIES = liba.la
1603 liba_la_SOURCES = ...
1605 * Changes to aclocal:
1607 - aclocal now ensures that AC_DEFUNs and AU_DEFUNs it discovers are
1608 really evaluated, before it decides to include them in aclocal.m4.
1609 This solves nasty problems with conditional redefinitions of
1610 Autoconf macros in /usr/share/aclocal/*.m4 files causing extraneous
1611 *.m4 files to be included in any project using these macros.
1612 (Calls to AC_PROG_EGREP causing libtool.m4 to be included is the
1613 most famous instance of this bug.)
1615 - Do not complain about missing conditionally AC_REQUIREd macros
1616 that are not actually used. In 1.8.x aclocal would correctly
1617 determine which of these macros were really needed (and include
1618 only these in the package); unfortunately it would also require
1619 all of them to be present in order to run. This created
1620 situations were aclocal would not work on a tarball distributing
1621 all the macros it uses. For instance running aclocal on a project
1622 containing only the subset of the Gettext macros in use by the
1623 project did not work, because gettext conditionally requires other
1626 * Portability improvements:
1628 - Tar format can be chosen with the new options tar-v7, tar-ustar, and
1629 tar-pax. The new option filename-length-max=99 helps diagnosing
1630 filenames that are too long for tar-v7. (PR/414)
1632 - Variables augmented with `+=' are now automatically flattened (i.e.,
1633 trailing backslashes removed) and then wrapped around 80 columns
1634 (adding trailing backslashes). In previous versions, a long series
1640 would result in a single-line definition of VAR that could possibly
1641 exceed the maximum line length of some make implementations.
1643 Non-augmented variables are still output as they are defined in
1648 - Support Fortran 90/95 with the new "fc" and "ppfc" languages.
1649 Works the same as the old Fortran 77 implementation; just replace
1650 F77 with FC everywhere (exception: FFLAGS becomes FCFLAGS).
1651 Requires a version of autoconf which provides AC_PROG_FC (>=2.59).
1653 - Support for conditional _LISP.
1655 - Support for conditional -hook and -local rules (PR/428).
1657 - Diagnose AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR calls following AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE. (PR/49)
1659 - Automake will not write any Makefile.ins after the first error it
1660 encounters. The previous Makefile.ins (if any) will be left in
1661 place. (Warnings will not prevent output, but remember they can
1662 be turned into errors with -Werror.)
1664 - The restriction that SUBDIRS must contain direct children is gone.
1667 - The manual tells more about SUBDIRS vs. DIST_SUBDIRS.
1668 It also gives an example of nested packages using AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS.
1670 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1672 Bugs fixed in 1.8.5:
1674 * Long-standing bugs:
1676 - Define DIST_SUBDIRS even when the `no-dist' or `cygnus' options are used
1677 so that `make distclean' and `make maintainer-clean' can work.
1679 - Define AR and ARFLAGS even when only EXTRA_LIBRARIES are defined.
1681 - Fix many rules to please FreeBSD make, which runs commands with `sh -e'.
1683 - Polish diagnostic when no input file is found.
1685 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1687 Bugs fixed in 1.8.4:
1689 * Long-standing bugs:
1691 - Fix AM_PATH_PYTHON to correctly display $PYTHON when it has been
1692 overridden by the user.
1694 - Honor PATH_SEPARATOR in various places of the Automake package, for
1697 - Adjust dependency tracking mode detection to ICC 8.0's new output.
1700 - Fix install-sh so it can install the `mv' binary... using `mv'.
1702 - Fix tru64 dependency tracking for libtool objects.
1704 - Work around Exuberant Ctags when creating a TAGS files in a directory
1705 without files to scan but with subdirectories to include.
1707 * Bugs introduced by 1.8:
1709 - Fix an "internal error" when @LIBOBJS@ is used in a variable that is
1710 not defined in the same conditions as the _LDADD that uses it.
1712 - Do not warn when JAVAROOT is overridden, this is legitimate.
1714 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1716 Bugs fixed in 1.8.3:
1718 * Long-standing bugs:
1720 - Quote filenames in installation rules, in case $DESTDIR, $prefix,
1721 or any of the other *dir variables contain a space.
1723 Please note that Automake does not and cannot support spaces in
1724 filenames that are involved during the build. This change affects
1725 only installation paths, so that `make install' does not bomb out
1726 in packages configured with
1727 ./configure --prefix '/c/Program Files'
1729 - Fix the depfiles output so it works with GNU sed (<4.1) even when
1730 POSIXLY_CORRECT is set.
1732 - Do not AC_SUBST(LIBOBJS) in AM_WITH_REGEX. This macro was unusable
1733 since Autoconf 2.54, which defines LIBOBJS itself.
1735 - Fix a potential (but unlikely) race condition in parallel elisp
1736 builds. (Introduced in 1.7.3.)
1738 - Do not assume that users override _DEPENDENCIES in all conditions
1739 where Automake will try to define them.
1741 - Do not use `mkdir -p' in mkinstalldirs, unless this is GNU mkdir.
1742 Solaris 8's `mkdir -p' is not thread-safe and can break parallel
1745 This fix also affects the $(mkdir_p) variable defined since
1746 Automake 1.8. It will be set to `mkdir -p' only if mkdir is GNU
1747 mkdir, and to `mkinstalldirs' or `install-sh -d' otherwise.
1749 - Secure temporary directory creation in `make distcheck'. (PR/413)
1751 - Do not generate two build rules for `parser.h' when the
1752 parser appears in two different conditionals.
