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". This kind of fixes
20 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 and deprecation, but no backward
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 - Automake 2.0 will require Autoconf 2.70 or later (which is still
43 unreleased at the moment of writing, but is planned to be released
44 before Automake 2.0 is).
46 - Automake 2.0 will drop support for the long-deprecated 'configure.in'
47 name for the Autoconf input file. You are advised to start using the
48 recommended name 'configure.ac' instead, ASAP.
50 - The ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS special make variable will be fully deprecated
51 in Automake 2.0 (where it will raise warnings in the "obsolete"
52 category). You are advised to start relying on the new Automake
53 support for AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIRS instead (which was introduced in
56 - Automake 2.0 will remove support for automatic dependency tracking
57 with the SGI C/C++ compilers on IRIX. The SGI depmode has been
58 reported broken "in the wild" already, and we don't think investing
59 time in debugging and fixing is worthwhile, especially considering
60 that SGI has last updated those compilers in 2006, and is expected
61 to retire support for them in December 2013:
62 <http://www.sgi.com/services/support/irix_mips_support.html>
64 - Future versions of Automake might remove support for MS-DOS and
65 Windows 95/98/ME (support for them was offered by relying on the
66 DJGPP project). Note however that both Cygwin and MSYS/MinGW on
67 modern Windows versions will continue to be fully supported.
69 - Automake-provided scripts and makefile recipes might (finally!)
70 start assuming a POSIX shell in Automake 2.0.
72 - Starting from Automake 2.0, third-party m4 files located in the
73 system-wide aclocal directory, as well as in any directory listed
74 in the ACLOCAL_PATH environment variable, will take precedence
75 over "built-in" Automake macros. For example (assuming Automake
76 is installed in the /usr/local hierarchy), a definition of the
77 AM_PROG_VALAC macro found in '/usr/local/share/aclocal/my-vala.m4'
78 should take precedence over the same-named automake-provided macro
79 (defined in '/usr/local/share/aclocal-2.0/vala.m4').
81 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
85 * Obsolescent features:
87 - Use of suffix-less info files (that can be specified through the
88 '@setfilename' macro in Texinfo input files) is discouraged, and
89 its use will raise warnings in the 'obsolete' category.
91 - Use of Texinfo input files with '.txi' or '.texinfo' extensions
92 is discouraged, and its use will raise warnings in the 'obsolete'
93 category. You are advised to simply use the '.texi' extension
96 * Documentation fixes:
98 - The long-deprecated but still supported two-arguments invocation form
99 of AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE is documented once again. This seems the sanest
100 thing to do, given that support for such an usage might need to remain
101 in place for a unspecified amount of time in order to cater for people
102 who want to define the version number for their package dynamically at
103 configure runtime (unfortunately, Autoconf does not yet support this
104 scenario, so we cannot delegate the work to it).
106 - The serial testsuite harness is no longer reported as "deprecated",
107 but as "discouraged". We have no plan to remove it, not to make its
108 use cause runtime warnings.
110 - The parallel testsuite is no longer reported as "experimental"; it
111 is well tested, and should be stable now.
113 - The 'shar' and 'tarZ' distribution formats and the 'dist-shar' and
114 'dist-tarZ' options are obsolescent, and their use is deprecated
115 in the documentation.
117 - Other minor miscellaneous fixes and improvements; in particular,
118 some improvements in cross-references.
122 - The obsolete macros AM_CONFIG_HEADER or AM_PROG_CC_STDC work once
123 again, as they did in Automake 1.12.x (albeit printing runtime
124 warnings in the 'obsolete' category). Removing them has turned
125 out to be a very bad idea, because it complicated distro packing
126 enormously. Making them issue fatal warnings, as we did in
127 Automake 1.13, has turned out to be a similarly very bad idea,
128 for exactly the same reason.
130 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
136 - Use of the obsolete macros AM_CONFIG_HEADER or AM_PROG_CC_STDC now
137 causes a clear and helpful error message, instead of obscure ones
138 (issue introduced in Automake 1.13).
140 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
146 - ylwrap renames properly header guards in generated header files
147 (*.h), instead of leaving Y_TAB_H.
149 - ylwrap now also converts header guards in implementation files
150 (*.c). Because ylwrap failed to rename properly #include in the
151 implementation files, current versions of Bison (e.g., 2.7)
152 duplicate the generated header file in the implementation file.
153 The header guard then protects the implementation file from
154 duplicate definitions from the header file.
156 * Version requirements:
158 - Autoconf 2.65 or greater is now required.
160 - The rules to build PDF and DVI output from Texinfo input now
161 require Texinfo 4.9 or later.
165 - Support for the "Cygnus-style" trees (once enabled by the 'cygnus'
166 option) has been removed. See discussion about automake bug#11034
167 for more background: <http://debbugs.gnu.org/11034>.
169 - The deprecated aclocal option '--acdir' has been removed. You
170 should use the options '--automake-acdir' and '--system-acdir'
171 instead (which have been introduced in Automake 1.11.2).
173 - The following long-obsolete m4 macros have been removed:
175 AM_PROG_CC_STDC: superseded by AC_PROG_CC since October 2002
176 fp_PROG_CC_STDC: broken alias for AM_PROG_CC_STDC
177 fp_WITH_DMALLOC: old alias for AM_WITH_DMALLOC
178 AM_CONFIG_HEADER: superseded by AC_CONFIG_HEADERS since July 2002
179 ud_PATH_LISPDIR: old alias for AM_PATH_LISPDIR
180 jm_MAINTAINER_MODE: old alias for AM_MAINTAINER_MODE
181 ud_GNU_GETTEXT: old alias for AM_GNU_GETTEXT
182 gm_PROG_LIBTOOL: old alias for AC_PROG_LIBTOOL
183 fp_C_PROTOTYPES: old alias for AM_C_PROTOTYPES (which was part
184 of the now-removed automatic de-ANSI-fication
187 - All the "old alias" macros in 'm4/obsolete.m4' have been removed.
189 - Use of the long-deprecated two- and three-arguments invocation forms
190 of the AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE is no longer documented. It's still supported
191 though (albeit with a warning in the 'obsolete' category), to cater
192 for people who want to define the version number for their package
193 dynamically (e.g., from the current VCS revision). We'll have to
194 continue this support until Autoconf itself is fixed to allow better
195 support for such dynamic version numbers.
197 * Elisp byte-compilation:
199 - The byte compilation of '.el' files into '.elc' files is now done
200 with a suffix rule. This has simplified the compilation process, and
201 more importantly made it less brittle. The downside is that emacs is
202 now invoked once for each '.el' files, which cause some noticeable
203 slowdowns. These should however be mitigated on multicore machines
204 (which are becoming the norm today) if concurrent make ("make -j")
207 - Elisp files placed in a subdirectory are now byte-compiled to '.elc'
208 files in the same subdirectory; for example, byte-compiling of file
209 'sub/foo.el' file will result in 'sub/foo.elc' rather than in
210 'foo.elc'. This behaviour is backward-incompatible with older
211 Automake versions, but it is more natural and more sane. See also
214 - The Emacs invocation performing byte-compilation of '.el' files honors
215 the $(AM_ELCFLAGS) and $(ELCFLAGS) variables; as typical, the former
216 one is developer-reserved and the latter one user-reserved.
218 - The 'elisp-comp' script, once provided by Automake, has been rendered
219 obsoleted by the just-described changes, and thus removed.
221 * Changes to Automake-generated testsuite harnesses:
223 - The parallel testsuite harness (previously only enabled by the
224 'parallel-tests' option) is the default one; the older serial
225 testsuite harness will still be available through the use of the
226 'serial-tests' option (introduced in Automake 1.12).
228 - The 'color-tests' option is now unconditionally activated by default.
229 In particular, this means that testsuite output is now colorized by
230 default if the attached terminal seems to support ANSI escapes, and
231 that the user can force output colorization by setting the variable
232 AM_COLOR_TESTS to "always". The 'color-tests' is still recognized
233 for backward-compatibility, although it's a handled as a no-op now.
235 * Silent rules support:
237 - Support for silent rules is now always active in Automake-generated
238 Makefiles. So, although the verbose output is still the default,
239 the user can now always use "./configure --enable-silent-rules" or
240 "make V=0" to enable quieter output in the package he's building.
242 - The 'silent-rules' option has now become a no-op, preserved for
243 backward-compatibility only. In particular, its use no longer
244 disables the warnings in the 'portability-recursive' category.
248 - The rules to build PDF and DVI files from Texinfo input now require
249 Texinfo 4.9 or later.
251 - The rules to build PDF and DVI files from Texinfo input now use the
252 '--build-dir' option, to keep the auxiliary files used by texi2dvi
253 and texi2pdf around without cluttering the build directory, and to
254 make it possible to run the "dvi" and "pdf" recipes in parallel.
256 * Automatic remake rules and 'missing' script:
258 - The 'missing' script no longer tries to update the timestamp of
259 out-of-date files that require a maintainer-specific tool to be
260 remade, in case the user lacks such a tool (or has a too-old version
261 of it). It just gives a useful warning, and in some cases also a
262 tip about how to obtain such a tool.
264 - The missing script has thus become useless as a (poor) way to work
265 around the sketched-timestamps issues that can happen for projects
266 that keep generated files committed in their VCS repository. Such
267 projects are now encouraged to write a custom "fix-timestamps.sh"
268 script to avoid such issues; a simple example is provided in the
269 "CVS and generated files" chapter of the automake manual.
273 - The user can now define his own recursive targets that recurse
274 in the directories specified in $(SUBDIRS). This can be done by
275 specifying the name of such targets in invocations of the new
276 'AM_EXTRA_RECURSIVE_TARGETS' m4 macro.
280 - Any failure in the recipe of the "tags", "ctags", "cscope" or
281 "cscopelist" targets in a subdirectory is now propagated to the
282 top-level make invocation.
284 - Tags are correctly computed also for files in _SOURCES variables that
285 only list files with non-standard suffixes (see automake bug#12372).
287 * Improvements to aclocal and related rebuilds rules:
289 - Autoconf-provided macros AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR and AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIRS
290 are now traced by aclocal, and can be used to declare the local m4
291 include directories. Formerly, one had to specify it with an explicit
292 '-I' option to the 'aclocal' invocation.
294 - The special make variable ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS is deprecated; future
295 Automake versions will warn about its use, and later version will
296 remove support for it altogether.
298 * The depcomp script:
300 - Dropped support for libtool 1.4.
302 - Various internal refactorings. They should cause no visible change,
303 but the chance for regression is there anyway, so please report any
304 unexpected or suspicious behaviour.
306 - Support for pre-8.0 versions of the Intel C Compiler has been dropped.
307 This should cause no problem, since icc 8.0 has been released in
308 December 2003 -- almost nine years ago.
310 - Support for tcc (the Tiny C Compiler) has been improved, and is now
311 handled through a dedicated 'tcc' mode.
315 - ylwrap generates header guards with a single '_' for series of non
316 alphabetic characters, instead of several. This is what Bison >=
319 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
321 Bugs fixed in 1.12.6:
323 * Python-related bugs:
325 - The default installation location for python modules has been improved
326 for Python 3 on Debian and Ubuntu systems, changing from:
328 ${prefix}/lib/python3/dist-packages
332 ${prefix}/lib/python3.x/site-packages
334 This change should ensure modules installed using the default ${prefix}
335 "/usr/local" are found by default by system python 3.x installations.
336 See automake bug#10227.
338 - Python byte-compilation supports the new layout mandated by PEP-3147,
339 with its __pycache__ directory (automake bug#8847).
341 * Build system issues:
343 - The maintainer rebuild rules for Makefiles and aclocal.m4 in
344 Automake's own build system works correctly again (bug introduced
349 - The Vala-related tests has been changed to adjust to the removal of
350 the 'posix' profile in the valac compiler. See automake bug#12934
353 - Some spurious testsuite failures related to older tools and systems
356 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
362 - The AM_PROG_VALAC macro has been enhanced to takes two further
363 optional arguments; it's signature now being
365 AM_PROG_VALAC([MINIMUM-VERSION], [ACTION-IF-FOUND],
366 [ACTION-IF-NOT-FOUND])
368 - By default, AM_PROG_VALAC no longer aborts the configure invocation
369 if the Vala compiler found is too old, but simply prints a warning
370 messages (as it did when the Vala compiler was not found). This
371 should avoid unnecessary difficulties for end users that just want
372 to compile the unmodified, distributed Vala-generated C sources,
373 but happens to have an old Vala compiler in their PATH. This fixes
376 - If no proper Vala compiler is found at configure runtime, AM_PROG_VALAC
377 will set the AC_SUBST'd variable 'VALAC' to 'valac' rather than to ':'.
