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Diffstat (limited to 'NEWS')
| -rw-r--r-- | NEWS | 2114 |
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@@ -0,0 +1,2114 @@ +GNU Autoconf NEWS - User visible changes. + +* Noteworthy changes in release 2.69 (2012-04-24) [stable] + +** Autoconf now requires perl 5.6 or better (but generated configure + scripts continue to run without perl). + +* Noteworthy changes in release 2.68b (2012-03-01) [beta] + Released by Eric Blake, based on git versions 2.68.*. + +** Autoconf-generated configure scripts now unconditionally re-execute + themselves with $CONFIG_SHELL, if that's set in the environment. + +** The texinfo documentation no longer specifies "front-cover" or + "back-cover" texts, so that it may now be included in Debian's + "main" section. + +** Support for the Go programming language has been added. The new macro + AC_LANG_GO sets variables GOC and GOFLAGS. + +** AS_LITERAL_IF again treats '=' as a literal. Regression introduced in + 2.66. + +** The macro AS_EXECUTABLE_P, present since 2.50, is now documented. + +** Macros + +- AC_PROG_LN_S and AS_LN_S now fall back on 'cp -pR' (not 'cp -p') if 'ln -s' + does not work. This works better for symlinks to directories. + +- New macro AC_HEADER_CHECK_STDBOOL. + +- New and updated macros for Fortran support: + + AC_FC_CHECK_BOUNDS to enable array bounds checking + AC_F77_IMPLICIT_NONE and AC_FC_IMPLICIT_NONE to disable implicit integer + AC_FC_MODULE_EXTENSION to compute the Fortran 90 module name extension + AC_FC_MODULE_FLAG for the Fortran 90 module search path flag + AC_FC_MODULE_OUTPUT_FLAG for the Fortran 90 module output directory flag + AC_FC_PP_SRCEXT for preprocessed Fortran source files extensions + AC_FC_PP_DEFINE for the Fortran preprocessor define flag + +* Noteworthy changes in release 2.68 (2010-09-22) [stable] + Released by Eric Blake, based on git versions 2.67.*. + +** AC_MSG_ERROR (and AS_ERROR) can once again be followed immediately by + `dnl'. Regression introduced in 2.66. + +** AC_INIT again allows URLs with '?' for its BUG-REPORT argument. + Regression introduced in 2.66. + +** AC_REPLACE_FUNCS again allows a non-literal argument, such as a shell + variable that expands to a list of functions to check. Regression + introduced in 2.66. + +** AT_BANNER() with empty argument will cause visual separation from previous + test category. + +** The macros AC_PREPROC_IFELSE, AC_COMPILE_IFELSE, AC_LINK_IFELSE, and + AC_RUN_IFELSE now warn if the first argument failed to use + AC_LANG_SOURCE or AC_LANG_PROGRAM to generate the conftest file + contents. A new macro AC_LANG_DEFINES_PROVIDED exists if you have + a compelling reason why you cannot use AC_LANG_SOURCE but must + avoid the warning. + +** The macro m4_define_default is now documented. + +** Symlinked config.cache files are supported; configure now tries to + update non-symlinked cache files atomically, so that concurrent configure + runs do not leave behind broken cache files. It is still unspecified + which subset or union of results is cached though. + +** Autotest testsuites should not contain long text lines any more, and be + portable even when very many test groups are used. + +** AT_CHECK semantics with respect to the Autotest variable $at_status and + shell execution environment of the arguments are documented now. + +** AC_FC_LIBRARY_LDFLAGS now tolerates output from newer gfortran. + +** Newly obsolete macros + The following macros have been marked obsolete. New programs + should use the corresponding Gnulib modules. Gnulib not only + detects a larger set of portability problems with these functions, + but also provides complete workarounds. + + AC_FUNC_ERROR_AT_LINE AC_FUNC_LSTAT_FOLLOWS_SLASHED_SYMLINK + AC_FUNC_MKTIME AC_FUNC_STRTOD + + +* Major changes in Autoconf 2.67 (2010-07-21) [stable] + Released by Eric Blake, based on git versions 2.66.*. + +** AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS with more than one subdirectory at a time works again. + Regression introduced in 2.66. + +** AC_CHECK_SIZEOF of a pointer type works again. Regression introduced in + 2.66. + +** New macro AC_FC_LINE_LENGTH to accept long Fortran source code lines. + +** AC_PREPROC_IFELSE now keeps the preprocessed output in the conftest.i + file for inspection by the commands in the ACTION-IF-TRUE argument. + +** AC_INIT again allows parentheses and other characters that are literal + in single- or double-quoted strings, and in quoted and unquoted + here-documents, for its PACKAGE and VERSION arguments. Regression + introduced in 2.66. + +** autoreconf passes warning flags to new enough versions of aclocal. + +** Running an Autotest testsuite in parallel mode no longer triggers a + race condition that could cause the testsuite run to end early, + fixing a sporadic failure in autoconf's own testsuite. Bug present + since introduction of parallel tests in 2.63b. + + +* Major changes in Autoconf 2.66 (2010-07-02) [stable] + Released by Eric Blake, based on git versions 2.65.