1754 - Work around a Solaris 8 /bin/sh bug in the test for dependency
1755 checking. Usually ./configure will not pick this shell; so this
1756 fix only helps cases where the shell is forced to /bin/sh.
1758 * Bugs introduced by 1.8:
1760 - In some situations (hand-written `m4_include's), aclocal would
1761 call the `File::Spec->rel2abs' method, which was only introduced
1762 in Perl 5.6. This new version reestablish support Perl 5.005.
1764 It is likely that the next major Automake releases will require at
1765 least Perl 5.6. Consider upgrading your development environment
1766 if you are still using the five-year-old Perl 5.005.
1768 - Automake would sometimes fail to define rules for targets listed
1769 in variables defined in multiple conditions. For instance on
1775 it would define only the `a.$(OBJEXT): a.c' rule and omit the
1776 `b.$(OBJEXT): b.c' rule.
1778 * New sections in manual:
1780 - Third-Party Makefiles: how to interface third party Makefiles.
1781 - Upgrading: upgrading packages to newer Automake versions.
1782 - Multiple Outputs: handling tools that produce many outputs.
1784 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1788 * A (well known) portability bug slipped in the changes made to
1789 install-sh in Automake 1.8.1. The broken install-sh would refuse to
1790 install anything on Tru64.
1792 * Fix install rules for conditionally built python files. (This never
1795 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1799 * Bugs introduced by 1.8:
1801 - Fix Config.pm import error with old Perl versions (at least
1802 5.005_03). One symptom is that aclocal could not find its macro
1805 - Automake 1.8 used `mkdir -m 0755 -p --' to ensure that directories
1806 created by `make install' are always world readable, even if the
1807 installer happens to have an overly restrictive umask (e.g. 077).
1808 This was a mistake and has been reverted. There are at least two
1809 reasons why we must not use `-m 0755':
1810 - it causes special bits like SGID to be ignored,
1811 - it may be too restrictive (some setups expect 775 directories).
1813 - Fix aclocal to honor definitions located in files which have been
1814 m4_included manually. aclocal 1.8 had been updated to check
1815 m4_included files for new requirements, but forgot that these
1816 m4_included files can also provide new definitions.
1818 Note that if you have such a setup, we recommend you get rid of
1819 it. In the past, there was a reason to m4_include files manually:
1820 aclocal used to duplicate entire M4 files into aclocal.m4, even
1821 files that were distributed. Some packages were therefore
1822 m4_including the distributed file directly, and playing some
1823 tricks to ensure aclocal would not copy that file to aclocal.m4,
1824 in order to limit the amount of duplication. Since aclocal 1.8.x
1825 will precisely output m4_includes for local M4 files, we recommend
1826 that you clean up your setup, removing all manual m4_includes and
1827 letting aclocal output them.
1829 - Output detailed menus in the Info version if the Automake manual,
1830 so that Emacs can locate the indexes.
1832 - configure.ac and configure were listed twice in DIST_COMMON (an
1833 internal variable where Automake lists configury files to
1834 distribute). This was harmless, but unaesthetic.
1836 - Use `chmod a-w' instead of `chmod -w' as the latter honors umask.
1837 This was an issue only in the Automake package itself, not in
1840 - Automake assumed that all AC_CONFIG_LINKS arguments had the form
1841 DEST:SRC. This was wrong, as some packages do
1842 AC_CONFIG_LINKS($computedlinks). This version no longer abort in
1845 - Contrary to mkinstalldirs, $(mkdir_p) was expecting exactly one
1846 argument. This caused two kinds of failures:
1847 - Rules installing data in a conditionally defined directory
1848 failed when that directory was undefined. In this case no
1849 argument was supplied.
1850 - `make installdirs' failed, because several directories were
1851 passed to $(mkdir_p). This was an issue only on platform
1852 were $(mkdir_p) is implemented with `install-sh -d'.
1853 $(mkdir_p) as been changed to accept 0 or more arguments, as
1856 * Long-standing bugs:
1858 - Fix an unexpected diagnostic occurring when users attempt
1859 to override some internal variables that Automake appends to.
1861 - aclocal now scans configure.ac for macro definitions (PR/319).
1863 - Fix a portability issue with OSF1/Tru64 Make. If a directory
1864 distributes files which are outside itself (this usually occurs
1865 when using AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR([../dir]) to use auxiliary files
1866 from a parent package), then `make distcheck' fails due to an
1867 optimization performed by OSF1/Tru64 Make in its VPATH handling.
1868 (tests/subpkg2.test failure)
1870 - Fix another portability issue with Sun and OSF1/Tru64 Make.
1871 In a VPATH-build configuration, `make install' would install
1872 nobase_ files to wrong locations.
1874 - Fix a Perl `uninitialized value' diagnostic occurring when
1875 automake complains that a Texinfo file does not have a
1876 @setfilename statement.
1878 - Erase config.status.lineno during `make distclean'. This file
1879 can be created by config.status. Automake already knew about
1880 configure.lineno, but forgot config.status.lineno.
1882 - Distribute all files, even those which are built and installed
1883 conditionally. This change affects files listed in conditionally
1884 defined *_HEADERS and *_PYTHON variable (unless they are nodist_*)
1885 as well as those listed in conditionally defined dist_*_DATA,
1886 dist_*_JAVA, dist_*_LISP, and dist_*_SCRIPTS variables.
1888 - Fix AM_PATH_LISPDIR to avoid \? in sed regular expressions; it
1889 doesn't conform to POSIX.
1891 - Normalize help strings for configure variables and options added
1896 - Check for python2.4 in AM_PATH_PYTHON.