378 This is a better default, because with it a triggered makefile rule
379 invoking a Vala compilation will clearly fail with an informative error
380 message like "valac: command not found", rather than silently, with
381 the error possibly going unnoticed or triggering harder-to-diagnose
382 fallout failures in later steps.
384 * Miscellaneous changes:
386 - automake and aclocal no longer honours the 'perllibdir' environment
387 variable. That had always been intended only as an hack required in
388 the testsuite, not meant for any use beyond that.
390 Bugs fixed in 1.12.5:
392 * Long-standing bugs:
394 - Automake no longer generates spurious remake rules invoking autoheader
395 to regenerate the template corresponding to header files specified after
396 the first one in AC_CONFIG_HEADERS (automake bug#12495).
398 - When wrapping Microsoft tools, the 'compile' script falls back to
399 finding classic 'libname.a' style libraries when 'name.lib' and
400 'name.dll.lib' aren't available.
402 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
406 * Warnings and deprecations:
408 - Warnings in the 'obsolete' category are enabled by default both in
409 automake and aclocal.
411 * Miscellaneous changes:
413 - Some testsuite weaknesses and spurious failures have been fixed.
415 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
419 * Miscellaneous changes:
421 - The '.m4' files provided by Automake no longer define serial numbers.
422 This should cause no difference in the behaviour of aclocal though.
424 - Some testsuite weaknesses and spurious failures have been fixed.
426 - There is initial support for automatic dependency tracking with the
427 Portland Group C/C++ compilers, thanks to the new new depmode 'pgcc'.
429 Bugs fixed in 1.12.3:
431 * Long-standing bugs:
433 - Instead of renaming only self-references of files (typically for
434 #lines), ylwrap now also renames references to the other generated
435 files. This fixes support for GLR and C++ parsers from Bison (PR
436 automake/491 and automake bug#7648): 'parser.c' now properly
437 #includes 'parser.h' instead of 'y.tab.h'.
439 - Generated files unknown to ylwrap are now preserved. This fixes
440 C++ support for Bison (automake bug#7648): location.hh and the
441 like are no longer discarded.
443 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
447 * Warnings and deprecations:
449 - Automake now issues a warning (in the 'portability' category) if
450 'configure.in' is used instead of 'configure.ac' as the Autoconf
451 input file. Such a warning will also be present in the next
452 Autoconf version (2.70).
456 - Recursive cleaning rules descends into the $(SUBDIRS) in the natural
457 order (as done by the other recursive rules), rather than in the
458 inverse order. They used to do that in order to work a round a
459 limitation in an older implementation of the automatic dependency
460 tracking support, but that limitation had been lifted years ago
461 already, when the automatic dependency tracking based on side-effects
462 of compilation had been introduced.
464 - Cleaning rules for compiled objects (both "plain" and libtool) work
465 better when subdir objects are involved, not triggering a distinct
466 'rm' invocation for each such object. They do so by removing *any*
467 compiled object file that is in the same directory of a subdir
468 object. See automake bug#10697.
470 * Silent rules support:
472 - A new predefined $(AM_V_P) make variable is provided; it expands
473 to a shell conditional that can be used in recipes to know whether
474 make is being run in silent or verbose mode.
476 Bugs fixed in 1.12.2:
478 * SECURITY VULNERABILITIES!
480 - The 'distcheck' recipe no longer grants temporary world-write
481 permissions on the extracted distdir. Even if such rights were
482 only granted for a vanishingly small time window, the implied
483 race condition proved to be enough to allow a local attacker
484 to run arbitrary code with the privileges of the user running
485 "make distcheck". This is CVE-2012-3386.
487 * Long-standing bugs:
489 - The "recheck" targets behaves better in the face of build failures
490 related to previously failed tests. For example, if a test is a
491 compiled program that must be rerun by "make recheck", and its
492 compilation fails, it will still be rerun by further "make recheck"
493 invocations. See automake bug#11791.
495 * Bugs introduced by 1.12.1:
497 - Automake provides once again the '$(mkdir_p)' make variable and the
498 '@mkdir_p@' substitution (both as simple aliases for '$(MKDIR_P)'),
499 for better backward-compatibility.
501 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
505 * New supported languages:
507 - Support for Objective C++ has been added; it should work similarly to
508 the support for Objective C.
510 * Deprecated obsolescent features:
512 - Use of the long-deprecated two- and three-arguments invocation forms
513 of the AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE macro now elicits a warning in the 'obsolete'
514 category. Starting from some future major Automake release (likely
515 post-1.13), such usages will no longer be allowed.
517 - Support for the "Cygnus-style" trees (enabled by the 'cygnus' option) is
518 now deprecated (its use triggers a warning in the 'obsolete' category).
519 It will be removed in the next major Automake release (1.13).
521 - The long-obsolete (since 1.10) automake-provided $(mkdir_p) make
522 variable, @mkdir_p@ configure-time substitution and AM_PROG_MKDIR
523 m4 macro are deprecated, eliciting a warning in the 'obsolete'
526 * Miscellaneous changes:
528 - The Automake test cases now require a proper POSIX-conforming shell.
529 Older non-POSIX Bourne shells (like Solaris 10 /bin/sh) will no longer
530 be accepted. In most cases, the user shouldn't have to specify such
531 POSIX shell explicitly, since it will be looked up at configure time.
532 Still, when this lookup fails, or when the user wants to override its
533 conclusion, the variable 'AM_TEST_RUNNER_SHELL' can be used (pointing
534 to the shell that will be used to run the Automake test cases).
536 Bugs fixed in 1.12.1:
538 * Bugs introduced by 1.12:
540 - Several weaknesses in Automake's own build system and test suite
543 * Bugs introduced by 1.11.3:
545 - When given non-option arguments, aclocal rejects them, instead of
546 silently ignoring them.
548 * Long-standing bugs:
550 - When the 'color-tests' option is in use, forcing of colored testsuite
551 output through "AM_COLOR_TESTS=always" works even if the terminal is
552 a non-ANSI one, i.e., if the TERM environment variable has a value of
555 - Several inefficiencies and poor performances in the implementation
556 of the parallel-tests 'check' and 'recheck' targets have been fixed.
558 - The post-processing of output "#line" directives done the ylwrap
559 script is more faithful w.r.t. files in a subdirectory; for example,
560 if the processed file is "src/grammar.y", ylwrap will correctly
561 produce directives like:
562 #line 7 "src/grammar.y"
567 * Bugs with new Perl versions:
569 - Aclocal works correctly with perl 5.16.0 (automake bug#11543).
571 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
575 * Obsolete features removed:
577 - The never documented nor truly used script 'acinstall' has been
580 - Support for automatic de-ANSI-fication has been removed.
582 - The support for the "obscure" multilib feature has been removed
583 from Automake core (but remains available in the 'contrib/'
584 directory of the Automake distribution).
586 - Support for ".log -> .html" conversion and the check-html and
587 recheck-html targets has been removed from Automake core (but
588 remains available in the 'contrib/' directory of the Automake
591 - The deprecated 'lzma' compression format for distribution archives
592 has been removed, in favor of 'xz' and 'lzip'.
594 - The obsolete AM_WITH_REGEX macro has been removed.
596 - The long-deprecated options '--output-dir', '--Werror' and
597 '--Wno-error' have been removed.
599 - The chapter on the history of Automake has been moved out of the
600 reference manual, into a new dedicated Texinfo file.
604 - New 'cscope' target to build a cscope database for the source tree.
606 * Changes to Automake-generated testsuite harnesses:
608 - The new automake option 'serial-tests' has been introduced. It can
609 be used to explicitly instruct automake to use the older serial
610 testsuite harness. This is still the default at the moment, but it
611 might change in future versions.
613 - The 'recheck' target (provided by the parallel testsuite harness) now
614 depends on the 'all' target. This allows for a better user-experience
615 in test-driven development. See automake bug#11252.
617 - Test scripts that exit with status 99 to signal an "hard error" (e.g.,
618 and unexpected or internal error, or a failure to set up the test case
619 scenario) have their outcome reported as an 'ERROR' now. Previous
620 versions of automake reported such an outcome as a 'FAIL' (the only
621 difference with normal failures being that hard errors were counted
622 as failures even when the test originating them was listed in
625 - The testsuite summary displayed by the parallel-test harness has a
626 completely new format, that always list the numbers of passed, failed,
627 xfailed, xpassed, skipped and errored tests, even when these numbers
628 are zero (but using smart coloring when the color-tests option is in
631 - The default testsuite driver offered by the 'parallel-tests' option is
632 now implemented (partly at least) with the help of automake-provided
633 auxiliary scripts (e.g., 'test-driver'), instead of relying entirely
634 on code in the generated Makefile.in.
635 This has two noteworthy implications. The first one is that projects
636 using the 'parallel-tests' option should now either run automake with
637 the '--add-missing' option, or manually copy the 'test-driver' script
638 into their tree. The second, and more important, implication is that
639 now, when the 'parallel-tests' option is in use, TESTS_ENVIRONMENT can
640 no longer be used to define a test runner, and the command specified
641 in LOG_COMPILER (and <ext>_LOG_COMPILER) must be a *real* executable
642 program or script. For example, this is still a valid usage (albeit
645 TESTS_ENVIRONMENT = \
646 if test -n '$(STRICT_TESTS)'; then \
647 maybe_errexit='-e'; \
651 LOG_COMPILER = $(SHELL) $$maybe_errexit
653 OTOH, this is no longer a valid usage:
655 TESTS_ENVIRONMENT = \
656 $(SHELL) `test -n '$(STRICT_TESTS_CHECKING)' && echo ' -e'`
660 TESTS_ENVIRONMENT = \
661 run_with_perl_or_shell () \
663 if grep -q '^#!.*perl' $$1; then
669 LOG_COMPILER = run_with_perl_or_shell
671 - The package authors can now use customary testsuite drivers within
672 the framework provided by the 'parallel-tests' testsuite harness.
673 Consistently with the existing syntax, this can be done by defining
674 special makefile variables 'LOG_DRIVER' and '<ext>_LOG_DRIVER'.
676 - A new developer-reserved variable 'AM_TESTS_FD_REDIRECT' can be used
677 to redirect/define file descriptors used by the test scripts.
679 - The parallel-tests harness generates now, in addition the '.log' files
680 holding the output produced by the test scripts, a new set of '.trs'
681 files, holding "metadata" derived by the execution of the test scripts;
682 among such metadata are the outcomes of the test cases run by a script.
684 - Initial and still experimental support for the TAP test protocol is
687 * Changes to Yacc and Lex support:
689 - C source and header files derived from non-distributed Yacc and/or
690 Lex sources are now removed by a simple "make clean" (while they were
691 previously removed only by "make maintainer-clean").
693 - Slightly backward-incompatible change, relevant only for use of Yacc
694 with C++: the extensions of the header files produced by the Yacc
695 rules are now modelled after the extension of the corresponding
696 sources. For example, yacc files named "foo.y++" and "bar.yy" will
697 produce header files named "foo.h++" and "bar.hh" respectively, where
698 they would have previously produced header files named simply "foo.h"
699 and "bar.h". This change offers better compatibility with 'bison -o'.
701 * Miscellaneous changes:
703 - The AM_PROG_VALAC macro now causes configure to exit with status 77,
704 rather than 1, if the vala compiler found is too old.
706 - The build system of Automake itself now avoids the use of make
707 recursion as much as possible.
709 - Automake now prefers to quote 'like this' or "like this", rather
710 than `like this', in diagnostic message and generated Makefiles,
711 to accommodate the new GNU Coding Standards recommendations.
713 - Automake has a new option '--print-libdir' that prints the path of the
714 directory containing the Automake-provided scripts and data files.
716 - The 'dist' and 'dist-all' targets now can run compressors in parallel.
718 - The rules to create pdf, dvi and ps output from Texinfo files now
719 works better with modern 'texi2dvi' script, by explicitly passing
720 it the '--clean' option to ensure stray auxiliary files are not
721 left to clutter the build directory.
723 - Automake can now generate silenced rules for texinfo outputs.