*. + +** AC_FUNC_MMAP works in C++ mode again. Regression introduced in 2.65. + +** Use of m4_divert without a named diversion now issues a syntax warning, + since it is seldom right to change diversions behind autoconf's back. + +** The macros AC_TYPE_INT8_T, AC_TYPE_INT16_T, AC_TYPE_INT32_T, and + AC_TYPE_INT64_T work again. Regression introduced in 2.65. + +** AC_PROG_INSTALL correctly uses `shtool' again. Regression introduced + in 2.64. + +** Autoconf should work on EBCDIC hosts. + +** AC_CHECK_DECL and AC_CHECK_DECLS accept optional function argument types + for overloaded C++ functions. + +** AS_SET_CATFILE accepts nonliterals in its variable name argument now. + +** Autotest testsuites accept an option --recheck to rerun tests that + failed or passed unexpectedly during the last non-debug testsuite run. + +** AC_ARG_ENABLE and AC_ARG_WITH now also accept `+' signs in `--enable-*' + and `--with-*' arguments, converting them to underscores for the variable + names. + +** In configure scripts, loading CONFIG_SITE no longer searches PATH, + and problems in loading the configuration site files are diagnosed. + +** Autotest testsuites may optionally provide colored test results. + +** The previously undocumented Autotest macros AT_ARG_OPTION and + AT_ARG_OPTION_ARG have seen bug fixes and are documented now. + AT_ARG_OPTION has been changed in that the negative of a long option + --OPTION is now --no-OPTION rather than --noOPTION. + +** The macro AS_LITERAL_IF is slightly more conservative; text + containing shell quotes are no longer treated as literals. + Furthermore, a new macro, AS_LITERAL_WORD_IF, adds an additional + level of checking that no whitespace occurs in literals. + +** The macros AS_TR_SH and AS_TR_CPP no longer expand their results. + +** The following macros are now documented: + AS_BOX + +** New macro AC_FC_FIXEDFORM to accept fixed-form Fortran. + + +* Major changes in Autoconf 2.65 (2009-11-21) [stable] + Released by Eric Blake, based on git versions 2.64.*. + +** Autoconf is now licensed under the General Public License version 3 + or later (GPLv3+). As with earlier versions, the license includes + an exception clause so that you may release a configure script + generated by autoconf under the license of your own program. + +** New macros to support Objective C++. + AC_PROG_OBJCXX AC_PROG_OBJCXXCPP + +** The following undocumented autoconf macros, removed in Autoconf 2.64, + have been reinstated: + AH_CHECK_HEADERS + + These macros are present only for backwards compatibility purposes. + +** The macro AC_LANG_COMPILER no longer fails on embedded systems that + lack fopen in the C library, such as AVR or RTEMS (regression + introduced in 2.64). + +** The AC_FC_FREEFORM macro no longer suffers from a whitespace bug that + made it fail with some Fortran compilers (regression introduced in + 2.64). + +** The AC_TYPE_UINT64_T and AC_TYPE_INT64_T macros have been fixed to no + longer mistakenly select a 32-bit type on some compilers (bug present + since macros were introduced in 2.59c). + +** The AC_FUNC_MMAP macro has been fixed to be portable to systems like + Cygwin (bug present since macro was introduced in 2.0). + +** The following documented autotest macros are new: + AT_CHECK_EUNIT + +** The following m4sugar macros now quote their expansion: + m4_toupper m4_tolower + +** The following m4sugar macros are new: + m4_escape + +** The m4sugar macro m4_text_wrap now copes with embedded quoting without + requiring quadrigraphs. For uses like AC_ARG_VAR([a], [[b c]]), + this gives the intuitive behavior of "[b c]" in the output (2.63 + gave the output of "[b], [c]", and 2.64 encountered a failure). + +** The `$tmp' temporary directory used in config.status is documented for + public use now. + +** config.status now provides a --config option to produce the configuration. + +** Many cache variables used by Autoconf's macros are now documented. + +** Configure scripts work better on DJGPP by avoiding a bug present in + the DJGPP port of bash 2.04 in handling 'return' in a shell + function (regression introduced in 2.64). + +* Major changes in Autoconf 2.64 (2009-07-26) [stable] + Released by Eric Blake, based on git versions 2.63b.