1898 * Spurious failures in test suite:
1900 - tests/libtool5.test, tests/ltcond.test, tests/ltcond2.test,
1901 tests/ltconv.test: fix failures with CVS Libtool.
1902 - tests/aclocal6.test: fix failure if autom4te.cache is disabled.
1903 - tests/txinfo24.test, tests/txinfo25.test, tests/txinfo28.test:
1904 fix failures with old Texinfo versions.
1906 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1912 - The NEWS file is more verbose.
1916 - Autoconf 2.58 or greater is required.
1920 - Default source file names in the absence of a _SOURCES declaration
1921 are made by removing any target extension before appending `.c', so
1922 to make the libtool module `foo.la' from `foo.c', you only need to
1925 lib_LTLIBRARIES = foo.la
1926 foo_la_LDFLAGS = -module
1928 For backward compatibility, foo_la.c will be used instead of
1929 foo.c if this file exists or is the explicit target of a rule.
1930 However -Wobsolete will warn about this deprecated naming.
1932 - AR's `cru' flags are now set in a global ARFLAGS variable instead
1933 of being hard-coded in each $(AR) invocation, so they can be
1934 substituted from configure.ac. This has been requested by people
1935 dealing with non-POSIX ar implementations.
1937 - New warning option: -Woverride. This will warn about any user
1938 target or variable definitions which override Automake
1941 - Texinfo rules back up and restore info files when makeinfo fails.
1943 - Texinfo rules now support the `html' target.
1944 Running this requires Texinfo 4.0 or greater.
1946 `html' is a new recursive target, so if your package mixes
1947 hand-crafted `Makefile.in's with Automake-generated
1948 `Makefile.in's, you should adjust the former to support (or
1949 ignore) this target so that `make html' recurses successfully. If
1950 you had a custom `html' rule in your `Makefile.am', it's better to
1951 rename it as `html-local', otherwise your rule will override
1952 Automake's new rule (you can check that by running `automake
1953 -Woverride') and that will stop the recursion to subdirectories.
1955 Last but not least, this `html' rule is declared PHONY, even when
1956 overridden. Fortunately, it appears that few packages use a
1957 non-PHONY `html' rule.
1959 - Any file which is m4_included from configure.ac will appear as a
1960 configure and Makefile.in dependency, and will be automatically
1963 - The rules for rebuilding Makefiles and Makefile.ins will now
1964 rebuild all Makefiles and all Makefile.ins at once when one of
1965 configure's dependencies has changed. This is considerably faster
1966 than previous implementations, where config.status and automake
1967 were run separately in each directory (this still happens when you
1968 change a Makefile.am locally, without touching configure.ac or
1969 friends). Doing this also solves a longstanding issue: these
1970 rebuild rules failed to work when adding new directories to the
1971 tree, forcing you to run automake manually.
1973 - For similar reasons, the rules to rebuild configure,
1974 config.status, and aclocal.m4 are now defined in all directories.
1975 Note that if you were using the CONFIG_STATUS_DEPENDENCIES and
1976 CONFIGURE_DEPENDENCIES (formerly undocumented) variables, you
1977 should better define them in all directories. This is easily done
1978 using an AC_SUBST (make sure you prefix these dependencies with
1979 $(top_srcdir) since this variable will appear at different
1980 levels of the build tree).
1982 - aclocal will now use `m4_include' instead of copying local m4
1983 files into aclocal.m4. (Local m4 files are those you ship with
1984 your project, other files will be copied as usual.)
1986 Because m4_included files are automatically distributed, it means
1987 for most projects there is no point in EXTRA_DISTing the list of
1988 m4 files which are used. (You can probably get rid of
1989 m4/Makefile.am if you had one.)
1991 - aclocal will avoid touching aclocal.m4 when possible, so that
1992 Autom4te's cache isn't needlessly invalidated. This behavior can
1993 be switched off with the new `--force' option.
1995 - aclocal now uses Autoconf's --trace to detect macros which are
1996 actually used and will no longer include unused macros simply
1997 because they where mentioned. This was often the case for macros
1998 called conditionally.
2000 - New options no-dist and no-dist-gzip.
2002 - compile, depcomp, elisp-comp, install-sh, mdate-sh, mkinstalldirs,
2003 py-compile, and ylwrap, now all understand --version and --help.
2005 - Automake will now recognize AC_CONFIG_LINKS so far as removing created
2006 links as part of the distclean target and including source files in
2009 - AM_PATH_PYTHON now supports ACTION-IF-FOUND and ACTION-IF-NOT-FOUND
2010 argument. The latter can be used to override the default behavior
2011 (which is to abort).
2013 - Automake will exit with $? = 63 on version mismatch. (So does
2014 Autoconf 2.58) missing knows this, and in this case it will
2015 emulate the tools as if they were absent. Because older versions
2016 of Automake and Autoconf did not use this exit code, this change
2017 will only be useful in projects generated with future versions of
2020 - When using AC_CONFIG_FILES with multiple input files, Automake
2021 generates the first ".in" input file for which a ".am" exists.
2022 (Former versions would try to use only the first input file.)
2024 - lisp_DATA is now allowed. If you are using the empty ELCFILES
2025 idiom to disable byte-compilation of lisp_LISP files, it is
2026 recommended that you switch to using lisp_DATA. Note that
2027 this is not strictly equivalent: lisp_DATA will install elisp
2028 files even if emacs is not installed, while *_LISP do not
2029 install anything unless emacs is found.