725 - Some auxiliary files that are automatically distributed by Automake
726 (e.g., 'install-sh', or the 'depcomp' script for packages compiling
727 C sources) might now be listed in the DIST_COMMON variable in many
728 Makefile.in files, rather than in the top-level one.
730 - Messages of types warning or error from 'automake' and 'aclocal'
731 are now prefixed with the respective type, and presence of -Werror
734 - Automake's early configure-time sanity check now tries to avoid
735 sleeping for a second, which slowed down cached configure runs
736 noticeably. In that case, it will check back at the end of the
737 configure script to ensure that at least one second has passed, to
738 avoid time stamp issues with makefile rules rerunning autotools
741 - The warnings in the category 'extra-portability' are now enabled by
742 '-Wall'. In previous versions, one has to use '-Wextra-portability'
747 - Various minor bugfixes for recent or long-standing bugs.
749 * Bugs introduced by 1.11:
751 - The AM_COND_IF macro also works if the shell expression for the
752 conditional is no longer valid for the condition.
754 - The automake-provided parallel testsuite harness no longer fails
755 with BSD make used in parallel mode when there are test scripts in
756 a subdirectory, like in:
758 TESTS = sub/foo.test sub/bar.test
760 * Long-standing bugs:
762 - Automake's own build system finally have a real "installcheck" target.
764 - Vala-related cleanup rules are now more complete, and work better in
767 - Files listed with the AC_REQUIRE_AUX_FILE macro in configure.ac are
768 now automatically distributed also if the directory of the auxiliary
769 files coincides with the top-level directory.
771 - Automake now detects the presence of the '-d' flag in the various
772 '*YFLAGS' variables even when their definitions involve indirections
773 through other variables, such as in:
775 AM_YFLAGS = $(foo_opts)
777 - Automake now complains if a '*YFLAGS' variable has any conditional
778 content, not only a conditional definition.
780 - Explicit enabling and/or disabling of Automake warning categories
781 through the '-W...' options now always takes precedence over the
782 implicit warning level implied by Automake strictness (foreign, gnu
783 or gnits), regardless of the order in which such strictness and
784 warning flags appear. For example, a setting like:
785 AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = -Wall --foreign
786 will cause the warnings in category 'portability' to be enabled, even
787 if those warnings are by default disabled in 'foreign' strictness.
789 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
791 Bugs fixed in 1.11.5:
793 * Bugs introduced by 1.11.3:
795 - Vala files with '.vapi' extension are now recognized and handled
796 correctly again. See automake bug#11222.
798 - Vala support work again for projects that contain some program
799 built from '.vala' (and possibly '.c') sources and some other
800 program built from '.c' sources *only*. See automake bug#11229.
802 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
806 * Miscellaneous changes:
808 - The 'ar-lib' script now ignores the "s" (symbol index) and "S" (no
809 symbol index) modifiers as well as the "s" action, as the symbol index
810 is created unconditionally by Microsoft lib. Also, the "q" (quick)
811 action is now a synonym for "r" (replace). Also, the script has been
812 ignoring the "v" (verbose) modifier already since Automake 1.11.3.
814 - When the 'compile' script is used to wrap MSVC, it now accepts an
815 optional space between the -I, -L and -l options and their respective
816 arguments, for better POSIX compliance.
818 - There is an initial, experimental support for automatic dependency
819 tracking with tcc (the Tiny C Compiler). Its associated depmode is
820 currently recognized as "icc" (but this and other details are likely
821 to change in future versions).
823 - Automatic dependency tracking now works also with the IBM XL C/C++
824 compilers, thanks to the new new depmode 'xlc'.
826 Bugs fixed in 1.11.4:
828 * Bugs introduced by 1.11.2:
830 - A definition of 'noinst_PYTHON' before 'python_PYTHON' (or similar)
831 no longer cause spurious failures upon "make install".
833 - The user can now instruct the 'uninstall-info' rule not to update
834 the '${infodir}/dir' file by exporting the environment variable
835 'AM_UPDATE_INFO_DIR' to the value "no". This is done for consistency
836 with how the 'install-info' rule operates since automake 1.11.2.
838 * Long-standing bugs:
840 - It is now possible for a foo_SOURCES variable to hold Vala sources
841 together with C header files, as well as with sources and headers for
842 other supported languages (e.g., C++). Previously, only mixing C and
843 Vala sources was supported.
845 - If "aclocal --install" is used, and the first directory specified with
846 '-I' is non-existent, aclocal will now create it before trying to copy
849 - An empty declaration of a "foo_PRIMARY" no longer cause the generated
850 install rules to create an empty $(foodir) directory; for example, if
851 Makefile.am contains something like:
855 pkglibexec_SCRIPTS += bar.sh
858 the $(pkglibexec) directory will not be created upon "make install".
860 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
864 * Miscellaneous changes:
866 - Automake's own build system is more silent by default, making use of
867 the 'silent-rules' option.
869 - The master copy of the 'gnupload' script is now maintained in gnulib,
872 - The 'missing' script no longer tries to wrap calls to 'tar'.
874 - "make dist" no longer wraps 'tar' invocations with the 'missing'
875 script. Similarly, the obsolescent variable '$(AMTAR)' (which you
876 shouldn't be using BTW ;-) no longer invokes the 'missing' script
877 to wrap tar, but simply invokes the 'tar' program itself.
879 - "make dist" can now create lzip-compressed tarballs.
881 - In the Automake info documentation, the Top node and the nodes about
882 the invocation of the automake and aclocal programs have been renamed;
883 now, calling "info automake" will open the Top node, while calling
884 "info automake-invocation" and "info aclocal-invocation" will access
885 the nodes about the invocation of respectively automake and aclocal.
887 - Automake is now distributed as a gzip-compressed and an xz-compressed
888 tarball. Previously, bzip2 was used instead of xz.
890 - The last relics of Python 1.5 support have been removed from the
891 AM_PATH_PYTHON macro.
893 - For programs and libraries, automake now detects EXTRA_foo_DEPENDENCIES
894 and adds them to the normal list of dependencies, but without
895 overwriting the foo_DEPENDENCIES variable, which is normally computed
898 Bugs fixed in 1.11.3:
900 * Bugs introduced by 1.11.2:
902 - Automake now correctly recognizes the prefix/primary combination
903 'pkglibexec_SCRIPTS' as valid.
905 - The parallel-tests harness no longer trips on sed implementations
906 with stricter limits on the length of input lines (problem seen at
909 * Long-standing bugs:
911 - The "deleted header file problem" for *.am files is avoided by stub
912 rules. This allows 'make' to trigger a rerun of 'automake' also if
913 some previously needed '.am' file has been removed.
915 - The 'silent-rules' option now generates working makefiles even
916 for the uncommon 'make' implementations that do not support the
917 nested-variables extension to POSIX 2008. For such 'make'
918 implementations, whether a build is silent is determined at
919 configure time, and cannot be overridden at make time with
920 "make V=0" or "make V=1".
922 - Vala support now works better in VPATH setups.
924 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
928 * Changes to aclocal:
930 - The `--acdir' option is deprecated. Now you should use the new options
931 `--automake-acdir' and `--system-acdir' instead.
933 - The `ACLOCAL_PATH' environment variable is now interpreted as a
934 colon-separated list of additional directories to search after the
935 automake internal acdir (by default ${prefix}/share/aclocal-APIVERSION)
936 and before the system acdir (by default ${prefix}/share/aclocal).
938 * Miscellaneous changes:
940 - The Automake support for automatic de-ANSI-fication has been
941 deprecated. It will probably be removed in the next major Automake
944 - The `lzma' compression scheme and associated automake option `dist-lzma'
945 is obsoleted by `xz' and `dist-xz' due to upstream changes.
947 - You may adjust the compression options used in dist-xz and dist-bzip2.
948 The default is now merely -e for xz, but still -9 for bzip; you may
949 specify a different level via the XZ_OPT and BZIP2 envvars respectively.
950 E.g., "make dist-xz XZ_OPT=-7" or "make dist-bzip2 BZIP2=-5"
952 - The `compile' script now converts some options for MSVC for a better
953 user experience. Similarly, the new `ar-lib' script wraps Microsoft lib.
955 - The py-compile script now accepts empty arguments passed to the options
956 `--destdir' and `--basedir', and complains about unrecognized options.
957 Moreover, a non-option argument or a special `--' argument terminates
960 - A developer that needs to pass specific flags to configure at "make
961 distcheck" time can now, and indeed is advised to, do so by defining
962 the developer-reserved makefile variable AM_DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS,
963 instead of the old DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS.
964 The DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS variable should now be reserved for the
965 user; still, the old Makefile.am files that used to define it will
966 still continue to work as before.
968 - New macro AM_PROG_AR that looks for an archiver and wraps it in the new
969 'ar-lib' auxiliary script if the selected archiver is Microsoft lib.
970 This new macro is required for LIBRARIES and LTLIBRARIES when automake
971 is run with -Wextra-portability and -Werror.
973 - When using DejaGnu-based testsuites, the user can extend the `site.exp'
974 file generated by automake-provided rules by defining the special make
975 variable `$(EXTRA_DEJAGNU_SITE_CONFIG)'.
977 - The `install-info' rule can now be instructed not to create/update
978 the `${infodir}/dir' file, by exporting the new environment variable
979 `AM_UPDATE_INFO_DIR' to the value "no".
981 Bugs fixed in 1.11.2:
983 * Bugs introduced by 1.11:
985 - The parallel-tests driver no longer produces erroneous results with
986 Tru64/OSF 5.1 sh upon unreadable log files.
988 - The `parallel-tests' test driver does not report spurious successes
989 when used with concurrent FreeBSD make (e.g., "make check -j3").
991 - When the parallel-tests driver is in use, automake now explicitly
992 rejects invalid entries and conditional contents in TEST_EXTENSIONS,
993 instead of issuing confusing and apparently unrelated error messages
994 (e.g., "non-POSIX variable name", "bad characters in variable name",
995 or "redefinition of TEST_EXTENSIONS), or even, in some situations,
996 silently producing broken `Makefile.in' files.
998 - The `silent-rules' option now truly silences all compile rules, even
999 when dependency tracking is disabled. Also, when `silent-rules' is
1000 not used, `make' output no longer contains spurious backslash-only
1001 lines, thus once again matching what Automake did before 1.11.
1003 - The AM_COND_IF macro also works if the shell expression for the
1004 conditional is no longer valid for the condition.
1006 * Long-standing bugs:
1008 - The order of Yacc and Lex flags is fixed to be consistent with other
1009 languages: $(AM_YFLAGS) comes before $(YFLAGS), and $(AM_LFLAGS) before
1010 $(LFLAGS), so that the user variables override the developer variables.
1012 - "make distcheck" now correctly complains also when "make uninstall"
1013 leaves one and only one file installed in $(prefix).
1015 - A "make uninstall" issued before a "make install", or after a mere
1016 "make install-data" or a mere "make install-exec" does not spuriously
1019 - Automake now warns about more primary/directory invalid combinations,
1020 such as "doc_LIBRARIES" or "pkglib_PROGRAMS".
1022 - Rules generated by Automake now try harder to not change any files when
1023 `make -n' is invoked. Fixes include compilation of Emacs Lisp, Vala, or
1024 Yacc source files and the rule to update config.h.
1026 - Several scripts and the parallel-tests testsuite driver now exit with
1027 the right exit status upon receiving a signal.
1029 - A per-Makefile.am setting of -Werror does not erroneously carry over
1030 to the handling of other Makefile.am files.
1032 - The code for automatic dependency tracking works around a Solaris
1033 make bug triggered by sources containing repeated slashes when the
1034 `subdir-objects' option was used.
1036 - The makedepend and hp depmodes now work better with VPATH builds.
1038 - Java sources specified with check_JAVA are no longer compiled for
1039 "make all", but only for "make check".
1041 - An usage like "java_JAVA = foo.java" will now cause Automake to warn
1042 and error out if `javadir' is undefined, instead of silently producing
1043 a broken Makefile.in.
1045 - aclocal and automake now honour the configure-time definitions of
1046 AUTOCONF and AUTOM4TE when they spawn autoconf or autom4te processes.
1048 - The `install-info' recipe no longer tries to guess whether the
1049 `install-info' program is from Debian or from GNU, and adaptively
1050 change its behaviour; this has proven to be frail and easy to
1053 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1055 Bugs fixed in 1.11.1:
1057 - Lots of minor bugfixes.