*. + +** Autoconf now requires GNU M4 1.4.6 or later. Earlier versions of M4 + have a bug in regular expression handling that interferes with some + of the speedups provided since Autoconf 2.63. GNU M4 1.4.13 or + later is recommended. + +** AS_IF and AS_CASE have been taught to avoid syntax errors even when + given arguments that expand to just whitespace. + +** The following documented autoconf macros are new: + AC_ERLANG_SUBST_ERTS_VER + +** The autoheader tool now understands m4 macro arguments passed to + AC_DEFINE and AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED. + +** Ensure AT_CHECK can support commands that include a # given with + proper m4 quoting. For shell comments, this is a new feature; for + non-shell comments, this fixes a regression introduced in 2.63b. + Additionally, AT_CHECK correctly supplies shell escapes for + metacharacters occurring in m4 macro expansions within the expected + stdout and stderr parameters. + +** The macro AT_CHECK now understands the concept of hard failure. If + a test exits with an unexpected status 99, cleanup actions for the + test are inhibited and the test is treated as a failure regardless + of AT_XFAIL_IF. It also understands the new directives + ignore-nolog, stdout-nolog, and stderr-nolog. + +** The following documented autotest macros are new: + AT_CHECK_UNQUOTED AT_FAIL_IF AT_SKIP_IF + +** The following documented m4sugar macros are new: + m4_argn m4_copy_force m4_default_nblank m4_default_nblank_quoted + m4_ifblank m4_ifnblank m4_rename_force + +** The autoconf testsuite now exercises all Erlang macros. + +* Major changes in Autoconf 2.63b (2009-03-31) [beta] + Released by Eric Blake, based on git versions 2.63.*. + +** The manual is now shipped under the terms of the GNU FDL 1.3. + +** AC_REQUIRE now detects the case of an outer macro which first expands + then later indirectly requires the same inner macro. Previously, + this case led to silent out-of-order expansion (bug present since + 2.50); it now issues a syntax warning, and duplicates the expansion + of the inner macro to guarantee dependencies have been met. See + the manual for advice on how to refactor macros in order to avoid + the bug in earlier autoconf versions and avoid increased script + size in the current version. + +** AC_DEFUN_ONCE has improved semantics. Previously, a macro declared + with AC_DEFUN_ONCE warned on a second invocation; and out-of-order + expansion was still possible. Now, dependencies are guaranteed, + and subsequent invocations are a silent no-op. This makes + AC_DEFUN_ONCE an ideal macro for silencing AC_REQUIRE warnings. + +** The following macros are now defined with AC_DEFUN_ONCE. This means + a subtle change in semantics; previously, an AC_DEFUN macro could + expand one of these macros multiple times or surround the macro + inside shell conditional text to bypass the effects of these + macros, but now the macro will expand exactly once, and prior to + the start of any enclosing AC_DEFUN macro: + AC_CANONICAL_BUILD AC_CANONICAL_HOST AC_CANONICAL_TARGET + AC_HEADER_ASSERT AC_PROG_INSTALL AC_PROG_MKDIR_P + AC_USE_SYSTEM_EXTENSIONS + +** AC_LANG_ERLANG works once again (regression introduced in 2.61a). + +** AC_HEADER_ASSERT is fixed so that './configure --enable-assert' no + longer mistakenly disables assertions. + +** AC_INIT now takes an optional fifth parameter that can be used to + set AC_PACKAGE_URL, a URL for the package's home page; the URL is + used in `configure --help' and is also available via AC_DEFINE. + +** Autotest testsuites accept an option --jobs[=N] for parallel testing. + This feature is still in testing, and may not work on every + platform, help in improving it would be appreciated. + +** Autotest testsuites do not attempt to write startup error messages + to the log file before that is opened (regression introduced in 2.63). + +** Configure scripts now use shell functions. This feature leads to + smaller configure files and faster execution. + +** Present But Cannot Be Compiled: Autoconf will now proceed with + the compiler's result if a header is present but cannot be compiled. + The warning is still printed, and you should really fix it by + providing a fourth parameter to AC_CHECK_HEADER/AC_CHECK_HEADERS. + +** Autoreconf added aclocal to the set of programs affected by the + `autoreconf -I dir' option. + +** The following documented m4sugar macros are new: + m4_chomp m4_chomp_all m4_cleardivert m4_curry m4_default_quoted + m4_esyscmd_s m4_map_args m4_map_args_pair m4_map_args_sep + m4_map_args_w m4_set_map m4_set_map_sep m4_stack_foreach + m4_stack_foreach_lifo m4_stack_foreach_sep + m4_stack_foreach_sep_lifo + +** The following