AutoTools: autoconf, automake, libtools

autoconf package

• autoconf
• autoreconf
• autoheader
• autoscan
• autoupdate
• ifnames
• autom4te

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A dataflow diagram for the autoreconf utility

What does ./bootstrap or ./autogen.sh do?

usually: call autotools commands to copy and generate a number of files. Often just autoreconf -vi.

gnulib provides a very elaborate bootstrap script, see VCS Issues, see Modified imports.

The name bootstrap is preferred over ‘autogen.sh’ as there also exists an independent software package named AutoGen.

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A data flow diagram for autoconf and autoheader

automake

• $@ refers to the full target name of the current target or the archive filename part of a library archive target. This variable is valid in both explicit and implicit rules.
• $% refers to a member of an archive and is valid only when the current target is an archive member—that is, an object file that is a member of a static library. This variable is valid in both explicit and implicit rules.
• $? refers to the list of dependencies that are newer than the current target. This variable is valid in both explicit and implicit rules.
• $< refers to the member of the dependency list whose existence allowed the rule to be chosen for the target. This variable is only valid in implicit rules.
• $* refers to the current target name with its suffix deleted. This variable is guaranteed by POSIX to be valid only in implicit rules.

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A data flow diagram for the compile and link processes

Standard Targets

• all
• install
• install-html
• install-dvi
• install-pdf
• install-ps
• install-strip
• uninstall
• clean
• distclean
• mostlyclean
• maintainer-clean
• TAGS
• info
• dvi
• html
• pdf
• ps
• dist
• check
• installcheck
• installdirs

Prefix Variables and Their Default Values

Some User Variables and Their Purposes

Makefile

CFLAGS = -g -O0

main: main.c
        $(CC) $(CPPFLAGS) $(CFLAGS) -o $@ $<

bash

make CC=ccache CFLAGS='-g -O2' CPPFLAGS=-Dtest

Makefile

CFLAGS ?= -g -O0

m4

most like C-preprocessor (CPP)

bootstrap.sh

#!/bin/sh
autoreconf --install
automake --add-missing --copy >/dev/null 2>&1

AC_INIT

AC_INIT(package, version, [bug-report], [tarname], [url])

@PACKAGE_NAME@ @PACKAGE_VERSION@ @PACKAGE_TARNAME@ @PACKAGE_STRING@ @PACKAGE_BUGREPORT@ @PACKAGE_URL@

AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR

AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR(unique-file-in-source-dir)

AC_CONFIG_HEADERS

• Initialization
• Check request processing
• File instantiation request processing
• Generation of the configure script

AC_CONFIG_XXXS(tag..., [commands], [init-cmds])

Unit Test

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Data flow from maintainer-written input files to the testsuite program

参考：

1. GitHub Code
2. GNU AUTOCONF, AUTOMAKE, AND LIBTOOL
3. 例解 autoconf 和 automake 生成 Makefile 文件