1059 * Bugs introduced by 1.11:
1061 - The `parallel-tests' test driver works around a GNU make 3.80 bug with
1062 trailing white space in the test list (`TESTS = foo $(EMPTY)').
1064 * Long standing bugs:
1066 - On Darwin 9, `pythondir' and `pyexecdir' pointed below `/Library/Python'
1067 even if the `--prefix' argument pointed outside of a system directory.
1068 AM_PATH_PYTHON has been fixed to ignore the value returned from python's
1069 `get_python_lib' function if it points outside the configured prefix,
1070 unless the `--prefix' argument was either `/usr' or below `/System'.
1072 - The testsuite does not try to change the mode of `ltmain.sh' files from
1073 a Libtool installation (symlinked to test directories) any more.
1075 - AM_PROG_GCJ uses AC_CHECK_TOOLS to look for `gcj' now, so that prefixed
1076 tools are preferred in a cross-compile setup.
1078 - The distribution is tarred up with mode 755 now by the `dist*' targets.
1079 This fixes a race condition where untrusted users could modify files
1080 in the $(PACKAGE)-$(VERSION) distdir before packing if the toplevel
1081 build directory was world-searchable. This is CVE-2009-4029.
1083 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1087 * Version requirements:
1089 - Autoconf 2.62 or greater is required.
1091 * Changes to aclocal:
1093 - The autoconf version check implemented by aclocal in aclocal.m4
1094 (and new in Automake 1.10) is degraded to a warning. This helps
1095 in the common case where the Autoconf versions used are compatible.
1097 * Changes to automake:
1099 - The automake program can run multiple threads for creating most
1100 Makefile.in files concurrently, if at least Perl 5.7.2 is available
1101 with interpreter-based threads enabled. Set the environment variable
1102 AUTOMAKE_JOBS to the maximum number of threads to use, in order to
1103 enable this experimental feature.
1105 * Changes to Libtool support:
1107 - Libtool generic flags are now passed to the install and uninstall
1110 - distcheck works with Libtool 2.x even when LT_OUTPUT is used, as
1111 config.lt is removed correctly now.
1113 * Languages changes:
1115 - subdir-object mode works now with Fortran (F77, FC, preprocessed
1116 Fortran, and Ratfor).
1118 - For files with extension .f90, .f95, .f03, or .f08, the flag
1119 $(FCFLAGS_f[09]x) computed by AC_FC_SRCEXT is now used in compile rules.
1121 - Files with extension .sx are also treated as preprocessed assembler.
1123 - The default source file extension (.c) can be overridden with
1124 AM_DEFAULT_SOURCE_EXT now.
1126 - Python 3.0 is supported now, Python releases prior to 2.0 are no
1129 - AM_PATH_PYTHON honors python's idea about the site directory.
1131 - There is initial support for the Vala programming language, when using
1132 Vala 0.7.0 or later.
1134 * Miscellaneous changes:
1136 - Automake development is done in a git repository on Savannah now, see
1138 http://git.sv.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=automake.git
1140 A read-only CVS mirror is provided at
1142 cvs -d :pserver:anonymous@pserver.git.sv.gnu.org:/automake.git \
1143 checkout -d automake HEAD
1145 - "make dist" can now create xz-compressed tarballs,
1146 as well as (deprecated?) lzma-compressed tarballs.
1148 - `automake --add-missing' will by default install the GPLv3 file as
1149 COPYING if it is missing. It will also warn that the license file
1150 should be added to source control. Note that Automake will never
1151 overwrite an existing COPYING file, even when the `--force-missing'
1154 - The manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL 1.3.
1156 - Automake ships and installs man pages for automake and aclocal now.
1158 - New shorthand `$(pkglibexecdir)' for `$(libexecdir)/@PACKAGE@'.
1160 - install-sh supports -C, which does not update the installed file
1161 (and its time stamps) if the contents did not change.
1163 - The `gnupload' script has been revamped.
1165 - The `depcomp' and `compile' scripts now work with MSVC under MSYS.
1167 - The targets `install' and `uninstall' are more efficient now, in that
1168 for example multiple files from one Automake variable such as
1169 `bin_SCRIPTS' are copied in one `install' (or `libtool --mode=install')
1170 invocation if they do not have to be renamed.
1172 Both install and uninstall may sometimes enter (`cd' into) the target
1173 installation directory now, when no build-local scripts are used.
1175 Both install and uninstall do not fail anymore but do nothing if an
1176 installation directory variable like `bindir' is set to the empty string.
1178 For built-in rules, `make install' now fails reliably if installation
1179 of a file failed. Conversely, `make uninstall' even succeeds when
1180 issued multiple times.
1182 These changes may need some adjustments from users: For example,
1183 some `install' programs refuse to install multiple copies of the
1184 same file in one invocation, so you may need to remove duplicate
1185 entries from file lists.
1187 Also, within one set of files, say, nobase_data_DATA, the order of
1188 installation may be changed, or even unstable among different hosts,
1189 due to the use of associative arrays in awk. The increased use of
1190 awk matches a similar move in Autoconf to provide for better scaling.
1192 Further, most undocumented per-rule install command variables such as
1193 binSCRIPT_INSTALL have been removed because they are not needed any
1194 more. Packages which use them should be using the appropriate one of
1195 INSTALL_{DATA,PROGRAM,SCRIPT} or their install_sh_{DATA,PROGRAM,SCRIPT}
1196 counterpart, depending on the type of files and the need for automatic
1197 target directory creation.
1199 - The "deleted header file problem" for *.m4 files is avoided by
1200 stub rules. This allows `make' to trigger a rerun of `aclocal'
1201 also if some previously needed macro file has been removed.
1203 - Rebuild rules now also work for a removed `subdir/Makefile.in' in
1204 an otherwise up to date tree.
1206 - The `color-tests' option causes colored test result output on terminals.
1208 - The `parallel-tests' option enables a new test driver that allows for
1209 parallel test execution, inter-test dependencies, lazy test execution
1210 for unit-testing, re-testing only failed tests, and formatted result output
1211 as RST (reStructuredText) and HTML. Enabling this option may require some
1212 changes to your test suite setup; see the manual for details.
1214 - The `silent-rules' option enables Linux kernel-style silent build output.
1215 This option requires the widely supported but non-POSIX `make' feature
1216 of recursive variable expansion, so do not use it if your package needs
1217 to build with `make' implementations that do not support it.
1219 To enable less verbose build output, the developer has to use the Automake
1220 option `silent-rules' in `AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE', or call the `AM_SILENT_RULES'
1221 macro. The user may then set the default verbosity by passing the
1222 `--enable-silent-rules' option to `configure'. At `make' run time, this
1223 default may be overridden using `make V=0' for less verbose, and `make V=1'
1224 for backward-compatible verbose output.
1226 - New prefix `notrans_' for manpages which should not be transformed
1227 by --program-transform.
1229 - New macro AM_COND_IF for conditional evaluation and conditional
1232 - For AC_CONFIG_LINKS, if source and destination are equal, do not
1233 remove the file in a non-VPATH build. Such setups work with Autoconf
1236 - AM_MAINTAINER_MODE now allows for an optional argument specifying
1237 the default setting.
1239 - AM_SUBST_NOTMAKE may prevent substitution of AC_SUBSTed variables,
1240 useful especially for multi-line values.
1242 - Automake's early configure-time sanity check now diagnoses an
1243 unsafe absolute source directory name and makes configure fail.
1245 - The Automake macros and rules cope better with whitespace in the
1246 current directory name, as long as the relative path to `configure'
1247 does not contain whitespace. To this end, the values of `$(MISSING)'
1248 and `$(install_sh)' may contain suitable quoting, and their expansion
1249 might need `eval'uation if used outside of a makefile. These
1250 undocumented variables may be used in several documented macros such
1251 as $(AUTOCONF) or $(MAKEINFO).
1255 * Long-standing bugs:
1257 - Fix aix dependency tracking for libtool objects.
1259 - Work around AIX sh quoting issue in AC_PROG_CC_C_O, leading to
1260 unnecessary use of the `compile' script.
1262 - For nobase_*_LTLIBRARIES with nonempty directory components, the
1263 correct `-rpath' argument is used now.
1265 - `config.status --file=Makefile depfiles' now also works with the
1266 extra quoting used internally by Autoconf 2.62 and newer
1267 (it used to work only without the `--file=' bit).
1269 - The `missing' script works better with versioned tool names.
1271 - Semantics for `missing help2man' have been revamped:
1273 Previously, if `help2man' was not present, `missing help2man' would have
1274 the following semantics: if some man page was out of date but present, then
1275 a warning would be printed, but the exit status was 0. If the man page was
1276 not present at all, then `missing' would create a replacement man page
1277 containing an error message, and exit with a status of 2. This does not play
1278 well with `make': the next run will see this particular man page as being up
1279 to date, and will only error out on the next generated man page, if any;
1280 repeat until all pages are done. This was not desirable.
1282 These are the new semantics: if some man page is not present, and help2man
1283 is not either, then `missing' will warn and generate the replacement page
1284 containing the error message, but exit successfully. However, `make dist'
1285 will ensure that no such bogus man pages are packaged into a tarball.
1287 - Targets provided by automake behave better with `make -n', in that they
1288 take care not to create files.
1290 - `config.status Makefile... depfiles' works fine again in the presence of
1291 disabled dependency tracking.
1293 - The default no-op recursive rules for these targets also work with BSD make
1294 now: html, install-html, install-dvi, install-pdf, install-pdf, install-info.
1296 - `make distcheck' works also when both a directory and some file below it
1297 have been added to a distribution variable, such as EXTRA_DIST or *_SOURCES.
1299 - Texinfo dvi, ps, pdf, and html output files are not removed upon
1300 `make mostlyclean' any more; only the LaTeX by-products are.
1302 - Renamed objects also work with the `subdir-objects' option and
1303 source file languages which Automake does not know itself.
1305 - `automake' now correctly complains about variable assignments which are
1306 preceded by a comment, extend over multiple lines with backslash-escaped
1307 newlines, and end in a comment sign. Previous versions would silently
1308 and wrongly ignore such assignments completely.
1310 * Bugs introduced by 1.10:
1312 - Fix output of dummy dependency files in presence of post-processed
1313 Makefile.in's again, but also cope with long lines.
1315 - $(EXEEXT) is automatically appended to filenames of XFAIL_TESTS
1316 that have been declared as programs in the same Makefile.
1317 This is for consistency with the analogous change to TESTS in 1.10.
1319 - Fix order of standard includes to again be `-I. -I$(srcdir)',
1320 followed by directories containing config headers.
1322 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1326 * Version requirements:
1328 - Autoconf 2.60 or greater is required.
1330 - Perl 5.6 or greater is required.
1332 * Changes to aclocal:
1334 - aclocal now also supports -Wmumble and -Wno-mumble options.
1336 - `dirlist' entries (for the aclocal search path) may use shell
1337 wildcards such as `*', `?', or `[...]'.
1339 - aclocal supports an --install option that will cause system-wide
1340 third-party macros to be installed in the local directory
1341 specified with the first -I flag. This option also uses #serial
1342 lines in M4 files to upgrade local macros.
1344 The new aclocal options --dry-run and --diff help to review changes
1345 before they are installed.
1347 - aclocal now outputs an autoconf version check in aclocal.m4 in
1348 projects using automake.
1350 For a few years, automake and aclocal have been calling autoconf
1351 (or its underlying engine autom4te) to accurately retrieve the
1352 data they need from configure.ac and its siblings. Doing so can
1353 only work if all autotools use the same version of autoconf. For
1354 instance a Makefile.in generated by automake for one version of
1355 autoconf may stop working if configure is regenerated with another
1356 version of autoconf, and vice versa.
1358 This new version check ensures that the whole build system has
1359 been generated using the same autoconf version.
1361 * Support for new Autoconf macros:
1363 - The new AC_REQUIRE_AUX_FILE Autoconf macro is supported.
1365 - If `subdir-objects' is set, and AC_CONFIG_LIBOBJ_DIR is specified,
1366 $(LIBOBJS), $(LTLIBOBJS), $(ALLOCA), and $(LTALLOCA) can be used
1367 in different directories. However, only one instance of such a
1368 library objects directory is supported.