m4sugar macros are documented now, but in some cases + with slightly different semantics than what the previous + undocumented version had: + m4_copy m4_dumpdefs m4_rename m4_version_prereq + +** The m4sugar macro m4_expand has been taught to handle unterminated + comments and shell case statements. As a result, it is used + internally in more places, such as AC_DEFINE and AT_CHECK. Most + uses of AC_DEFINE and AT_CHECK should not behave any differently; + however, it may be necessary to add double-quoting around + unbalanced `(' where single-quoting used to be sufficient. + +** The following documented m4sh macros are new: + AS_INIT_GENERATED AS_LINENO_PREPARE AS_ME_PREPARE AS_SET_STATUS + AS_VAR_APPEND AS_VAR_ARITH AS_VAR_COPY + +** The following m4sh macros are documented now, but in some cases + with slightly different semantics than what the previous + undocumented version had: + AS_ECHO AS_ECHO_N AS_ESCAPE AS_EXIT AS_LITERAL_IF AS_UNSET + AS_VAR_IF AS_VAR_POPDEF AS_VAR_PUSHDEF AS_VAR_SET AS_VAR_SET_IF + AS_VAR_TEST_SET AS_VERSION_COMPARE + +** The m4sh macros AS_IF and AS_CASE can now be used in shell lists. + The responsibility for supplying a trailing newline now belongs to + the call site, but since most users did not add dnl, this generally + results in fewer empty lines in configure. + + +* Major changes in Autoconf 2.63 (2008-09-09) [stable] + Released by Eric Blake, based on git versions 2.62.*. + +** AC_C_BIGENDIAN does not mistakenly report "universal" for some + bigendian hosts, a regression introduced with universal binary + support in 2.62. + +** AC_PATH_X now includes /lib64 and /usr/lib64 in its list of default + library directories. + +** AC_USE_SYSTEM_EXTENSIONS no longer conflicts with an external + AC_DEFINE([__EXTENSIONS__]). This fixes a regression introduced in + 2.62 when using macros such as AC_AIX that were made obsolete in + favor of the more portable AC_USE_SYSTEM_EXTENSIONS. + +** AC_CHECK_TARGET_TOOLS is usable in the non-cross-compile case. + +** Newly obsolete macros + The following macro has been marked obsolete, since current porting + targets can safely assume C89 semantics that signal handlers return + void. We have no current plans to remove the macro. + + AC_TYPE_SIGNAL + +** The macros m4_map and m4_map_sep now ignore any list elements + consisting of just empty quotes, and m4_map_sep now expands its + separator. This fixes a regression in 2.62 when these macros were + first documented, for the sake of clients expecting the semantics + that these macros had prior to that time. The new macros m4_mapall + and m4_mapall_sep, along with extra quoting of the separator, can + be used to get the semantics that m4_map_sep had in 2.62. + +** Clients of m4_expand, such as AS_HELP_STRING and AT_SETUP, can now + handle properly quoted but otherwise unbalanced parentheses (for + some macros, this fixes a regression in 2.62). + +** Two new quadrigraphs have been introduced: @{:@ for (, and @:}@ for ), + allowing the output of unbalanced parentheses in more contexts. + +** The following m4sugar macros are new: + m4_cleardivert m4_joinall m4_mapall m4_mapall_sep m4_reverse + m4_set_add m4_set_add_all m4_set_contains m4_set_contents + m4_set_delete m4_set_difference m4_set_dump m4_set_empty + m4_set_foreach m4_set_intersection m4_set_list m4_set_listc + m4_set_remove m4_set_size m4_set_union + +** The following m4sugar macros now accept multiple arguments, as is the + case with underlying m4: + m4_defn m4_popdef m4_undefine + +** The following m4sugar macros now guarantee linear scaling; they + previously had linear scaling with m4 1.6 but quadratic scaling + when using m4 1.4.x. All macros built on top of these also gain + the scaling improvements. + m4_bmatch m4_bpatsubsts m4_case m4_cond m4_do m4_dquote_elt + m4_foreach m4_join m4_list_cmp m4_map m4_map_sep m4_max + m4_min m4_shiftn + +** AT_KEYWORDS once again performs expansion on its argument, such that + AT_KEYWORDS([m4_if([$1], [], [default])]) no longer complains about + the possibly unexpanded m4_if [regression introduced in 2.62]. + +** Config header templates `#undef UNDEFINED /* comment */' do not lead to + nested comments any more; regression introduced in 2.62. + + +* Major changes in Autoconf 2.62 (2008-04-05) [stable] + Released by Eric Blake, based on git versions 2.61a.