2031 - Makefiles will prefer `mkdir -p' over mkinstalldirs if it is
2032 available. This selection is achieved through the Makefile
2033 variable $(mkdir_p) that is set by AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE to either
2034 `mkdir -m 0755 -p --', `$(mkinstalldirs) -m 0755', or
2035 `$(install_sh) -m 0755 -d'.
2039 - Because `mkdir -p' is available on most platforms, and we can use
2040 `install-sh -d' when it is not, the use of the mkinstalldirs
2041 script is being phased out. `automake --add-missing' no longer
2042 installs it, and if you remove mkinstalldirs from your package,
2043 automake will define $(mkinstalldirs) as an alias for $(mkdir_p).
2045 Gettext 0.12.1 still requires mkinstalldirs. Fortunately
2046 gettextize and autopoint will install it when needed. Automake
2047 will continue to define the $(mkinstalldirs) and to distribute
2048 mkinstalldirs when this script is in the source tree.
2050 - AM_PROG_CC_STDC is now empty. The content of this macro was
2051 merged in AC_PROG_CC. If your code uses $am_cv_prog_cc_stdc, you
2052 should adjust it to use $ac_cv_prog_cc_stdc instead. (This
2053 renaming should be safe, even if you have to support several,
2054 versions of Automake, because AC_PROG_CC defines this variable
2055 since Autoconf 2.54.)
2057 - Some users where using the undocumented ACLOCAL_M4_SOURCES
2058 variable to override the aclocal.m4 dependencies computed
2059 (inaccurately) by older versions of Automake. Because Automake
2060 now tracks configure's m4 dependencies accurately (see m4_include
2061 above), the use of ACLOCAL_M4_SOURCES should be considered
2062 obsolete and will be flagged as such when running `automake
2067 - Defining programs conditionally using Automake conditionals no
2068 longer leads to a combinatorial explosion. The following
2069 construct used to be troublesome when used with dozens of
2084 Likewise for _SOURCES, _LDADD, and _LIBADD variables.
2086 - Due to implementation constraints, previous versions of Automake
2087 proscribed multiple conditional definitions of some variables
2097 All _PROGRAMS, _LDADD, and _LIBADD variables were affected.
2098 This restriction has been lifted, and these variables now
2099 support multiple conditional definitions as do other variables.
2101 - Cleanup the definitions of $(distdir) and $(top_distdir).
2102 $(top_distdir) now points to the root of the distribution
2103 directory created during `make dist', as it did in Automake 1.4,
2104 not to the root of the build tree as it did in intervening
2105 versions. Furthermore these two variables are now only defined in
2106 the top level Makefile, and passed to sub-directories when running
2109 - The --no-force option now correctly checks the Makefile.in's
2110 dependencies before deciding not to update it.
2112 - Do not assume that make files are called Makefile in cleaning rules.
2114 - Update .info files in the source tree, not in the build tree. This
2115 is what the GNU Coding Standard recommend. Only Automake 1.7.x
2116 used to update these files in the build tree (previous versions did
2117 it in the source tree too), and it caused several problems, varying
2118 from mere annoyance to portability issues.
2120 - COPYING, COPYING.LIB, and COPYING.LESSER are no longer overwritten
2121 when --add-missing and --force-missing are used. For backward
2122 compatibility --add-missing will continue to install COPYING (in
2123 `gnu' strictness) when none of these three files exist, but this
2124 use is deprecated: you should better choose a license yourself and
2125 install it once for all in your source tree (and in your code
2128 - Fix ylwrap so that it does not overwrite header files that haven't
2129 changed, as the inline rule already does.
2131 - User-defined rules override automake-defined rules for the same
2132 targets, even when rules do not have commands. This is not new
2133 (and was documented), however some of the automake-generated
2134 rules have escaped this principle in former Automake versions.
2135 Rules for the following targets are affected by this fix:
2137 clean, clean-am, dist-all, distclean, distclean-am, dvi, dvi-am,
2138 info, info-am, install-data-am, install-exec-am, install-info,
2139 install-info-am, install-man, installcheck-am, maintainer-clean,
2140 maintainer-clean-am, mostlyclean, mostlyclean-am, pdf, pdf-am,
2141 ps, ps-am, uninstall-am, uninstall-info, uninstall-man
2143 Practically it means that an attempt to supplement the dependencies
2144 of some target, as in
2146 clean: my-clean-rule
2148 will now *silently override* the automake definition of the
2149 rule for this target. Running `automake -Woverride' will diagnose
2150 all such overriding definitions.
2152 It should be noted that almost all of these targets support a *-local
2153 variant that is meant to supplement the automake-defined rule
2154 (See node `Extending' in the manual). The above rule should
2157 clean-local: my-clean-rule
2159 These *-local targets have been documented since at least
2160 Automake 1.2, so you should not fear the change if you have
2161 to support multiple automake versions.
2165 - The Automake manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
2167 - Targets dist-gzip, dist-bzip2, dist-tarZ, dist-zip are always defined.
2169 - core dumps are no longer removed by the cleaning rules. There are
2170 at least three reasons for this:
2171 1. These files should not be created by any build step,
2172 so their removal do not fit any of the cleaning rules.
2173 Actually, they may be precious to the developer.
2174 2. If such file is created during a build, then it's clearly a
2175 bug Automake should not hide. Not removing the file will
2176 cause `make distcheck' to complain about its presence.
2177 3. Operating systems have different naming conventions for
2178 core dump files. A core file on one system might be a
2179 completely legitimate data file on another system.