1370 * Change to Libtool support:
1372 - Libtool generic flags (those that go before the --mode=MODE option)
1373 can be specified using AM_LIBTOOLFLAGS and target_LIBTOOLFLAGS.
1375 * Yacc and Lex changes:
1377 - The rebuild rules for distributed Yacc and Lex output will avoid
1378 overwriting existing files if AM_MAINTAINER_MODE and maintainer-mode
1381 - ylwrap is now always used for lex and yacc source files,
1382 regardless of whether there is more than one source per directory.
1384 * Languages changes:
1386 - Preprocessed assembler (*.S) compilation now honors CPPFLAGS,
1387 AM_CPPFLAGS and per-target _CPPFLAGS, and supports dependency
1388 tracking, unlike non-preprocessed assembler (*.s).
1390 - subdir-object mode works now with Assembler. Automake assumes
1391 that the compiler understands `-c -o'.
1393 - Preprocessed assembler (*.S) compilation now also honors
1394 $(DEFS) $(DEFAULT_INCLUDES) $(INCLUDES).
1396 - Improved support for Objective C:
1397 - Autoconf's new AC_PROG_OBJC will enable automatic dependency tracking.
1398 - A new section of the manual documents the support.
1400 - New support for Unified Parallel C:
1401 - AM_PROG_UPC looks for a UPC compiler.
1402 - A new section of the manual documents the support.
1404 - Per-target flags are now correctly handled in link rules.
1406 For instance maude_CFLAGS correctly overrides AM_CFLAGS; likewise
1407 for maude_LDFLAGS and AM_LDFLAGS. Previous versions bogusly
1408 preferred AM_CFLAGS over maude_CFLAGS while linking, and they
1409 used both AM_LDFLAGS and maude_LDFLAGS on the same link command.
1411 The fix for compiler flags (i.e., using maude_CFLAGS instead of
1412 AM_CFLAGS) should not hurt any package since that is how _CFLAGS
1413 is expected to work (and actually works during compilation).
1415 However using maude_LDFLAGS "instead of" AM_LDFLAGS rather than
1416 "in addition to" breaks backward compatibility with older versions.
1417 If your package used both variables, as in
1419 AM_LDFLAGS = common flags
1420 bin_PROGRAMS = a b c
1421 a_LDFLAGS = more flags
1424 and assumed *_LDFLAGS would sum up, you should rewrite it as
1426 AM_LDFLAGS = common flags
1427 bin_PROGRAMS = a b c
1428 a_LDFLAGS = $(AM_LDFLAGS) more flags
1431 This new behavior of *_LDFLAGS is more coherent with other
1432 per-target variables, and the way *_LDFLAGS variables were
1433 considered internally.
1435 * New installation targets:
1437 - New targets mandated by GNU Coding Standards:
1442 By default they will only install Texinfo manuals.
1443 You can customize them with *-local variants:
1449 - The undocumented recursive target `uninstall-info' no longer exists.
1450 (`uninstall' is in charge of removing all possible documentation
1451 flavors, including optional formats such as dvi, ps, or info even
1452 when `no-installinfo' is used.)
1454 * Miscellaneous changes:
1456 - Automake no longer complains if input files for AC_CONFIG_FILES
1457 are specified using shell variables.
1459 - clean, distribution, or rebuild rules are normally disabled for
1460 inputs and outputs of AC_CONFIG_FILES, AC_CONFIG_HEADERS, and
1461 AC_CONFIG_LINK specified using shell variables. However, if these
1462 variables are used as ${VAR}, and AC_SUBSTed, then Automake will
1463 be able to output rules anyway.
1464 (See the Automake documentation for AC_CONFIG_FILES.)
1466 - $(EXEEXT) is automatically appended to filenames of TESTS
1467 that have been declared as programs in the same Makefile.
1468 This is mostly useful when some check_PROGRAMS are listed in TESTS.
1470 - `-Wportability' has finally been turned on by default for `gnu' and
1471 `gnits' strictness. This means, automake will complain about %-rules
1472 or $(GNU Make functions) unless you switch to `foreign' strictness or
1473 use `-Wno-portability'.
1475 - Automake now uses AC_PROG_MKDIR_P (new in Autoconf 2.60), and uses
1476 $(MKDIR_P) instead of $(mkdir_p) to create directories. The
1477 $(mkdir_p) variable is still defined (to the same value as
1478 $(MKDIR_P)) but should be considered obsolete. If you are using
1479 $(mkdir_p) in some of your rules, please plan to update them to
1480 $(MKDIR_P) at some point.
1482 - AM_C_PROTOTYPES and ansi2knr are now documented as being obsolete.
1483 They still work in this release, but may be withdrawn in a future one.
1485 - Inline compilation rules for gcc3-style dependency tracking are
1488 - Automake installs a "Hello World!" example package in $(docdir).
1489 This example is used throughout the new "Autotools Introduction"
1490 chapter of the manual.
1492 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1496 * Makefile.in bloat reduction:
1498 - Inference rules are used to compile sources in subdirectories when
1499 the `subdir-objects' option is used and no per-target flags are
1500 used. This should reduce the size of some projects a lot, because
1501 Automake used to output an explicit rule for each such object in
1504 - Automake no longer outputs three rules (.o, .obj, .lo) for each
1505 object that must be built with explicit rules. It just outputs
1506 the rules required to build the kind of object considered: either
1507 the two .o and .obj rules for usual objects, or the .lo rule for
1510 * Change to Libtool support:
1512 - Libtool tags are used with libtool versions that support them.
1513 (I.e., with Libtool 1.5 or greater.)
1515 - Automake is now able to handle setups where a libtool library is
1516 conditionally installed in different directories, as in
1519 lib_LTLIBRARIES = liba.la
1521 pkglib_LTLIBRARIES = liba.la
1523 liba_la_SOURCES = ...
1525 * Changes to aclocal:
1527 - aclocal now ensures that AC_DEFUNs and AU_DEFUNs it discovers are
1528 really evaluated, before it decides to include them in aclocal.m4.
1529 This solves nasty problems with conditional redefinitions of
1530 Autoconf macros in /usr/share/aclocal/*.m4 files causing extraneous
1531 *.m4 files to be included in any project using these macros.
1532 (Calls to AC_PROG_EGREP causing libtool.m4 to be included is the
1533 most famous instance of this bug.)
1535 - Do not complain about missing conditionally AC_REQUIREd macros
1536 that are not actually used. In 1.8.x aclocal would correctly
1537 determine which of these macros were really needed (and include
1538 only these in the package); unfortunately it would also require
1539 all of them to be present in order to run. This created
1540 situations were aclocal would not work on a tarball distributing
1541 all the macros it uses. For instance running aclocal on a project
1542 containing only the subset of the Gettext macros in use by the
1543 project did not work, because gettext conditionally requires other
1546 * Portability improvements:
1548 - Tar format can be chosen with the new options tar-v7, tar-ustar, and
1549 tar-pax. The new option filename-length-max=99 helps diagnosing
1550 filenames that are too long for tar-v7. (PR/414)
1552 - Variables aumented with `+=' are now automatically flattened (i.e.,
1553 trailing backslashes removed) and then wrapped around 80 colummns
1554 (adding trailing backslashes). In previous versions, a long series
1560 would result in a single-line definition of VAR that could possibly
1561 exceed the maximum line length of some make implementations.
1563 Non-augmented variables are still output as they are defined in
1568 - Support Fortran 90/95 with the new "fc" and "ppfc" languages.
1569 Works the same as the old Fortran 77 implementation; just replace
1570 F77 with FC everywhere (exception: FFLAGS becomes FCFLAGS).
1571 Requires a version of autoconf which provides AC_PROG_FC (>=2.59).
1573 - Support for conditional _LISP.
1575 - Support for conditional -hook and -local rules (PR/428).
1577 - Diagnose AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR calls following AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE. (PR/49)
1579 - Automake will not write any Makefile.ins after the first error it
1580 encounters. The previous Makefile.ins (if any) will be left in
1581 place. (Warnings will not prevent output, but remember they can
1582 be turned into errors with -Werror.)
1584 - The restriction that SUBDIRS must contain direct children is gone.
1587 - The manual tells more about SUBDIRS vs. DIST_SUBDIRS.
1588 It also gives an example of nested packages using AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS.
1590 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1592 Bugs fixed in 1.8.5:
1594 * Long-standing bugs:
1596 - Define DIST_SUBDIRS even when the `no-dist' or `cygnus' options are used
1597 so that `make distclean' and `make maintainer-clean' can work.
1599 - Define AR and ARFLAGS even when only EXTRA_LIBRARIES are defined.
1601 - Fix many rules to please FreeBSD make, which runs commands with `sh -e'.
1603 - Polish diagnostic when no input file is found.
1605 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1607 Bugs fixed in 1.8.4:
1609 * Long-standing bugs:
1611 - Fix AM_PATH_PYTHON to correctly display $PYTHON when it has been
1612 overridden by the user.
1614 - Honor PATH_SEPARATOR in various places of the Automake package, for
1617 - Adjust dependency tracking mode detection to ICC 8.0's new output.
1620 - Fix install-sh so it can install the `mv' binary... using `mv'.
1622 - Fix tru64 dependency tracking for libtool objects.
1624 - Work around Exuberant Ctags when creating a TAGS files in a directory
1625 without files to scan but with subdirectories to include.
1627 * Bugs introduced by 1.8:
1629 - Fix an "internal error" when @LIBOBJS@ is used in a variable that is
1630 not defined in the same conditions as the _LDADD that uses it.
1632 - Do not warn when JAVAROOT is overridden, this is legitimate.
1634 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1636 Bugs fixed in 1.8.3:
1638 * Long-standing bugs:
1640 - Quote filenames in installation rules, in case $DESTDIR, $prefix,
1641 or any of the other *dir variables contain a space.
1643 Please note that Automake does not and cannot support spaces in
1644 filenames that are involved during the build. This change affects
1645 only installation paths, so that `make install' does not bomb out
1646 in packages configured with
1647 ./configure --prefix '/c/Program Files'
1649 - Fix the depfiles output so it works with GNU sed (<4.1) even when
1650 POSIXLY_CORRECT is set.
1652 - Do not AC_SUBST(LIBOBJS) in AM_WITH_REGEX. This macro was unusable
1653 since Autoconf 2.54, which defines LIBOBJS itself.
1655 - Fix a potential (but unlikely) race condition in parallel elisp
1656 builds. (Introduced in 1.7.3.)
1658 - Do not assume that users override _DEPENDENCIES in all conditions
1659 where Automake will try to define them.
1661 - Do not use `mkdir -p' in mkinstalldirs, unless this is GNU mkdir.
1662 Solaris 8's `mkdir -p' is not thread-safe and can break parallel
1665 This fix also affects the $(mkdir_p) variable defined since
1666 Automake 1.8. It will be set to `mkdir -p' only if mkdir is GNU
1667 mkdir, and to `mkinstalldirs' or `install-sh -d' otherwise.
1669 - Secure temporary directory creation in `make distcheck'. (PR/413)
1671 - Do not generate two build rules for `parser.h' when the
1672 parser appears in two different conditionals.
1674 - Work around a Solaris 8 /bin/sh bug in the test for dependency
1675 checking. Usually ./configure will not pick this shell; so this
1676 fix only helps cases where the shell is forced to /bin/sh.
1678 * Bugs introduced by 1.8:
1680 - In some situations (hand-written `m4_include's), aclocal would
1681 call the `File::Spec->rel2abs' method, which was only introduced
1682 in Perl 5.6. This new version reestablish support Perl 5.005.
1684 It is likely that the next major Automake releases will require at
1685 least Perl 5.6. Consider upgrading your development environment
1686 if you are still using the five-year-old Perl 5.005.
1688 - Automake would sometimes fail to define rules for targets listed
1689 in variables defined in multiple conditions. For instance on
1695 it would define only the `a.$(OBJEXT): a.c' rule and omit the
1696 `b.$(OBJEXT): b.c' rule.
1698 * New sections in manual:
1700 - Third-Party Makefiles: how to interface third party Makefiles.
1701 - Upgrading: upgrading packages to newer Automake versions.
1702 - Multiple Outputs: handling tools that produce many outputs.
1704 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1708 * A (well known) portability bug slipped in the changes made to
1709 install-sh in Automake 1.8.1. The broken install-sh would refuse to
1710 install anything on Tru64.
