documentation updates and bug and regression fixes; they will
not introduce new features, nor any backward-incompatibility (any
such incompatibility would be considered a bug, to be fixed with
- a further micro release).
+ a further micro release).
+ Minor versions (e.g., 1.14, 2.1) can introduce new backward
compatible features; the only backward-incompatibilities allowed
in such a release are new *non-fatal* deprecations and warnings,
and possibly fixes for old or non-trivial bugs (or even inefficient
behaviours) that could unfortunately have been seen, and used, by
- some developers as "corner case features". This kind of fixes
- should hopefully be quite rare.
+ some developers as "corner case features". Possible disruptions
+ caused by this kind of fixes should hopefully be quite rare.
+ Major versions (now expected to be released every 18 or 24 months,
and not more often) can introduce new big features (possibly with
- According to this new scheme, the next major version of Automake
(the one that has until now been labelled as '1.14') will actually
become "Automake 2.0". Automake 1.14 will be the next minor version,
- which will introduce new features and deprecation, but no backward
- incompatibility.
+ which will introduce new features, deprecations and bug fixes, but
+ no real backward incompatibility.
- See discussion about automake bug#13578 for more details and
background: <http://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=13578>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-New in 1.13.2:
+New in 1.14:
+
+* C compilation, and the AC_PROG_CC and AM_PROG_CC_C_O macros:
+
+ - The 'compile' script is now unconditionally required for all
+ packages that perform C compilation (note that if you are using
+ the '--add-missing' option, automake will fetch that script for
+ you, so you shouldn't need any explicit adjustment).
+ This new behaviour is needed to avoid obscure errors when the
+ 'subdir-objects' option is used, and the compiler is an inferior
+ one that doesn't grasp the combined use of both the "-c -o"
+ options; see discussion about automake bug#13378 for more details:
+ <http://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=13378#35>
+ <http://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=13378#44>
+
+ - The next major Automake version (2.0) will unconditionally turn on
+ the 'subdir-objects' option. In order to smooth out the transition,
+ we now give a warning (in the category 'unsupported') whenever a
+ source file is present in a subdirectory but the 'subdir-object' is
+ not enabled. For example, the following usage will trigger such a
+ warning (of course, assuming the 'subdir-objects' option is off):
+
+ bin_PROGRAMS = sub/foo
+ sub_foo_SOURCES = sub/main.c sub/bar.c
+
+ - Automake will automatically enhance the AC_PROG_CC autoconf macro
+ to make it check, at configure time, that the C compiler supports
+ the combined use of both the "-c -o" options. This "rewrite" of
+ AC_PROG_CC is only meant to be temporary, since future Autoconf
+ versions should provide all the features Automake needs.
+
+ - The AM_PROG_CC_C_O is no longer useful, and its use is a no-op
+ now. Future Automake versions might start warning that this
+ macro is obsolete. For better backward-compatibility, this macro
+ still sets a proper 'ac_cv_prog_cc_*_c_o' cache variable, and
+ define the 'NO_MINUS_C_MINUS_O' C preprocessor symbol, but you
+ should really stop relying on that.
+
+* Texinfo support:
+
+ - Automake can now be instructed to place '.info' files generated from
+ Texinfo input in the builddir rather than in the srcdir; this is done
+ specifying the new automake option 'info-in-builddir'. This feature
+ was requested by the developers of GCC, GDB, GNU binutils and the GNU
+ bfd library. See the extensive discussion about automake bug#11034
+ for more details.
-* Obsolescent features:
+ - For quite a long time, Automake has been implementing an undocumented
+ hack which ensured that '.info' files which appeared to be cleaned
+ (by e.g. being listed in the CLEANFILES or DISTCLEANFILES variables)
+ were built in the builddir rather than in the srcdir; this hack was
+ introduced to ensure better backward-compatibility with packages such
+ as Texinfo, which did things like:
- - Use of suffix-less info files (that can be specified through the
- '@setfilename' macro in Texinfo input files) is discouraged, and
- its use will raise warnings in the 'obsolete' category.
+ info_TEXINFOS = texinfo.txi info-stnd.texi info.texi
+ DISTCLEANFILES = texinfo texinfo-* info*.info*
+ # Do not create info files for distribution.