2181 - RUNTESTFLAGS, CTAGSFLAGS, ETAGSFLAGS, JAVACFLAGS are no longer
2182 defined by Automake. This means that any definition in the
2183 environment will be used, unless overridden in the Makefile.am or
2184 on the command line. The old behavior, where these variables were
2185 defined empty in each Makefile, can be obtained by AC_SUBSTing or
2186 AC_ARG_VARing each variable from configure.ac.
2188 - CONFIGURE_DEPENDENCIES and CONFIG_STATUS_DEPENDENCIES are now
2189 documented. (The is not a new feature, these variables have
2190 been there since at least Automake 1.4.)
2192 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2194 Bugs fixed in 1.7.9:
2195 * Fix install-strip to work with nobase_ binaries.
2196 * Fix renaming of #line directives in ylwrap.
2197 * Rebuild with Autoconf 2.59. (1.7.8 was not installable with pdksh.)
2199 Bugs fixed in 1.7.8:
2200 * Remove spurious blank lines in cleaning rules introduced in 1.7.7.
2201 * Fix detection of Debian's install-info, broken since version 1.5.
2202 (Debian bug #213524).
2203 * Honor -module if it appears in AM_LDFLAGS (i.e., relax name checking)
2204 This was only done for libfoo_LDFLAGS and LDFLAGS in previous versions.
2206 Bugs fixed in 1.7.7:
2207 * The implementation of automake's --no-force option is unreliable,
2208 so this option is ignored in this version. A real fix will appear in
2209 Automake 1.8. (Debian Bug #206299)
2210 * AM_PATH_PYTHON: really check the whole list of interpreters if no
2211 argument is given. (PR/399)
2212 * Do not warn about leading `_' in variable names, even with -Wportability.
2213 * Support user redefinitions of TEXINFO_TEX.
2214 * depcomp: support AIX Compiler version 6.
2215 * Fix missing rebuilds during `make dist' with BSD make.
2216 (Could produce tarballs containing out-of-date files.)
2217 * Resurrect multilib support.
2218 * Noteworthy manual updates:
2219 - Extending aclocal: how to write m4 macros that won't trigger warnings
2221 - A Shared Library: Rewrite and split into subsections.
2223 Bugs fixed in 1.7.6:
2224 * Fix depcomp's icc mode for ICC 7.1.
2225 * Diagnose calls to AC_CONFIG_FILES and friends with not enough arguments.
2226 * Fix maintainer-clean's removal of autom4te.cache in VPATH builds.
2227 * Fix AM_PATH_LISPDIR to work with POSIXLY_CORRECT=1.
2228 * Fix the location reported in some diagnostics related to AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS.
2229 * Remove Latin-1 characters from elisp-comp.
2230 * Update the manual's @dircategory to match the Free Software Directory.
2232 Bugs fixed in 1.7.5:
2233 * Update install-sh's license to remove an advertising clause.
2234 (Debian bug #191717)
2235 * Fix a bug introduced in 1.7.4, related to BUILT_SOURCE handling,
2236 that caused invalid Makefile.ins to be generated.
2237 * Make sure AM_MAKE_INCLUDE doesn't fail when a `doit' file exists.
2238 * New FAQ entry: renamed objects.
2240 Bugs fixed in 1.7.4:
2241 * Tweak the TAGS rule to support Exuberant Ctags (in addition to
2242 the Emacs implementation)
2243 * Fix output of aclocal.m4 dependencies in subdirectories.
2244 * Use `mv -f' instead of `mv' in fastdep rules.
2245 * Upgrade mdate-sh to work on OS/2.
2246 * Don't byte-compile elisp files when ELCFILES is set empty.
2247 (this documented feature was broken by 1.7.3)
2248 * Diagnose trailing backslashes on last line of Makefile.am.
2249 * Diagnose whitespace following trailing backslashes.
2250 * Multiple tests are now correctly supported in DEJATOOL. (PR/388)
2251 * Fix rebuilt rules for AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile:Makefile.in:Makefile.bot])
2253 * `make install' will build `BUILT_SOURCES' first.
2254 * Minor documentation fixes.
2256 Bugs fixed in 1.7.3:
2257 * Fix stamp files numbering (when using multiple AC_CONFIG_HEADERS).
2258 * Query distutils for `pythondir' and `pythonexecdir', instead of
2259 using an hardcoded path. This should allow builds on 64-bit
2260 distributions that usually use lib64/ instead of lib/.
2261 * AM_PATH_PYTHON will also search for python2.3.
2262 * elisp files are now built all at once instead of one by one. Besides
2263 incurring a speed-up, this is required to support interdependent elisp files.
2264 * Support for DJGPP:
2265 - `make distcheck' will now work in `_inst/' and `_build' instead
2266 of `=inst/' and `=build/'
2267 - use `_dirstamp' when the file-system doesn't support `.dirstamp'
2268 - install/uninstall `*.i[0-9][0-9]'-style info files
2269 - more changes that affect only the Automake package (not its output)
2270 * Fix some incompatibilities with upcoming perl-5.10.
2271 * Properly quote AC_PACKAGE_TARNAME and AC_PACKAGE_VERSION when defining
2272 PACKAGE and VERSION.
2274 - dashmstdout and dashXmstdout modes: don't use `-o /dev/null', this
2275 is troublesome with gcc and Solaris compilers. (PR/385)
2276 - makedepend mode: work with Libtool. (PR/385 too)
2278 * better support for unusual gettext setups, such as multiple po/ directories
2280 - Flag missing po/ and intl/ directories as warnings, not errors.
2281 - Disable these warnings if po/ does not exist.
2282 * Noteworthy manual updates:
2284 - Document how AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR interacts with missing files.