1712 * Fix install rules for conditionally built python files. (This never
1715 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1719 * Bugs introduced by 1.8:
1721 - Fix Config.pm import error with old Perl versions (at least
1722 5.005_03). One symptom is that aclocal could not find its macro
1725 - Automake 1.8 used `mkdir -m 0755 -p --' to ensure that directories
1726 created by `make install' are always world readable, even if the
1727 installer happens to have an overly restrictive umask (e.g. 077).
1728 This was a mistake and has been reverted. There are at least two
1729 reasons why we must not use `-m 0755':
1730 - it causes special bits like SGID to be ignored,
1731 - it may be too restrictive (some setups expect 775 directories).
1733 - Fix aclocal to honor definitions located in files which have been
1734 m4_included manually. aclocal 1.8 had been updated to check
1735 m4_included files for new requirements, but forgot that these
1736 m4_included files can also provide new definitions.
1738 Note that if you have such a setup, we recommend you get rid of
1739 it. In the past, there was a reason to m4_include files manually:
1740 aclocal used to duplicate entire M4 files into aclocal.m4, even
1741 files that were distributed. Some packages were therefore
1742 m4_including the distributed file directly, and playing some
1743 tricks to ensure aclocal would not copy that file to aclocal.m4,
1744 in order to limit the amount of duplication. Since aclocal 1.8.x
1745 will precisely output m4_includes for local M4 files, we recommend
1746 that you clean up your setup, removing all manual m4_includes and
1747 letting aclocal output them.
1749 - Output detailed menus in the Info version if the Automake manual,
1750 so that Emacs can locate the indexes.
1752 - configure.ac and configure were listed twice in DIST_COMMON (an
1753 internal variable where Automake lists configury files to
1754 distribute). This was harmless, but unaesthetic.
1756 - Use `chmod a-w' instead of `chmod -w' as the latter honors umask.
1757 This was an issue only in the Automake package itself, not in
1760 - Automake assumed that all AC_CONFIG_LINKS arguments had the form
1761 DEST:SRC. This was wrong, as some packages do
1762 AC_CONFIG_LINKS($computedlinks). This version no longer abort in
1765 - Contrary to mkinstalldirs, $(mkdir_p) was expecting exactly one
1766 argument. This caused two kinds of failures:
1767 - Rules installing data in a conditionally defined directory
1768 failed when that directory was undefined. In this case no
1769 argument was supplied.
1770 - `make installdirs' failed, because several directories were
1771 passed to $(mkdir_p). This was an issue only on platform
1772 were $(mkdir_p) is implemented with `install-sh -d'.
1773 $(mkdir_p) as been changed to accept 0 or more arguments, as
1776 * Long-standing bugs:
1778 - Fix an unexpected diagnostic occurring when users attempt
1779 to override some internal variables that Automake appends to.
1781 - aclocal now scans configure.ac for macro definitions (PR/319).
1783 - Fix a portability issue with OSF1/Tru64 Make. If a directory
1784 distributes files which are outside itself (this usually occurs
1785 when using AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR([../dir]) to use auxiliary files
1786 from a parent package), then `make distcheck' fails due to an
1787 optimization performed by OSF1/Tru64 Make in its VPATH handling.
1788 (tests/subpkg2.test failure)
1790 - Fix another portability issue with Sun and OSF1/Tru64 Make.
1791 In a VPATH-build configuration, `make install' would install
1792 nobase_ files to wrong locations.
1794 - Fix a Perl `uninitialized value' diagnostic occurring when
1795 automake complains that a Texinfo file does not have a
1796 @setfilename statement.
1798 - Erase config.status.lineno during `make distclean'. This file
1799 can be created by config.status. Automake already knew about
1800 configure.lineno, but forgot config.status.lineno.
1802 - Distribute all files, even those which are built and installed
1803 conditionally. This change affects files listed in conditionally
1804 defined *_HEADERS and *_PYTHON variable (unless they are nodist_*)
1805 as well as those listed in conditionally defined dist_*_DATA,
1806 dist_*_JAVA, dist_*_LISP, and dist_*_SCRIPTS variables.
1808 - Fix AM_PATH_LISPDIR to avoid \? in sed regular expressions; it
1809 doesn't conform to POSIX.
1811 - Normalize help strings for configure variables and options added
1816 - Check for python2.4 in AM_PATH_PYTHON.
1818 * Spurious failures in test suite:
1820 - tests/libtool5.test, tests/ltcond.test, tests/ltcond2.test,
1821 tests/ltconv.test: fix failures with CVS Libtool.
1822 - tests/aclocal6.test: fix failure if autom4te.cache is disabled.
1823 - tests/txinfo24.test, tests/txinfo25.test, tests/txinfo28.test:
1824 fix failures with old Texinfo versions.
1826 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1832 - The NEWS file is more verbose.
1836 - Autoconf 2.58 or greater is required.
1840 - Default source file names in the absence of a _SOURCES declaration
1841 are made by removing any target extension before appending `.c', so
1842 to make the libtool module `foo.la' from `foo.c', you only need to
1845 lib_LTLIBRARIES = foo.la
1846 foo_la_LDFLAGS = -module
1848 For backward compatibility, foo_la.c will be used instead of
1849 foo.c if this file exists or is the explicit target of a rule.
1850 However -Wobsolete will warn about this deprecated naming.
1852 - AR's `cru' flags are now set in a global ARFLAGS variable instead
1853 of being hard-coded in each $(AR) invocation, so they can be
1854 substituted from configure.ac. This has been requested by people
1855 dealing with non-POSIX ar implementations.
1857 - New warning option: -Woverride. This will warn about any user
1858 target or variable definitions which override Automake
1861 - Texinfo rules back up and restore info files when makeinfo fails.
1863 - Texinfo rules now support the `html' target.
1864 Running this requires Texinfo 4.0 or greater.
1866 `html' is a new recursive target, so if your package mixes
1867 hand-crafted `Makefile.in's with Automake-generated
1868 `Makefile.in's, you should adjust the former to support (or
1869 ignore) this target so that `make html' recurses successfully. If
1870 you had a custom `html' rule in your `Makefile.am', it's better to
1871 rename it as `html-local', otherwise your rule will override
1872 Automake's new rule (you can check that by running `automake
1873 -Woverride') and that will stop the recursion to subdirectories.
1875 Last but not least, this `html' rule is declared PHONY, even when
1876 overridden. Fortunately, it appears that few packages use a
1877 non-PHONY `html' rule.
1879 - Any file which is m4_included from configure.ac will appear as a
1880 configure and Makefile.in dependency, and will be automatically
1883 - The rules for rebuilding Makefiles and Makefile.ins will now
1884 rebuild all Makefiles and all Makefile.ins at once when one of
1885 configure's dependencies has changed. This is considerably faster
1886 than previous implementations, where config.status and automake
1887 were run separately in each directory (this still happens when you
1888 change a Makefile.am locally, without touching configure.ac or
1889 friends). Doing this also solves a longstanding issue: these
1890 rebuild rules failed to work when adding new directories to the
1891 tree, forcing you to run automake manually.
1893 - For similar reasons, the rules to rebuild configure,
1894 config.status, and aclocal.m4 are now defined in all directories.
1895 Note that if you were using the CONFIG_STATUS_DEPENDENCIES and
1896 CONFIGURE_DEPENDENCIES (formerly undocumented) variables, you
1897 should better define them in all directories. This is easily done
1898 using an AC_SUBST (make sure you prefix these dependencies with
1899 $(top_srcdir) since this variable will appear at different
1900 levels of the build tree).
1902 - aclocal will now use `m4_include' instead of copying local m4
1903 files into aclocal.m4. (Local m4 files are those you ship with
1904 your project, other files will be copied as usual.)
1906 Because m4_included files are automatically distributed, it means
1907 for most projects there is no point in EXTRA_DISTing the list of
1908 m4 files which are used. (You can probably get rid of
1909 m4/Makefile.am if you had one.)
1911 - aclocal will avoid touching aclocal.m4 when possible, so that
1912 Autom4te's cache isn't needlessly invalidated. This behavior can
1913 be switched off with the new `--force' option.
1915 - aclocal now uses Autoconf's --trace to detect macros which are
1916 actually used and will no longer include unused macros simply
1917 because they where mentioned. This was often the case for macros
1918 called conditionally.
1920 - New options no-dist and no-dist-gzip.
1922 - compile, depcomp, elisp-comp, install-sh, mdate-sh, mkinstalldirs,
1923 py-compile, and ylwrap, now all understand --version and --help.
1925 - Automake will now recognize AC_CONFIG_LINKS so far as removing created
1926 links as part of the distclean target and including source files in
1929 - AM_PATH_PYTHON now supports ACTION-IF-FOUND and ACTION-IF-NOT-FOUND
1930 argument. The latter can be used to override the default behavior
1931 (which is to abort).
1933 - Automake will exit with $? = 63 on version mismatch. (So does
1934 Autoconf 2.58) missing knows this, and in this case it will
1935 emulate the tools as if they were absent. Because older versions
1936 of Automake and Autoconf did not use this exit code, this change
1937 will only be useful in projects generated with future versions of
1940 - When using AC_CONFIG_FILES with multiple input files, Automake
1941 generates the first ".in" input file for which a ".am" exists.
1942 (Former versions would try to use only the first input file.)
1944 - lisp_DATA is now allowed. If you are using the empty ELCFILES
1945 idiom to disable byte-compilation of lisp_LISP files, it is
1946 recommended that you switch to using lisp_DATA. Note that
1947 this is not strictly equivalent: lisp_DATA will install elisp
1948 files even if emacs is not installed, while *_LISP do not
1949 install anything unless emacs is found.
1951 - Makefiles will prefer `mkdir -p' over mkinstalldirs if it is
1952 available. This selection is achieved through the Makefile
1953 variable $(mkdir_p) that is set by AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE to either
1954 `mkdir -m 0755 -p --', `$(mkinstalldirs) -m 0755', or
1955 `$(install_sh) -m 0755 -d'.
1959 - Because `mkdir -p' is available on most platforms, and we can use
1960 `install-sh -d' when it is not, the use of the mkinstalldirs
1961 script is being phased out. `automake --add-missing' no longer
1962 installs it, and if you remove mkinstalldirs from your package,
1963 automake will define $(mkinstalldirs) as an alias for $(mkdir_p).
1965 Gettext 0.12.1 still requires mkinstalldirs. Fortunately
1966 gettextize and autopoint will install it when needed. Automake
1967 will continue to define the $(mkinstalldirs) and to distribute
1968 mkinstalldirs when this script is in the source tree.
1970 - AM_PROG_CC_STDC is now empty. The content of this macro was
1971 merged in AC_PROG_CC. If your code uses $am_cv_prog_cc_stdc, you
1972 should adjust it to use $ac_cv_prog_cc_stdc instead. (This
1973 renaming should be safe, even if you have to support several,
1974 versions of Automake, because AC_PROG_CC defines this variable
1975 since Autoconf 2.54.)
1977 - Some users where using the undocumented ACLOCAL_M4_SOURCES
1978 variable to override the aclocal.m4 dependencies computed
1979 (inaccurately) by older versions of Automake. Because Automake
1980 now tracks configure's m4 dependencies accurately (see m4_include
1981 above), the use of ACLOCAL_M4_SOURCES should be considered
1982 obsolete and will be flagged as such when running `automake
1987 - Defining programs conditionally using Automake conditionals no
1988 longer leads to a combinatorial explosion. The following
1989 construct used to be troublesome when used with dozens of
2004 Likewise for _SOURCES, _LDADD, and _LIBADD variables.
2006 - Due to implementation constraints, previous versions of Automake
2007 proscribed multiple conditional definitions of some variables
2017 All _PROGRAMS, _LDADD, and _LIBADD variables were affected.
2018 This restriction has been lifted, and these variables now
2019 support multiple conditional definitions as do other variables.
2021 - Cleanup the definitions of $(distdir) and $(top_distdir).
2022 $(top_distdir) now points to the root of the distribution
2023 directory created during `make dist', as it did in Automake 1.4,
2024 not to the root of the build tree as it did in intervening
2025 versions. Furthermore these two variables are now only defined in
2026 the top level Makefile, and passed to sub-directories when running
2029 - The --no-force option now correctly checks the Makefile.in's
2030 dependencies before deciding not to update it.
2032 - Do not assume that make files are called Makefile in cleaning rules.
