-This is Automake, a Makefile generator. It was inspired by the 4.4BSD
-make and include files, but aims to be portable and to conform to the
-GNU Coding Standards for Makefile variables and targets.
+This is Automake, a Makefile generator. It aims to be portable and
+to conform to the GNU Coding Standards for Makefile variables and
+targets.
+
+See the INSTALL file for detailed information about how to configure
+and install Automake.
Automake is a Perl script. The input files are called Makefile.am.
The output files are called Makefile.in; they are intended for use
with Autoconf. Automake requires certain things to be done in your
configure.ac.
-Variable assignment lines in Makefile.am pull in defaults from various
-little *.am files.
-
-To use Automake, replace your Makefile.in files with Makefile.am
-files. Read the documentation to see what to do.
+Automake comes with extensive documentation; please refer to it for
+more details about its purpose, features, and usage patterns.
-This package also includes the "aclocal" program. aclocal is a
-program to generate an `aclocal.m4' based on the contents of
-`configure.ac'. It is useful as an extensible, maintainable mechanism
-for augmenting autoconf. It is intended that other package authors
-will write m4 macros which can be automatically used by aclocal.
+This package also includes the "aclocal" program, whose purpose is
+to generate an 'aclocal.m4' based on the contents of 'configure.ac'.
+It is useful as an extensible, maintainable mechanism for augmenting
+autoconf. It is intended that other package authors will write m4
+macros which can be automatically used by aclocal. The documentation
+for aclocal is currently found in the Automake manual.
-The mailing list automake@gnu.org is for discussion of
-Automake, Autoconf, and other configuration/portability tools (e.g.,
-libtool). Write to automake-request@gnu.org if you want to
-join.
+Automake has a test suite. Use "make check" to run it. For more
+information, see the file t/README.
Automake has a page on the web. See:
- http://sources.redhat.com/automake/
+ http://www.gnu.org/software/automake/
-Mail suggestions and bug reports to bug-automake@gnu.org.
+Automake also has three mailing lists:
------
+ * automake@gnu.org
+ For general discussions of Automake and its interactions with other
+ configuration/portability tools like Autoconf or Libtool.
+
+ * bug-automake@gnu.org
+ Where to send bug reports and feature requests.
+
+ * automake-patches@gnu.org
+ Where to send patches, and discuss the automake development process
+ and the design of new features.
-Copyright 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2003 Free Software Foundation,
-Inc.
+To obtain more information about these list, or to subscribe to them,
+refer to <http://www.gnu.org/software/automake/#mailinglists>
+
+New releases are announced to autotools-announce@gnu.org. If you want to
+be informed, subscribe to that list by following the instructions at
+<http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/autotools-announce>.
+
+For any copyright year range specified as YYYY-ZZZZ in this package,
+that the range specifies every single year in that closed interval.
+
+-----
-This file is part of GNU Automake.
+Copyright (C) 1994-2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
-GNU Automake is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
any later version.
-GNU Automake is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
-along with autoconf; see the file COPYING. If not, write to
-the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330,
-Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
+along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.