2286 - Document `AM_YFLAGS = -d'. (PR/382)
2288 Bugs fixed in 1.7.2:
2289 * Fix installation and uninstallation of Info files built in subdirectories.
2290 * Do not run `./configure --with-included-gettext' during `make distcheck'
2291 if AM_GNU_GETTEXT([external]) is used.
2292 * Correctly uninstall renamed man pages.
2293 * Do not strip escaped newline in variables defined in one condition
2294 and augmented in another condition.
2295 * Fix ansi2knr rules for LIBOBJS sources.
2296 * Clean all known Texinfo index files, not only those which appear to
2297 be used, because we cannot know which indexes are used in included files.
2298 (PR/375, Debian Bug #168671)
2299 * Honor only the first @setfilename seen in a Texinfo file.
2300 * Treat "required file X not found" diagnostics as errors (exit status 1).
2301 * Don't complain that a required file is not found when it is a Makefile
2303 * Don't use single suffix inference rules when building `.info'-less
2304 Info files, for the sake of Solaris make.
2305 * The `check' target now depends on `$(BUILT_SOURCES)'. (PR/359)
2306 * Recognize multiple inference rules such as `.a.b .c.d:'. (PR/371)
2307 * Warn about multiple inference rules when -Wportability is used. (PR/372)
2308 * Fix building of deansified files from subdirectories. (PR/370)
2309 * Add missing `fi' in the .c->.obj rules.
2310 * Improve install-sh to work even when names contain spaces or certain
2311 (but not all) shell metachars.
2312 * Fix the following spurious failures in the test suite:
2313 depcomp2.test, gnits2.test, gnits3.test, python3.test, texinfo13.test
2314 * Noteworthy manual updates:
2315 - Augment the section about BUILT_SOURCES.
2316 - Mention that AM_PROG_CC_STDC is a relic that is better avoided today.
2318 Bugs fixed in 1.7.1:
2319 * Honor `ansi2knr' for files built in subdirectories, or using per-targets
2321 * Aclocal should now recognize macro names containing parentheses, e.g.
2322 AC_DEFUN([AC_LANG_PREPROC(Fortran 90)], [...]).
2323 * Erase *.sum and *.log files created by DejaGnu, during `make distclean'.
2325 * Install Python files even if they were built. (PR/369)
2326 * Have stamp-vti dependent upon configure instead of configure.ac, as the
2327 version might not be defined in the latter. (PR/358)
2328 * Reorder arguments passed to a couple of commands, so things works
2329 when POSIXLY_CORRECT=1.
2330 * Fix a regex that can cause Perl to segfault on large input.
2332 * Fix distribution of packages that have some sources defined conditionally,
2333 as in the `Conditional compilation using Automake conditionals' example
2335 * Fix spurious test suite failures on IRIX.
2336 * Don't report a required variable as undefined if it has been
2337 defined conditionally for the "right" conditions.
2338 * Fix cleaning of the /tmp subdirectory used by `make distcheck', in case
2339 `make distcheck' fails.
2340 * Fix distribution of included Makefile fragment, so we don't create
2341 spurious directories in the distribution. (PR/366)
2342 * Don't complain that a target lacks `.$(EXEEXT)' when it has it.
2345 * Autoconf 2.54 is required.
2346 * `aclocal' and `automake' will no longer warn about obsolete
2347 configure macros. This is done by `autoconf -Wobsolete'.
2348 * AM_CONFIG_HEADER, AM_SYS_POSIX_TERMIOS and
2349 AM_HEADER_TIOCGWINSZ_NEEDS_SYS_IOCTL are obsolete (although still
2350 supported). You should use AC_CONFIG_HEADERS, AC_SYS_POSIX_TERMIOS,
2351 and AC_HEADER_TIOCGWINSZ instead. `autoupdate' can upgrade
2352 `configure.ac' for you.
2353 * Support for per-program and per-library `_CPPFLAGS'.
2354 * New `ctags' target (builds CTAGS files).
2355 * Support for -Wmumble and -Wno-mumble, where mumble is a warning category
2356 (see `automake --help' or the manual for a list of them).
2357 * Honor the WARNINGS environment variable.
2358 * Omit the call to depcomp when using gcc3: call the compiler directly.
2359 * A new option, std-options, tests that programs support --help and --version
2360 when `make installcheck' is run. This is enabled by --gnits.
2361 * Texinfo rules now support the `ps' and `pdf' targets.
2362 * Info files are now created in the build directory, not the source directory.
2363 * info_TEXINFOS supports files in subdirectories (this requires Texinfo 4.1
2365 * `make distcheck' will enforce DESTDIR support by attempting
2367 * `+=' can be used in conditionals, even if the augmented variable
2368 was defined for another condition.
2369 * Makefile fragments (inserted with `include') are always distributed.
2370 * Use Autoconf's --trace interface to inspect configure.ac and get
2371 a more accurate view of it.
2372 * Add support for extending aclocal's default macro search path
2373 using a `dirlist' file within the aclocal directory.
2374 * automake --output-dir is deprecated.
2375 * The part of the distcheck target that checks whether uninstall actually
2376 removes all installed files has been moved in a separate target,
2377 distuninstallcheck, so it can be overridden easily.
2381 * Support for AM_INIT_GETTEXT([external])
2382 * Bug fixes, including:
2383 - Fix Automake's own `make install' so it works even if `ln' doesn't.
2384 - nobase_ programs and scripts honor --program-transform correctly.
2385 - Erase configure.lineno during `make distclean'.
2386 - Erase YACC and LEX outputs during `make maintainer-clean'.
2389 * Many bug fixes, including:
2390 - Requiring the current version works.