2034 - Update .info files in the source tree, not in the build tree. This
2035 is what the GNU Coding Standard recommend. Only Automake 1.7.x
2036 used to update these files in the build tree (previous versions did
2037 it in the source tree too), and it caused several problems, varying
2038 from mere annoyance to portability issues.
2040 - COPYING, COPYING.LIB, and COPYING.LESSER are no longer overwritten
2041 when --add-missing and --force-missing are used. For backward
2042 compatibility --add-missing will continue to install COPYING (in
2043 `gnu' strictness) when none of these three files exist, but this
2044 use is deprecated: you should better choose a license yourself and
2045 install it once for all in your source tree (and in your code
2048 - Fix ylwrap so that it does not overwrite header files that haven't
2049 changed, as the inline rule already does.
2051 - User-defined rules override automake-defined rules for the same
2052 targets, even when rules do not have commands. This is not new
2053 (and was documented), however some of the automake-generated
2054 rules have escaped this principle in former Automake versions.
2055 Rules for the following targets are affected by this fix:
2057 clean, clean-am, dist-all, distclean, distclean-am, dvi, dvi-am,
2058 info, info-am, install-data-am, install-exec-am, install-info,
2059 install-info-am, install-man, installcheck-am, maintainer-clean,
2060 maintainer-clean-am, mostlyclean, mostlyclean-am, pdf, pdf-am,
2061 ps, ps-am, uninstall-am, uninstall-info, uninstall-man
2063 Practically it means that an attempt to supplement the dependencies
2064 of some target, as in
2066 clean: my-clean-rule
2068 will now *silently override* the automake definition of the
2069 rule for this target. Running `automake -Woverride' will diagnose
2070 all such overriding definitions.
2072 It should be noted that almost all of these targets support a *-local
2073 variant that is meant to supplement the automake-defined rule
2074 (See node `Extending' in the manual). The above rule should
2077 clean-local: my-clean-rule
2079 These *-local targets have been documented since at least
2080 Automake 1.2, so you should not fear the change if you have
2081 to support multiple automake versions.
2085 - The Automake manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
2087 - Targets dist-gzip, dist-bzip2, dist-tarZ, dist-zip are always defined.
2089 - core dumps are no longer removed by the cleaning rules. There are
2090 at least three reasons for this:
2091 1. These files should not be created by any build step,
2092 so their removal do not fit any of the cleaning rules.
2093 Actually, they may be precious to the developer.
2094 2. If such file is created during a build, then it's clearly a
2095 bug Automake should not hide. Not removing the file will
2096 cause `make distcheck' to complain about its presence.
2097 3. Operating systems have different naming conventions for
2098 core dump files. A core file on one system might be a
2099 completely legitimate data file on another system.
2101 - RUNTESTFLAGS, CTAGSFLAGS, ETAGSFLAGS, JAVACFLAGS are no longer
2102 defined by Automake. This means that any definition in the
2103 environment will be used, unless overridden in the Makefile.am or
2104 on the command line. The old behavior, where these variables were
2105 defined empty in each Makefile, can be obtained by AC_SUBSTing or
2106 AC_ARG_VARing each variable from configure.ac.
2108 - CONFIGURE_DEPENDENCIES and CONFIG_STATUS_DEPENDENCIES are now
2109 documented. (The is not a new feature, these variables have
2110 been there since at least Automake 1.4.)
2112 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2114 Bugs fixed in 1.7.9:
2115 * Fix install-strip to work with nobase_ binaries.
2116 * Fix renaming of #line directives in ylwrap.
2117 * Rebuild with Autoconf 2.59. (1.7.8 was not installable with pdksh.)
2119 Bugs fixed in 1.7.8:
2120 * Remove spurious blank lines in cleaning rules introduced in 1.7.7.
2121 * Fix detection of Debian's install-info, broken since version 1.5.
2122 (Debian bug #213524).
2123 * Honor -module if it appears in AM_LDFLAGS (i.e., relax name checking)
2124 This was only done for libfoo_LDFLAGS and LDFLAGS in previous versions.
2126 Bugs fixed in 1.7.7:
2127 * The implementation of automake's --no-force option is unreliable,
2128 so this option is ignored in this version. A real fix will appear in
2129 Automake 1.8. (Debian Bug #206299)
2130 * AM_PATH_PYTHON: really check the whole list of interpreters if no
2131 argument is given. (PR/399)
2132 * Do not warn about leading `_' in variable names, even with -Wportability.
2133 * Support user redefinitions of TEXINFO_TEX.
2134 * depcomp: support AIX Compiler version 6.
2135 * Fix missing rebuilds during `make dist' with BSD make.
2136 (Could produce tarballs containing out-of-date files.)
2137 * Resurrect multilib support.
2138 * Noteworthy manual updates:
2139 - Extending aclocal: how to write m4 macros that won't trigger warnings
2141 - A Shared Library: Rewrite and split into subsections.
2143 Bugs fixed in 1.7.6:
2144 * Fix depcomp's icc mode for ICC 7.1.
2145 * Diagnose calls to AC_CONFIG_FILES and friends with not enough arguments.
2146 * Fix maintainer-clean's removal of autom4te.cache in VPATH builds.
2147 * Fix AM_PATH_LISPDIR to work with POSIXLY_CORRECT=1.
2148 * Fix the location reported in some diagnostics related to AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS.
2149 * Remove Latin-1 characters from elisp-comp.
2150 * Update the manual's @dircategory to match the Free Software Directory.
2152 Bugs fixed in 1.7.5:
2153 * Update install-sh's license to remove an advertising clause.
2154 (Debian bug #191717)
2155 * Fix a bug introduced in 1.7.4, related to BUILT_SOURCE handling,
2156 that caused invalid Makefile.ins to be generated.
2157 * Make sure AM_MAKE_INCLUDE doesn't fail when a `doit' file exists.
2158 * New FAQ entry: renamed objects.
2160 Bugs fixed in 1.7.4:
2161 * Tweak the TAGS rule to support Exuberant Ctags (in addition to
2162 the Emacs implementation)
2163 * Fix output of aclocal.m4 dependencies in subdirectories.
2164 * Use `mv -f' instead of `mv' in fastdep rules.
2165 * Upgrade mdate-sh to work on OS/2.
2166 * Don't byte-compile elisp files when ELCFILES is set empty.
2167 (this documented feature was broken by 1.7.3)
2168 * Diagnose trailing backslashes on last line of Makefile.am.
2169 * Diagnose whitespace following trailing backslashes.
2170 * Multiple tests are now correctly supported in DEJATOOL. (PR/388)
2171 * Fix rebuilt rules for AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile:Makefile.in:Makefile.bot])
2173 * `make install' will build `BUILT_SOURCES' first.
2174 * Minor documentation fixes.
2176 Bugs fixed in 1.7.3:
2177 * Fix stamp files numbering (when using multiple AC_CONFIG_HEADERS).
2178 * Query distutils for `pythondir' and `pythonexecdir', instead of
2179 using an hardcoded path. This should allow builds on 64-bit
2180 distributions that usually use lib64/ instead of lib/.
2181 * AM_PATH_PYTHON will also search for python2.3.
2182 * elisp files are now built all at once instead of one by one. Besides
2183 incurring a speed-up, this is required to support interdependent elisp files.
2184 * Support for DJGPP:
2185 - `make distcheck' will now work in `_inst/' and `_build' instead
2186 of `=inst/' and `=build/'
2187 - use `_dirstamp' when the file-system doesn't support `.dirstamp'
2188 - install/uninstall `*.i[0-9][0-9]'-style info files
2189 - more changes that affect only the Automake package (not its output)
2190 * Fix some incompatibilities with upcoming perl-5.10.
2191 * Properly quote AC_PACKAGE_TARNAME and AC_PACKAGE_VERSION when defining
2192 PACKAGE and VERSION.
2194 - dashmstdout and dashXmstdout modes: don't use `-o /dev/null', this
2195 is troublesome with gcc and Solaris compilers. (PR/385)
2196 - makedepend mode: work with Libtool. (PR/385 too)
2198 * better support for unusual gettext setups, such as multiple po/ directories
2200 - Flag missing po/ and intl/ directories as warnings, not errors.
2201 - Disable these warnings if po/ does not exist.
2202 * Noteworthy manual updates:
2204 - Document how AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR interacts with missing files.
2206 - Document `AM_YFLAGS = -d'. (PR/382)
2208 Bugs fixed in 1.7.2:
2209 * Fix installation and uninstallation of Info files built in subdirectories.
2210 * Do not run `./configure --with-included-gettext' during `make distcheck'
2211 if AM_GNU_GETTEXT([external]) is used.
2212 * Correctly uninstall renamed man pages.
2213 * Do not strip escaped newline in variables defined in one condition
2214 and augmented in another condition.
2215 * Fix ansi2knr rules for LIBOBJS sources.
2216 * Clean all known Texinfo index files, not only those which appear to
2217 be used, because we cannot know which indexes are used in included files.
2218 (PR/375, Debian Bug #168671)
2219 * Honor only the first @setfilename seen in a Texinfo file.
2220 * Treat "required file X not found" diagnostics as errors (exit status 1).
2221 * Don't complain that a required file is not found when it is a Makefile
2223 * Don't use single suffix inference rules when building `.info'-less
2224 Info files, for the sake of Solaris make.
2225 * The `check' target now depends on `$(BUILT_SOURCES)'. (PR/359)
2226 * Recognize multiple inference rules such as `.a.b .c.d:'. (PR/371)
2227 * Warn about multiple inference rules when -Wportability is used. (PR/372)
2228 * Fix building of deansified files from subdirectories. (PR/370)
2229 * Add missing `fi' in the .c->.obj rules.
2230 * Improve install-sh to work even when names contain spaces or certain
2231 (but not all) shell metachars.
2232 * Fix the following spurious failures in the test suite:
2233 depcomp2.test, gnits2.test, gnits3.test, python3.test, texinfo13.test
2234 * Noteworthy manual updates:
2235 - Augment the section about BUILT_SOURCES.
2236 - Mention that AM_PROG_CC_STDC is a relic that is better avoided today.
2238 Bugs fixed in 1.7.1:
2239 * Honor `ansi2knr' for files built in subdirectories, or using per-targets
2241 * Aclocal should now recognize macro names containing parentheses, e.g.
2242 AC_DEFUN([AC_LANG_PREPROC(Fortran 90)], [...]).
2243 * Erase *.sum and *.log files created by DejaGnu, during `make distclean'.
2245 * Install Python files even if they were built. (PR/369)
2246 * Have stamp-vti dependent upon configure instead of configure.ac, as the
2247 version might not be defined in the latter. (PR/358)
2248 * Reorder arguments passed to a couple of commands, so things works
2249 when POSIXLY_CORRECT=1.
2250 * Fix a regex that can cause Perl to segfault on large input.
2252 * Fix distribution of packages that have some sources defined conditionally,
2253 as in the `Conditional compilation using Automake conditionals' example
2255 * Fix spurious test suite failures on IRIX.
2256 * Don't report a required variable as undefined if it has been
2257 defined conditionally for the "right" conditions.
2258 * Fix cleaning of the /tmp subdirectory used by `make distcheck', in case
2259 `make distcheck' fails.
2260 * Fix distribution of included Makefile fragment, so we don't create
2261 spurious directories in the distribution. (PR/366)
2262 * Don't complain that a target lacks `.$(EXEEXT)' when it has it.
2265 * Autoconf 2.54 is required.
2266 * `aclocal' and `automake' will no longer warn about obsolete
2267 configure macros. This is done by `autoconf -Wobsolete'.
2268 * AM_CONFIG_HEADER, AM_SYS_POSIX_TERMIOS and
2269 AM_HEADER_TIOCGWINSZ_NEEDS_SYS_IOCTL are obsolete (although still
2270 supported). You should use AC_CONFIG_HEADERS, AC_SYS_POSIX_TERMIOS,
2271 and AC_HEADER_TIOCGWINSZ instead. `autoupdate' can upgrade
2272 `configure.ac' for you.
2273 * Support for per-program and per-library `_CPPFLAGS'.
2274 * New `ctags' target (builds CTAGS files).
2275 * Support for -Wmumble and -Wno-mumble, where mumble is a warning category
2276 (see `automake --help' or the manual for a list of them).
2277 * Honor the WARNINGS environment variable.
2278 * Omit the call to depcomp when using gcc3: call the compiler directly.
