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# Autoconf

For installation instructions see the Section called Installing Autoconf-2.57 in Chapter 6.

## Official Download Location

Autoconf (2.57):
ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/autoconf/

## Contents of Autoconf

(Last checked against version 2.53.)

Autoconf produces shell scripts which automatically configure source code.

Autoconf installs the following:

### Program Files

autoconf, autoheader, autom4te, autoreconf, autoscan, autoupdate and ifnames

##

## Descriptions

(Last checked against version 2.53.)

### Program file descriptions

autoconf is a tool for producing shell scripts that automatically configure software source code packages to adapt to many kinds of Unix-like systems. The configuration scripts it produces are independent -- running them does not require the autoconf program.

autoheader is a tool for creating template files of C #define statements for configure to use.

autom4te is a wrapper for the M4 macro processor.

autoreconf comes in handy when there are a lot of autoconf-generated configure scripts around. The program runs autoconf and autoheader repeatedly (where appropriate) to remake the autoconf configure scripts and configuration header templates in a given directory tree.

autoscan can help to create a `configure.in` file for a software package. It examines the source files in a directory tree, searching them for common portability problems and creates a `configure.scan` file that serves as as a preliminary `configure.in` for the package.

autoupdate modifies a `configure.in` file that still calls autoconf macros by their old names to use the current macro names.

ifnames can be helpful when writing a `configure.in` for a software package. It prints the identifiers that the package uses in C preprocessor conditionals. If a package has already been set up to have some portability, this program can help to determine what `configure` needs to check. It can fill in some gaps in a `configure.in` file generated by autoscan.

##

## Autoconf Installation Dependencies

(Last checked against version 2.52.)

Bash: sh
Coreutils: cat, chmod, echo, expr, hostname, install,
sleep, uname, ln, ls, mkdir, mv, rm, tr
Diffutils: cmp
Gawk: gawk
Grep: fgrep, grep
M4: m4
Make: make
Sed: sed
Texinfo: install-info

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