2391 - Fix "$@" portability issues (for Zsh).
2392 - Fix output of dummy dependency files in presence of post-processed
2394 - Don't compute dependencies in background to avoid races with libtool.
2395 - Fix handling of _OBJECTS variables for targets sharing source variables.
2396 - Check dependency mode for Java when AM_PROG_GCJ is used.
2399 * automake --output-dir is deprecated
2400 * Many bug fixes, including:
2401 - Don't choke on AM_LDFLAGS definitions.
2402 - Clean libtool objects from subdirectories.
2403 - Allow configure variables with reserved suffix and unknown prefix
2404 (e.g. AC_SUBST(mumble_LDFLAGS) when 'mumble' is not a target).
2405 - Fix the definition of AUTOMAKE and ACLOCAL in configure.
2408 * Autoconf 2.52 is required.
2409 * automake no longer run libtoolize.
2410 This is the job of autoreconf (from GNU Autoconf).
2411 * `dist' generates all the archive flavors, as did `dist-all'.
2412 * `dist-gzip' generates the Gzip tar file only.
2413 * Combining Automake Makefile conditionals no longer lead to a combinatorial
2414 explosion. Makefile.in's keep a reasonable size.
2415 * AM_FUNC_ERROR_AT_LINE, AM_FUNC_STRTOD, AM_FUNC_OBSTACK, AM_PTRDIFF_T
2416 are no longer shipped, since Autoconf 2.52 provides them (both as AM_
2418 * `#line' of Lex and Yacc files are properly set.
2419 * EXTRA_DIST can contain generated directories.
2420 * Support for dot-less extensions in suffix rules.
2421 * The part of the distcheck target that checks whether distclean actually
2422 cleans all built files has been moved in a separate target, distcleancheck,
2423 so it can be overridden easily.
2424 * `make distcheck' will pass additional options defined in
2425 $(DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS) to configure.
2426 * Fixed CDPATH portability problems, in particular for MacOS X.
2427 * Fixed handling of nobase_ targets.
2428 * Fixed support of implicit rules leading to .lo objects.
2429 * Fixed late inclusion of --add-missing files (e.g. depcomp) in DIST_COMMON
2430 * Added uninstall-hook target
2431 * `AC_INIT AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE(tarname,version)' is an obsolete construct.
2432 You can now use `AC_INIT(pkgname,version) AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE' instead.
2433 (Note that "pkgname" is not "tarname", see the manual for details.)
2434 It is also possible to pass a list of global Automake options as
2435 first argument to this new form of AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE.
2436 * Compiler-based assembler is now called `CCAS'; people expected `AS'
2437 to be a real assembler.
2438 * AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE will set STRIP itself when it needs it. Adding
2439 AC_CHECK_TOOL([STRIP], [strip]) manually is no longer required.
2440 * aclocal and automake are also installed with the version number
2441 appended, and some of the install directory names have changed.
2442 This lets you have multiple versions installed simultaneously.
2443 * Support for parsers and lexers in subdirectories.
2446 * Support for `configure.ac'.
2447 * Support for `else COND', `endif COND' and negated conditions `!COND'.
2448 * `make dist-all' is much faster.
2449 * Allows '@' AC_SUBSTs in macro names.
2450 * Faster AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE (requires update of `missing' script)
2451 * User-side dependency tracking. Developers no longer need GNU make
2453 * Uses DIST_SUBDIRS in some situations when SUBDIRS is conditional
2454 * Most files are correctly handled if they appear in subdirs
2455 For instance, a _DATA file can appear in a subdir
2456 * GNU tar is no longer required for `make dist'
2457 * Added support for `dist_' and `nodist_' prefixes
2458 * Added support for `nobase_' prefix
2459 * Compiled Java support
2460 * Support for per-executable and per-library compilation flags
2464 * Added support for the Fortran 77 programming language.
2465 * Re-indexed the Automake Texinfo manual.
2466 * Added `AM_FOOFLAGS' variable for each compiler invocation;
2467 e.g. AM_CFLAGS can be used in Makefile.am to set C compiler flags
2468 * Support for latest autoconf, including support for objext
2469 * Can now put `.' in SUBDIRS to control build order
2470 * `include' command and `+=' support for macro assignment
2471 * Dependency tracking no long susceptible to deleted header file problem
2472 * Maintainer mode now a conditional. @MAINT@ is now an anachronism.
2477 * Better Cygwin32 support
2478 * Support for suffix rules with _SOURCES variables
2479 * New options `readme-alpha' and `check-news'; Gnits mode sets these
2480 * @LEXLIB@ no longer required when lex source seen
2481 Lex support in `missing', and new lex macro. Update your missing script.
2482 * Built-in support for assembly
2483 * aclocal gives error if `AM_' macro not found
2484 * Passed YFLAGS, not YACCFLAGS, to yacc
2485 * AM_PROG_CC_STDC does not have to come before AC_PROG_CPP
2486 * Dependencies computed as a side effect of compilation
2487 * Preliminary support for Java
2488 * DESTDIR support at "make install" time
2489 * Improved ansi2knr support; you must use the latest ansi2knr.c (included)
2493 * Better DejaGnu support
2494 * Added no-installinfo option
2495 * Added Emacs Lisp support
2496 * Added --no-force option
2497 * Included `aclocal' program
2498 * Automake will now generate rules to regenerate aclocal.m4, if appropriate
2499 * Now uses `AM_' macro names everywhere
2500 * ansi2knr option can have directory prefix (eg `../lib/ansi2knr')
2501 ansi2knr now works correctly on K&R sources
2502 * Better C++, yacc, lex support
2503 * Will compute _DEPENDENCIES variables automatically if not supplied
2504 * Will interpolate $(...) and ${...} when examining contents of a variable
2505 * .deps files now in build directory, not source directory; dependency
2506 handling generally rewritten
2507 * DATA, MANS and BUILT_SOURCES no longer included in distribution
2508 * can now put config.h into a subdir
2509 * Added dist-all target
2510 * Support for install-info program (see texinfo 3.9)
2511 * Support for "yacc -d"
2512 * configure substitutions are automatically discovered and included
2513 in generated Makefile.in
2514 * Special --cygnus mode
2515 * OMIT_DEPENDENCIES can now hold list of dependencies to be omitted
2516 when making distribution. Some dependencies are auto-ignored.