2279 * A new option, std-options, tests that programs support --help and --version
2280 when `make installcheck' is run. This is enabled by --gnits.
2281 * Texinfo rules now support the `ps' and `pdf' targets.
2282 * Info files are now created in the build directory, not the source directory.
2283 * info_TEXINFOS supports files in subdirectories (this requires Texinfo 4.1
2285 * `make distcheck' will enforce DESTDIR support by attempting
2287 * `+=' can be used in conditionals, even if the augmented variable
2288 was defined for another condition.
2289 * Makefile fragments (inserted with `include') are always distributed.
2290 * Use Autoconf's --trace interface to inspect configure.ac and get
2291 a more accurate view of it.
2292 * Add support for extending aclocal's default macro search path
2293 using a `dirlist' file within the aclocal directory.
2294 * automake --output-dir is deprecated.
2295 * The part of the distcheck target that checks whether uninstall actually
2296 removes all installed files has been moved in a separate target,
2297 distuninstallcheck, so it can be overridden easily.
2301 * Support for AM_INIT_GETTEXT([external])
2302 * Bug fixes, including:
2303 - Fix Automake's own `make install' so it works even if `ln' doesn't.
2304 - nobase_ programs and scripts honor --program-transform correctly.
2305 - Erase configure.lineno during `make distclean'.
2306 - Erase YACC and LEX outputs during `make maintainer-clean'.
2309 * Many bug fixes, including:
2310 - Requiring the current version works.
2311 - Fix "$@" portability issues (for Zsh).
2312 - Fix output of dummy dependency files in presence of post-processed
2314 - Don't compute dependencies in background to avoid races with libtool.
2315 - Fix handling of _OBJECTS variables for targets sharing source variables.
2316 - Check dependency mode for Java when AM_PROG_GCJ is used.
2319 * automake --output-dir is deprecated
2320 * Many bug fixes, including:
2321 - Don't choke on AM_LDFLAGS definitions.
2322 - Clean libtool objects from subdirectories.
2323 - Allow configure variables with reserved suffix and unknown prefix
2324 (e.g. AC_SUBST(mumble_LDFLAGS) when 'mumble' is not a target).
2325 - Fix the definition of AUTOMAKE and ACLOCAL in configure.
2328 * Autoconf 2.52 is required.
2329 * automake no longer run libtoolize.
2330 This is the job of autoreconf (from GNU Autoconf).
2331 * `dist' generates all the archive flavors, as did `dist-all'.
2332 * `dist-gzip' generates the Gzip tar file only.
2333 * Combining Automake Makefile conditionals no longer lead to a combinatorial
2334 explosion. Makefile.in's keep a reasonable size.
2335 * AM_FUNC_ERROR_AT_LINE, AM_FUNC_STRTOD, AM_FUNC_OBSTACK, AM_PTRDIFF_T
2336 are no longer shipped, since Autoconf 2.52 provides them (both as AM_
2338 * `#line' of Lex and Yacc files are properly set.
2339 * EXTRA_DIST can contain generated directories.
2340 * Support for dot-less extensions in suffix rules.
2341 * The part of the distcheck target that checks whether distclean actually
2342 cleans all built files has been moved in a separate target, distcleancheck,
2343 so it can be overridden easily.
2344 * `make distcheck' will pass additional options defined in
2345 $(DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS) to configure.
2346 * Fixed CDPATH portability problems, in particular for MacOS X.
2347 * Fixed handling of nobase_ targets.
2348 * Fixed support of implicit rules leading to .lo objects.
2349 * Fixed late inclusion of --add-missing files (e.g. depcomp) in DIST_COMMON
2350 * Added uninstall-hook target
2351 * `AC_INIT AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE(tarname,version)' is an obsolete construct.
2352 You can now use `AC_INIT(pkgname,version) AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE' instead.
2353 (Note that "pkgname" is not "tarname", see the manual for details.)
2354 It is also possible to pass a list of global Automake options as
2355 first argument to this new form of AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE.
2356 * Compiler-based assembler is now called `CCAS'; people expected `AS'
2357 to be a real assembler.
2358 * AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE will set STRIP itself when it needs it. Adding
2359 AC_CHECK_TOOL([STRIP], [strip]) manually is no longer required.
2360 * aclocal and automake are also installed with the version number
2361 appended, and some of the install directory names have changed.
2362 This lets you have multiple versions installed simultaneously.
2363 * Support for parsers and lexers in subdirectories.
2366 * Support for `configure.ac'.
2367 * Support for `else COND', `endif COND' and negated conditions `!COND'.
2368 * `make dist-all' is much faster.
2369 * Allows '@' AC_SUBSTs in macro names.
2370 * Faster AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE (requires update of `missing' script)
2371 * User-side dependency tracking. Developers no longer need GNU make
2373 * Uses DIST_SUBDIRS in some situations when SUBDIRS is conditional
2374 * Most files are correctly handled if they appear in subdirs
2375 For instance, a _DATA file can appear in a subdir
2376 * GNU tar is no longer required for `make dist'
2377 * Added support for `dist_' and `nodist_' prefixes
2378 * Added support for `nobase_' prefix
2379 * Compiled Java support
2380 * Support for per-executable and per-library compilation flags
2384 * Added support for the Fortran 77 programming language.
2385 * Re-indexed the Automake Texinfo manual.
2386 * Added `AM_FOOFLAGS' variable for each compiler invocation;
2387 e.g. AM_CFLAGS can be used in Makefile.am to set C compiler flags
2388 * Support for latest autoconf, including support for objext
2389 * Can now put `.' in SUBDIRS to control build order
2390 * `include' command and `+=' support for macro assignment
2391 * Dependency tracking no long susceptible to deleted header file problem
2392 * Maintainer mode now a conditional. @MAINT@ is now an anachronism.
2397 * Better Cygwin32 support
2398 * Support for suffix rules with _SOURCES variables
2399 * New options `readme-alpha' and `check-news'; Gnits mode sets these
2400 * @LEXLIB@ no longer required when lex source seen
2401 Lex support in `missing', and new lex macro. Update your missing script.
2402 * Built-in support for assembly
2403 * aclocal gives error if `AM_' macro not found
2404 * Passed YFLAGS, not YACCFLAGS, to yacc
2405 * AM_PROG_CC_STDC does not have to come before AC_PROG_CPP
2406 * Dependencies computed as a side effect of compilation
2407 * Preliminary support for Java
2408 * DESTDIR support at "make install" time
2409 * Improved ansi2knr support; you must use the latest ansi2knr.c (included)
2413 * Better DejaGnu support
2414 * Added no-installinfo option
2415 * Added Emacs Lisp support
2416 * Added --no-force option
2417 * Included `aclocal' program
2418 * Automake will now generate rules to regenerate aclocal.m4, if appropriate
2419 * Now uses `AM_' macro names everywhere
2420 * ansi2knr option can have directory prefix (eg `../lib/ansi2knr')
2421 ansi2knr now works correctly on K&R sources
2422 * Better C++, yacc, lex support
2423 * Will compute _DEPENDENCIES variables automatically if not supplied
2424 * Will interpolate $(...) and ${...} when examining contents of a variable
2425 * .deps files now in build directory, not source directory; dependency
2426 handling generally rewritten
2427 * DATA, MANS and BUILT_SOURCES no longer included in distribution
2428 * can now put config.h into a subdir
2429 * Added dist-all target
2430 * Support for install-info program (see texinfo 3.9)
2431 * Support for "yacc -d"
2432 * configure substitutions are automatically discovered and included
2433 in generated Makefile.in
2434 * Special --cygnus mode
2435 * OMIT_DEPENDENCIES can now hold list of dependencies to be omitted
2436 when making distribution. Some dependencies are auto-ignored.
2437 * Changed how libraries are specified in _LIBRARIES variable
2438 * Full libtool support, from Gord Matzigkeit
2439 * No longer have to explicitly touch stamp-h when using AC_CONFIG_HEADER;
2440 AM_CONFIG_HEADER handles it automatically
2441 * Texinfo output files no longer need .info extension
2442 * Added `missing' support
2444 * Conditionals in Makefile.am, from Ian Taylor
2448 * distcheck target runs install and installcheck targets
2449 * Added preliminary support for DejaGnu.
2454 * More libtool fixes from Gord Matzigkeit; libtool support is still
2456 * Added support for jm_MAINTAINER_MODE
2458 * New "distcheck" target
2462 * mkinstalldirs and mdate-sh now appear in directory specified by
2464 * Removed DIST_SUBDIRS, DIST_OTHER
2465 * AC_ARG_PROGRAM only required when an actual program exists
2466 * dist-hook target now run before distribution packaged up; idea from
2467 Dieter Baron. Other hooks exist, too.
2468 * Preliminary (unfinished) support for libtool
2469 * Added short option names.
2470 * Better "dist" support when gluing together multiple packages
2474 * Documentation updates (many from François Pinard)
2475 * strictness `normal' now renamed to `foreign'
2476 * Renamed --install-missing to --add-missing
2477 * Now handles AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR
2478 * Now handles TESTS macro
2479 * DIST_OTHER renamed to EXTRA_DIST
2480 * DIST_SUBDIRS is deprecated
2481 * @ALLOCA@ and @LIBOBJS@ now work in _LDADD variables
2482 * Better error messages in many cases
2483 * Program names are canonicalized
2484 * Added "check" prefix; from Gord Matzigkeit
2488 * configure.in scanner knows about AC_PATH_XTRA, AC_OUTPUT ":" syntax
2489 * Beginnings of a test suite
2490 * Automatically adds -I options for $(srcdir), ".", and path to config.h
2491 * Doesn't print anything when running
2492 * Beginnings of MAINT_CHARSET support
2493 * Can specify version in AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS
2494 * Most errors recognizable by Emacs' M-x next-error
2495 * Added --verbose option
2496 * All "primary" variables now obsolete; use EXTRA_PRIMARY to supply
2497 configure-generated names
2498 * Required macros now distributed in aclocal.m4
2500 * --strictness=gnu is default
2504 * More sophisticated configure.in scanning; now understands ALLOCA and
2505 LIBOBJS directly, handles AC_CONFIG_HEADER more precisely, etc.
2506 * TEXINFOS and MANS now obsolete; use info_TEXINFOS and man_MANS instead.
2507 * CONFIG_HEADER variable now obsolete
2508 * Can handle multiple Texinfo sources
2509 * Allow hierarchies deeper than 2. From Gord Matzigkeit.
2510 * HEADERS variable no longer needed; now can put .h files directly into
2511 foo_SOURCES variable.
2512 * Automake automatically rebuilds files listed in AC_OUTPUT. The
2513 corresponding ".in" files are included in the distribution.
2516 * Added --gnu and --gnits options
2517 * More standards checking
2519 * Cleaned up 'dist' targets
2520 * Added AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS variable and several options
2521 * Now scans configure.in to get some information (preliminary)
2524 * Works with Perl 4 again
2527 * Added --install-missing option.
2528 * Pretty-prints generated macros and rules
2529 * Comments in Makefile.am are placed more intelligently in Makefile.in
2530 * Generates .PHONY target
2531 * Rule or macro in Makefile.am now overrides contents of Automake file
2532 * Substantial cleanups from François Pinard
2536 * Works with Perl 4 again.
2539 * New uniform naming scheme.
2540 * --strictness option
2542 * '.c' files corresponding to '.y' or '.l' files are automatically
2544 * Many bug fixes and cleanups
2547 * Allow objects to be conditionally included in libraries via lib_LIBADD.
2550 * Bug fixes in 'clean' code.
2551 * Now generates 'installdirs' target.
2552 * man page installation reworked.
2553 * 'make dist' no longer re-creates all Makefile.in's.
2556 * Reimplemented in Perl
2557 * Added --amdir option (for debugging)
2558 * Texinfo support cleaned up.
2559 * Automatic de-ANSI-fication cleaned up.
2560 * Cleaned up 'clean' targets.
2563 * Automatic dependency tracking
2564 * More documentation
2565 * New variables DATA and PACKAGEDATA
2566 * SCRIPTS installed using $(INSTALL_SCRIPT)
2567 * No longer uses double-colon rules
2569 * Changes in advance of internationalization
2573 Copyright (C) 1995-2013 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
2575 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
2576 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
2577 the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
2580 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
2581 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
2582 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
2583 GNU General Public License for more details.
2585 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
2586 along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
projects / platform / upstream / automake.git / blob