Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. The GNU Build System

2.1 Automake
2.2 Libtool
2.3 Pointers

3. Making configure Scripts

3.1 Writing `configure.ac'

3.1.1 A Shell Script Compiler
3.1.2 The Autoconf Language
3.1.3 Standard `configure.ac' Layout

3.2 Using autoscan to Create `configure.ac'
3.3 Using ifnames to List Conditionals
3.4 Using autoconf to Create configure
3.5 Using autoreconf to Update configure Scripts

4. Initialization and Output Files

4.1 Initializing configure
4.2 Notices in configure
4.3 Finding configure Input
4.4 Outputting Files
4.5 Performing Configuration Actions
4.6 Creating Configuration Files
4.7 Substitutions in Makefiles

4.7.1 Preset Output Variables
4.7.2 Installation Directory Variables
4.7.3 Build Directories
4.7.4 Automatic Remaking

4.8 Configuration Header Files

4.8.1 Configuration Header Templates
4.8.2 Using autoheader to Create `config.h.in'
4.8.3 Autoheader Macros

4.9 Running Arbitrary Configuration Commands
4.10 Creating Configuration Links
4.11 Configuring Other Packages in Subdirectories
4.12 Default Prefix

5. Existing Tests

5.1 Common Behavior

5.1.1 Standard Symbols
5.1.2 Default Includes

5.2 Alternative Programs

5.2.1 Particular Program Checks
5.2.2 Generic Program and File Checks

5.3 Files
5.4 Library Files
5.5 Library Functions

5.5.1 Portability of C Functions
5.5.2 Particular Function Checks
5.5.3 Generic Function Checks

5.6 Header Files

5.6.1 Portability of Headers
5.6.2 Particular Header Checks
5.6.3 Generic Header Checks

5.7 Declarations

5.7.1 Particular Declaration Checks
5.7.2 Generic Declaration Checks

5.8 Structures

5.8.1 Particular Structure Checks
5.8.2 Generic Structure Checks

5.9 Types

5.9.1 Particular Type Checks
5.9.2 Generic Type Checks

5.10 Compilers and Preprocessors

5.10.1 Specific Compiler Characteristics
5.10.2 Generic Compiler Characteristics
5.10.3 C Compiler Characteristics
5.10.4 C++ Compiler Characteristics
5.10.5 Fortran 77 Compiler Characteristics

5.11 System Services
5.12 UNIX Variants

6. Writing Tests

6.1 Language Choice
6.2 Writing Test Programs

6.2.1 Guidelines for Test Programs
6.2.2 Test Functions
6.2.3 Generating Sources

6.3 Running the Preprocessor
6.4 Running the Compiler
6.5 Running the Linker
6.6 Checking Run Time Behavior
6.7 Systemology
6.8 Multiple Cases

7. Results of Tests

7.1 Defining C Preprocessor Symbols
7.2 Setting Output Variables
7.3 Caching Results

7.3.1 Cache Variable Names
7.3.2 Cache Files
7.3.3 Cache Checkpointing

7.4 Printing Messages

8. Programming in M4

8.1 M4 Quotation

8.1.1 Active Characters
8.1.2 One Macro Call
8.1.3 Quotation and Nested Macros
8.1.4 changequote is Evil
8.1.5 Quadrigraphs
8.1.6 Quotation Rule Of Thumb

8.2 Using autom4te

8.2.1 Invoking autom4te
8.2.2 Customizing autom4te

8.3 Programming in M4sugar

8.3.1 Redefined M4 Macros
8.3.2 Evaluation Macros
8.3.3 Forbidden Patterns

8.4 Programming in M4sh

9. Writing Autoconf Macros

9.1 Macro Definitions
9.2 Macro Names
9.3 Reporting Messages
9.4 Dependencies Between Macros

9.4.1 Prerequisite Macros
9.4.2 Suggested Ordering

9.5 Obsoleting Macros
9.6 Coding Style

10. Portable Shell Programming

10.1 Shellology
10.2 Here-Documents
10.3 File Descriptors
10.4 File System Conventions
10.5 Shell Substitutions
10.6 Assignments
10.7 Special Shell Variables
10.8 Limitations of Shell Builtins
10.9 Limitations of Usual Tools
10.10 Limitations of Make

11. Manual Configuration

11.1 Specifying the System Type
11.2 Getting the Canonical System Type
11.3 Using the System Type

12. Site Configuration

12.1 Working With External Software
12.2 Choosing Package Options
12.3 Making Your Help Strings Look Pretty
12.4 Configuring Site Details
12.5 Transforming Program Names When Installing

12.5.1 Transformation Options
12.5.2 Transformation Examples
12.5.3 Transformation Rules

12.6 Setting Site Defaults

13. Running configure Scripts

13.1 Basic Installation
13.2 Compilers and Options
13.3 Compiling For Multiple Architectures
13.4 Installation Names
13.5 Optional Features
13.6 Specifying the System Type
13.7 Sharing Defaults
13.8 Defining Variables
13.9 configure Invocation

14. Recreating a Configuration
15. Obsolete Constructs

15.1 Obsolete `config.status' Invocation
15.2 `acconfig.h'
15.3 Using autoupdate to Modernize `configure.ac'
15.4 Obsolete Macros
15.5 Upgrading From Version 1

15.5.1 Changed File Names
15.5.2 Changed Makefiles
15.5.3 Changed Macros
15.5.4 Changed Results
15.5.5 Changed Macro Writing

15.6 Upgrading From Version 2.13

15.6.1 Changed Quotation
15.6.2 New Macros
15.6.3 Hosts and Cross-Compilation
15.6.4 AC_LIBOBJ vs. LIBOBJS
15.6.5 AC_FOO_IFELSE vs. AC_TRY_FOO

16. Generating Test Suites with Autotest

16.1 Using an Autotest Test Suite

16.1.1 testsuite Scripts
16.1.2 Autotest Logs

16.2 Writing `testsuite.at'
16.3 Running testsuite Scripts
16.4 Making testsuite Scripts

17. Frequent Autoconf Questions, with answers

17.1 Distributing configure Scripts
17.2 Why Require GNU M4?
17.3 How Can I Bootstrap?
17.4 Why Not Imake?
17.5 How Do I #define Installation Directories?
17.6 What is `autom4te.cache'?

18. History of Autoconf

18.1 Genesis
18.2 Exodus
18.3 Leviticus
18.4 Numbers
18.5 Deuteronomy

A. Copying This Manual

A.1 GNU Free Documentation License

A.1.1 ADDENDUM: How to use this License for your documents

B. Indices

B.1 Environment Variable Index
B.2 Output Variable Index
B.3 Preprocessor Symbol Index
B.4 Autoconf Macro Index
B.5 M4 Macro Index
B.6 Autotest Macro Index
B.7 Program and Function Index
B.8 Concept Index