*. + +** Many optimizations have been applied to make overall execution faster. + +** Autotest now makes use of shell functions. + +** config.status now uses awk instead of sed also for config headers. + + - As a side effect, AC_DEFINE and AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED now handle multi-line + values, i.e., backslash-newline combinations are handled correctly. + Further, for config headers, the total size of values is not limited by + the POSIX length limit of text lines any more, only each single line. + +** New config variable `top_build_prefix'. + +** New Autoconf macros: + AC_AUTOCONF_VERSION AC_OPENMP AC_PATH_PROGS_FEATURE_CHECK + +** AC_C_BIGENDIAN now supports universal binaries a la Mac OS X. + +** AC_C_RESTRICT now prefers to #define 'restrict' to a variant spelling + like '__restrict' if the variant spelling is available, as this is + more likely to work when mixing C and C++ code. + +** AC_CHECK_ALIGNOF's type argument T is now documented better: it must + be a string of tokens such that "T y;" is a valid member declaration + in a struct. + +** AC_CHECK_SIZEOF now accepts objects as well as types: the general rule + is that sizeof (X) works, then AC_CHECK_SIZEOF (X) should work. + +** AC_CHECK_TYPE and AC_CHECK_TYPES now work on any C type-name; formerly, + they did not work for function types. In C++, they now work on any + type-id that can be the operand of sizeof; this is similar to C, + except it excludes anonymous struct and union types. Formerly, + some (but not all) C++ types involving anonymous struct and union + were accepted, though this was not documented. + +** AC_CONFIG_LINKS now prefers to link against files in the build tree + if found, and it works to link against a file of the same name in + the source tree, even if both trees coincide. + +** AC_INIT no longer alters $@; regression introduced in 2.60. + +** AC_USE_SYSTEM_EXTENSIONS now defines _ALL_SOURCE for Interix platforms. + +** AS_HELP_STRING no longer underquotes its first argument; it also handles + the case where the first argument contains single-quoted commas. + For example, "AS_HELP_STRING([-a, [--arg[=foo]]], [bar])" produces: + " -a, --arg[=foo] bar" + Additionally, the macro now takes two additional arguments, + indent-column and wrap-column; these should not normally be needed, + but can be used to fine-tune how the output text is wrapped. + +** AC_PROG_INSTALL now requires an install program that can install multiple + files into a target directory. + +** The command 'autoconf -' now correctly processes a file from stdin. + +** 'autoreconf -m' now honors $MAKE. + +** For all of the directory arguments for 'configure', such as '--prefix' + or '--bindir', trailing slashes are stripped. As an example, if + tab completion in the user's shell appends trailing slashes, the + command './configure --prefix=/usr/' will still result in an + expanded libdir value of /usr/lib, not /usr//lib. + +** `configure --help=recursive' now works in read-only trees and from + unconfigured build trees. + +** If precious variables differ only in whitespace, then the cache consistency + check warns instead of fails, and reuses the old value. + +** AT_BANNER is now documented. + +** AT_SETUP now handles macro expansions properly when calculating line + length. + +** Autotest now determines $srcdir correctly. + +** Testsuites built by autotest now accept a -C/--directory=DIR option + to adjust the working directory prior to creating files. + +** Autoconf now requires GNU M4 1.4.5 or later. Earlier versions of M4 have + a bug in macro tracing that interferes with the interaction between + Autoconf and Automake. GNU M4 1.4.11 or later is recommended. The + configure search for a working M4 is improved. + +** For portability with the eventual M4 2.0, macros should no longer use + anything larger than $9 to refer to arguments. + +** Documentation for m4sugar is improved. + + - The following macros were previously available as undocumented + interfaces; the macros are now documented as stable interfaces. + + __oline__ m4_assert m4_bmatch m4_bpatsubsts m4_car m4_case + m4_cdr m4_default m4_divert_once m4_divert_pop m4_divert_push + m4_divert_text m4_do m4_errprintn m4_fatal m4_flatten + m4_ifndef m4_ifset m4_ifval m4_ifvaln m4_location + m4_n m4_shiftn m4_strip m4_warn + + - The following macros were previously available as undocumented + interfaces, but had bug fixes or semantic changes as part of this + release. Packages that relied on the undocumented behavior + should be analyzed to make sure they will still work with the + new documented behavior. + + m4_cmp m4_list_cmp m4_join m4_map m4_map_sep m4_sign + m4_text_box m4_text_wrap m4_version_compare + + - The m4_wrap macro used to have unspecified order, but now + guarantees FIFO order. m4_wrap_lifo was added to guarantee LIFO + order. + + - Packages using the undocumented m4sugar macro m4_PACKAGE_VERSION + should consider using