+ dist-info:
+ @:
- - Use of Texinfo input files with '.txi' or '.texinfo' extensions
- is discouraged, and its use will raise warnings in the 'obsolete'
- category. You are advised to simply use the '.texi' extension
- instead.
+ in order not to distribute generated '.info' files.
+
+ Now that we have the 'info-in-builddir' option that explicitly causes
+ generated '.info' files to be placed in the builddir, this hack should
+ be longer necessary, so we deprecate it with runtime warnings. It will
+ likely be removed altogether in Automake 2.0.
+
+* Relative directory in Makefile fragments:
+
+ - The special Automake-time substitutions '%reldir%' and '%canon_reldir%'
+ (and their short versions, '%D%' and '%C%' respectively) can now be used
+ in an included Makefile fragment. The former is substituted with the
+ relative directory of the included fragment (compared to the top level
+ including Makefile), and the latter with the canonicalized version of
+ the same relative directory:
+
+ bin_PROGRAMS += %reldir%/foo
+ %canon_reldir%_foo_SOURCES = %reldir%/bar.c
+
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+New in 1.13.3:
+
+* Bugs fixed:
+
+ - Byte-compilation of Emacs lisp files could fail spuriously on Solaris,
+ when /bin/ksh or /usr/xpg4/bin/sh were used as shell.
+
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+New in 1.13.2:
* Documentation fixes:
- Other minor miscellaneous fixes and improvements; in particular,
some improvements in cross-references.
+* Obsolescent features:
+
+ - Use of suffix-less info files (that can be specified through the
+ '@setfilename' macro in Texinfo input files) is discouraged, and
+ its use will raise warnings in the 'obsolete' category. Simply
+ use the '.info' extension for all your info files, transforming
+ usages like:
+
+ @setfilename myprogram
+
+ into:
+
+ @setfilename myprogram.info
+
+ - Use of Texinfo input files with '.txi' or '.texinfo' extensions
+ is discouraged, and its use will raise warnings in the 'obsolete'
+ category. You are advised to simply use the '.texi' extension
+ instead.
+
* Bugs fixed:
+ - When the 'ustar' option is used, the generated configure script no
+ longer risks hanging during the tests for the availability of the
+ 'pax' utility, even if the user running configure has a UID or GID
+ that requires more than 21 bits to be represented.
+ See automake bug#8343 and bug#13588.
+
- The obsolete macros AM_CONFIG_HEADER or AM_PROG_CC_STDC work once
again, as they did in Automake 1.12.x (albeit printing runtime
warnings in the 'obsolete' category). Removing them has turned
Automake 1.13, has turned out to be a similarly very bad idea,
for exactly the same reason.
- - Aclocal no longer error out if the first local m4 directory (as
- specified by the '-I' option or the 'AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIRS' or
- 'AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR' macros) doesn't exist; it merely report a
- warning in the 'unsupported' category. This is done to support
- some pre-existing real-world usages; refer to automake bug#13514
- for more details.
+ - aclocal will no longer error out if the first local m4 directory
+ (as specified by the '-I' option or the 'AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIRS' or
+ 'AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR' macros) doesn't exist; it will merely report
+ a warning in the 'unsupported' category. This is done to support
+ some pre-existing real-world usages. See automake bug#13514.
+
+ - aclocal will no longer consider directories for extra m4 files more
+ than once, even if they are specified multiple times. This ensures
+ packages that specify both
+
+ AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR([m4]) in configure.ac
+ ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS = -I m4 in Makefile.am
+
+ will work correctly, even when the 'm4' directory contains no
+ package-specific files, but is used only to install third-party
+ m4 files (as can happen with e.g., "libtoolize --install").
+ See automake bug#13514.
+
+ - Analysis of make flags in Automake-generated rules has been made more
+ robust, and more future-proof. For example, in presence of make that
+ (like '-I') take an argument, the characters in said argument will no
+ longer be spuriously considered as a set of additional make options.
+ In particular, automake-generated rules will no longer spuriously
+ believe to be running in dry mode ("make -n") if run with an invocation
+ like "make -I noob"; nor will they believe to be running in keep-going
+ mode ("make -k") if run with an invocation like "make -I kool"
+ (automake bug#12554).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~