2517 * Changed how libraries are specified in _LIBRARIES variable
2518 * Full libtool support, from Gord Matzigkeit
2519 * No longer have to explicitly touch stamp-h when using AC_CONFIG_HEADER;
2520 AM_CONFIG_HEADER handles it automatically
2521 * Texinfo output files no longer need .info extension
2522 * Added `missing' support
2524 * Conditionals in Makefile.am, from Ian Taylor
2528 * distcheck target runs install and installcheck targets
2529 * Added preliminary support for DejaGnu.
2534 * More libtool fixes from Gord Matzigkeit; libtool support is still
2536 * Added support for jm_MAINTAINER_MODE
2538 * New "distcheck" target
2542 * mkinstalldirs and mdate-sh now appear in directory specified by
2544 * Removed DIST_SUBDIRS, DIST_OTHER
2545 * AC_ARG_PROGRAM only required when an actual program exists
2546 * dist-hook target now run before distribution packaged up; idea from
2547 Dieter Baron. Other hooks exist, too.
2548 * Preliminary (unfinished) support for libtool
2549 * Added short option names.
2550 * Better "dist" support when gluing together multiple packages
2554 * Documentation updates (many from François Pinard)
2555 * strictness `normal' now renamed to `foreign'
2556 * Renamed --install-missing to --add-missing
2557 * Now handles AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR
2558 * Now handles TESTS macro
2559 * DIST_OTHER renamed to EXTRA_DIST
2560 * DIST_SUBDIRS is deprecated
2561 * @ALLOCA@ and @LIBOBJS@ now work in _LDADD variables
2562 * Better error messages in many cases
2563 * Program names are canonicalized
2564 * Added "check" prefix; from Gord Matzigkeit
2568 * configure.in scanner knows about AC_PATH_XTRA, AC_OUTPUT ":" syntax
2569 * Beginnings of a test suite
2570 * Automatically adds -I options for $(srcdir), ".", and path to config.h
2571 * Doesn't print anything when running
2572 * Beginnings of MAINT_CHARSET support
2573 * Can specify version in AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS
2574 * Most errors recognizable by Emacs' M-x next-error
2575 * Added --verbose option
2576 * All "primary" variables now obsolete; use EXTRA_PRIMARY to supply
2577 configure-generated names
2578 * Required macros now distributed in aclocal.m4
2580 * --strictness=gnu is default
2584 * More sophisticated configure.in scanning; now understands ALLOCA and
2585 LIBOBJS directly, handles AC_CONFIG_HEADER more precisely, etc.
2586 * TEXINFOS and MANS now obsolete; use info_TEXINFOS and man_MANS instead.
2587 * CONFIG_HEADER variable now obsolete
2588 * Can handle multiple Texinfo sources
2589 * Allow hierarchies deeper than 2. From Gord Matzigkeit.
2590 * HEADERS variable no longer needed; now can put .h files directly into
2591 foo_SOURCES variable.
2592 * Automake automatically rebuilds files listed in AC_OUTPUT. The
2593 corresponding ".in" files are included in the distribution.
2596 * Added --gnu and --gnits options
2597 * More standards checking
2599 * Cleaned up 'dist' targets
2600 * Added AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS variable and several options
2601 * Now scans configure.in to get some information (preliminary)
2604 * Works with Perl 4 again
2607 * Added --install-missing option.
2608 * Pretty-prints generated macros and rules
2609 * Comments in Makefile.am are placed more intelligently in Makefile.in
2610 * Generates .PHONY target
2611 * Rule or macro in Makefile.am now overrides contents of Automake file
2612 * Substantial cleanups from François Pinard
2616 * Works with Perl 4 again.
2619 * New uniform naming scheme.
2620 * --strictness option
2622 * '.c' files corresponding to '.y' or '.l' files are automatically
2624 * Many bug fixes and cleanups
2627 * Allow objects to be conditionally included in libraries via lib_LIBADD.
2630 * Bug fixes in 'clean' code.
2631 * Now generates 'installdirs' target.
2632 * man page installation reworked.
2633 * 'make dist' no longer re-creates all Makefile.in's.
2636 * Reimplemented in Perl
2637 * Added --amdir option (for debugging)
2638 * Texinfo support cleaned up.
2639 * Automatic de-ANSI-fication cleaned up.
2640 * Cleaned up 'clean' targets.
2643 * Automatic dependency tracking
2644 * More documentation
2645 * New variables DATA and PACKAGEDATA
2646 * SCRIPTS installed using $(INSTALL_SCRIPT)
2647 * No longer uses double-colon rules
2649 * Changes in advance of internationalization
2653 Copyright (C) 1995-2013 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
2655 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
2656 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
2657 the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
2660 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
2661 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
2662 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
2663 GNU General Public License for more details.
2665 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
2666 along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
projects / platform / upstream / automake.git / blob