the new AC_AUTOCONF_VERSION instead. + + - m4sugar macros that are not documented in the manual are still + deemed experimental, and should not be used outside of Autoconf. + +** The m4sugar macros m4_append and m4_append_uniq, first documented in + 2.60, have been fixed to treat both the string and the separator + arguments consistently with regards to quoting. Prior to this fix, + m4_append_uniq could mistakenly duplicate entries if the expansion + of the separator resulted in a different string (for example, if it + contained quotes, a comma, or a macro name). However, it means + that programs previously using + m4_append([name], [string], [[, ]]) + are now using a four-character separator instead of the intended + comma and space. If you need portability to earlier versions of + Autoconf, you can insert the following snippet after AC_INIT but + before any other macro expansions, to enforce the new semantics: + m4_pushdef([m4_append], [m4_define([$1], + m4_ifdef([$1], [m4_defn([$1])[$3]])[$2])]) + Additionally, m4_append_uniq now takes optional parameters that can + be used to take action depending on whether anything was appended, + and warns if a non-empty separator occurs within the string being + appended, since that can lead to duplicates. + +** The following m4sugar macros are new: + m4_append_uniq_w m4_apply m4_combine m4_cond m4_count + m4_dquote_elt m4_echo m4_expand m4_ignore m4_make_list m4_max + m4_min m4_newline m4_shift2 m4_shift3 m4_unquote m4_wrap_lifo + +** Warnings are now generated by default when an installer invokes + 'configure' with an unknown --enable-* or --with-* option. + These warnings can be disabled with the new AC_DISABLE_OPTION_CHECKING + macro, or by invoking 'configure' with --disable-option-checking. + +** Existing obsolete macros + The documentation for the following macros is adjusted to make it + more clear that they have previously been marked obsolete, as their + functionality can be accomplished by other macros. We have no + current plans to remove them from Autoconf. + + AC_ENABLE AC_STRUCT_ST_BLKSIZE AC_STRUCT_ST_RDEV AC_WITH + +** Newly obsolete macros + The following macros have been marked obsolete, as they only + perform a subset of AC_USE_SYSTEM_EXTENSIONS. We have no current + plans to remove them. + + AC_AIX AC_GNU_SOURCE AC_ISC_POSIX AC_MINIX + +** AC_C_LONG_DOUBLE is obsolescent. + The documentation now says that AC_C_LONG_DOUBLE is obsolescent: it + tests for problems that are so old that it is no longer of + practical importance on current systems. New programs need not use + AC_C_LONG_DOUBLE. We have no current plans to remove it. + +** AC_DIAGNOSE, AC_WARNING, and AC_FATAL are obsolescent. + The documentation now favors the use of M4sugar macros m4_warn and + m4_fatal, since the naming makes it more obvious that the + diagnostics are associated with M4 expansion (ie. when running + `autoconf'), and offers less confusion with the AC_MSG_ERROR, + AC_MSG_FAILURE, and AC_MSG_WARN macros which manage diagnostics + when running `configure'. We have no current plans to remove these + macros. + + +* Major changes in Autoconf 2.61a (2006-12-11) + +** AC_FUNC_FSEEKO was broken in 2.61; it didn't make fseeko and ftello visible + on many platforms. This has been fixed. + +** AC_FUNC_SETVBUF_REVERSED is now obsolete. It is still defined for backward + compatibility but it does nothing. The macro was already + obsolescent, as the last systems to have the problem were those + based on SVR2, which became obsolete in 1987. The macro had bugs + on some modern systems and could no longer be maintained reliably + due to lack of ancient systems to test it on. + +** config.status now uses awk instead of sed for most substitutions, for speed. + + - As a side effect multi-line values of substituted variables no + longer have a small limit in total size, though for portability + each line should not exceed the POSIX length limit for text lines. + + - It is now documented that Makefile.in should not contain + overlapping variable occurrences, e.g., @VAR1@VAR2@. + Autoconf's behavior was always iffy in such cases, and the + awk implementation has changed the behavior. + +** Many uses of 'echo' have been rewritten so that Autoconf-generated + scripts have fewer problems with strings or file names containing + embedded special characters such as backslash or leading "-". This + was implemented by using `printf '%s\n' "$foo"' instead of `echo + "$foo"' when printf works. Due to the implementation technique + used, Autoconf-generated scripts now run considerably more slowly + on ancient implementations lacking printf. However, this should + not be a problem, since Autoconf-generated scripts in practice + invariably find a more-modern shell these days. + + +* Major changes in Autoconf 2.61 (2006-11-17) + +** New macros AC_C_FLEXIBLE_ARRAY_MEMBER, AC_C_VARARRAYS. + +** AC_ARG_ENABLE and AC_ARG_WITH now allow '.' in feature and package names. + + +* Major changes in Autoconf 2.60b (2006-10-22) + +** BIN_SH + Autoconf-generated shell scripts no longer export BIN_SH, due to + configuration hassles with this. Installers who need BIN_SH in + their environment should set it before invoking 'configure' and + 'make'. As far as we know, this affects only Unixware installations. + +** Obsolescent macros + The documentation now says that the following macros are obsolescent, + as they are superseded by Gnulib: + + AC_FUNC_FNMATCH AC_FUNC_FNMATCH_GNU AC_FUNC_GETLOADVG AC_REPLACE_FNMATCH + + New programs should use the Gnulib counterparts of these macros. + We have no current plans to remove them from Autoconf. + +** AC_COMPUTE_INT no longer caches or reports results. + +** AC_CHECK_DECL now also works with aggregate objects. + +** AC_USE_SYSTEM_EXTENSIONS now defines _TANDEM_SOURCE for NonStop platforms. + +** GNU M4 1.4.7 or later is now recommended. + +** m4_mkstemp + New M4sugar macro, which is more secure than the POSIX M4 maketemp. + +** m4_maketemp + Now an alias for m4_mkstemp. + +* Major changes in Autoconf 2.60a (2006-08-25) + +** GNU M4 1.4.6 or later is now recommended. + +** The check for C99 now tests for varargs macros, as documented. + It also tests that the preprocessor supports 64-bit integers. + +** Autoconf now uses constructs like "#ifdef HAVE_STDLIB_H" rather than + "#if HAVE_STDLIB_H", so that it now works with "gcc -Wundef -Werror". + +** The functionality of the undocumented _AC_COMPUTE_INT is now provided + by a public and documented macro, AC_COMPUTE_INT. The parameters to the + two macros are different, so autoupdate will not change the old private name + to the new one. _AC_COMPUTE_INT may be removed in a future release. + +** AC_TYPE_LONG_LONG_INT and AC_TYPE_UNSIGNED_LONG_LONG_INT now require + that long long types be at least 64 bits wide, as C99 and tradition + requires. Formerly, they accepted implementations of any width. + + +* Major changes in Autoconf 2.60 + + Released 2006-06-23, by Ralf Wildenhues. + +** Autoconf no longer depends on whether m4wrap is FIFO (as Posix requires) + or LIFO (as in GNU M4 1.4.x). GNU M4 2.0 is expected to conform to Posix + here, so m4wrap/m4_wrap users should no longer depend on LIFO behavior. + +** Provide a way to turn off warnings about the changed directory variables. + +* Major changes in Autoconf 2.59d + + Released 2006-06-05, by Ralf Wildenhues. + +** GNU make now recommended for VPATH builds + INSTALL now suggests VPATH builds (e.g., "sh ../srcdir/configure") + only if you use GNU make. In practice, other 'make' implementations + have too many subtle incompatibilities in their support for VPATH. + Many packages (including Autoconf itself) are portable to other + 'make' implementations, but some packages are not, and recommending + GNU make keeps the installation instructions simpler. + +** Even more safety checks for the new Directory variables: + Warn about suspicious `${datarootdir}' found in config files output. + +** AC_TRY_COMMAND, AC_TRY_EVAL, ac_config_guess, ac_config_sub, ac_configure + These never-documented macros and variables have been marked with + comments saying that they may be removed in a future release, + because their use can lead to unintended code being executed. + If you need functionality that only these macros or variables + currently supply, please write bug-autoconf@gnu.org. + +** AC_SUBST, AC_DEFINE + Literal arguments to these are passed to m4_pattern_allow now. + +** AC_PROG_CC_STDC + Passing 'ac_cv_prog_cc_stdc=no' to 'configure' now sets ac_cv_prog_cc_c99 + and ac_cv_prog_cc_c89 to 'no' as well, for backward compatibility with + obsolete K&R tests in the Automake test suite. + +** AC_PROG_CXX_C_O + New macro. + +** AC_PROG_MKDIR_P + New macro. + +** AS_MKDIR_P + Now more robust with special characters in file names, or when + multiple processes create the same directory at the same time. + +** Obsolescent macros + The documentation now says that the following macros are obsolescent: + they test for problems that are so old that they are no longer of + practical importance on current systems. + + AC_C_BACKSLASH_A AC_FUNC_MEMCMP AC_HEADER_DIRENT + AC_C_CONST AC_FUNC_SELECT_ARGTYPES AC_HEADER_STAT + AC_C_PROTOTYPES AC_FUNC_SETPGRP AC_HEADER_STDC + AC_C_STRINGIZE AC_FUNC_SETVBUF_REVERSED AC_HEADER_SYS_WAIT + AC_C_VOLATILE AC_FUNC_STAT AC_HEADER_TIME + AC_FUNC_CLOSEDIR_VOID AC_FUNC_STRFTIME AC_ISC_POSIX + AC_FUNC_GETPGRP AC_FUNC_UTIME_NULL AC_PROG_GCC_TRADITIONAL + AC_FUNC_LSTAT AC_FUNC_VPRINTF AC_STRUCT_TM + + New programs need not use these macros. We have no current plans to + remove them. + +** autoreconf + For compatibility with future Libtool 2.0, autoreconf will invoke + libtoolize with the option `--ltdl' now, if LT_CONFIG_LTDL_DIR is + used. + +* Major changes in Autoconf 2.59c + + Released 2006-04-12, by Ralf Wildenhues. + +** The configure command now redirects standard input from /dev/null, + to help avoid problems with subsidiary commands that might mistakenly + read standard input. AS_ORIGINAL_STDIN_FD points to the original + standard input before this redirection, if you really want configure to + read from standard input. + +** Directory variables adjusted to recent changes in the GNU Coding Standards. + The following directory variables are new: + + datarootdir read-only architecture-independent data root [PREFIX/share] + localedir locale-specific message catalogs [DATAROOTDIR/locale] + docdir documentation root [DATAROOTDIR/doc/PACKAGE] + htmldir html documentation [DOCDIR] + dvidir dvi documentation [DOCDIR] + pdfdir pdf documentation [DOCDIR] + psdir ps documentation [DOCDIR] + + The following variables have new default values: + + datadir read-only architecture-independent data [DATAROOTDIR] + infodir info documentation [DATAROOTDIR/info] + mandir man documentation [DATAROOTDIR/man] + + This means that if you use any of `@datadir@', `@infodir@', or + `@mandir@' in a file, you will have to ensure `${datarootdir}' is + defined in this file. As a temporary measure, if any of those are + found but no mention of `datarootdir', the substitutions will be + replaced with values that do not contain `${datarootdir}', and a + warning will be issued. + +** @top_builddir@ is now a dir name: it is always nonempty and doesn't have + a trailing slash. Similar change will be made to ac_top_builddir in a + future release; the old style value, which matches (../)*, is (and will + continue to be) available as ac_top_build_prefix. + +** AC_C_TYPEOF + New macro to check for support of 'typeof' syntax a la GNU C. + +** AC_CHECK_DECLS_ONCE, AC_CHECK_FUNCS_ONCE, AC_CHECK_HEADERS_ONCE + New "once-only" variants of commonly-used macros, to make 'configure' + smaller and faster in common cases. + +** AC_FUNC_STRTOLD + New macro to check for strtold with C99 semantics. + +** AC_HEADER_ASSERT + New macro that lets builder disable assertions at 'configure'-time. + +** AC_PATH_X + Now checks for X11/Xlib.h and XrmInitialize (X proper) rather than + X11/Intrinsic.h and XtMalloc (Xt). + +** AC_PRESERVE_HELP_ORDER + New macro that causes `configure' to display help strings for AC_ARG_ENABLE + and AC_ARG_WITH arguments in one region, in the order defined. The default + behavior is to group options of each classes separately. + +** AC_PROG_CC, AC_PROG_CXX + No longer automatically arrange to declare the 'exit' function of C, + when a C++ compiler is used. Standard Autoconf macros no longer use + 'exit', so this is no longer an issue for them. If you use C++, and + want to call 'exit', you'll have to arrange for its declaration + yourself. But we now suggest you return from 'main' instead. + +** AC_PROG_CC_C89, AC_PROG_CC_C99 + New macros for ISO C99 support. AC_PROG_CC_C89 and AC_PROG_CC_C99 + check for ANSI C89 and ISO C99 support respectively. + +** AC_PROG_CC_STDC + Has been unobsoleted, and will check if the compiler supports ISO + C99, falling back to ANSI C89 if not. ac_cv_prog_cc_stdc is + retained for backwards compatibility, assuming the value of + ac_cv_prog_cc_c99 or ac_cv_prog_cc_c89 (whichever is valid, in + that order). + +** AC_STRUCT_DIRENT_D_INO, AC_STRUCT_DIRENT_D_TYPE + New macros for checking commonly-used members of struct dirent. + +** AC_SUBST + The substituted value can now contain newlines. + +** AC_SUBST_FILE + The substitution now occurs only when @variable@ is on a line by itself, + optionally surrounded by spaces and tabs. The whole line is replaced. + +** AC_TYPE_LONG_DOUBLE, AC_TYPE_LONG_DOUBLE_WIDER + New macros to check for long double, and whether it is wider than double. + The old macro AC_C_TYPE_LONG_DOUBLE has been marked as obsolete; + applications should switch to the new macro. + +** AC_TYPE_INT8_T, AC_TYPE_INT16_T, AC_TYPE_INT32_T, AC_TYPE_INT64_T, + AC_TYPE_INTMAX_T, AC_TYPE_INTPTR_T, AC_TYPE_LONG_LONG_INT, AC_TYPE_SSIZE_T, + AC_TYPE_UINT8_T, AC_TYPE_UINT16_T, AC_TYPE_UINT32_T, AC_TYPE_UINT64_T, + AC_TYPE_UINTMAX_T, AC_TYPE_UINTPTR_T, AC_TYPE_UNSIGNED_LONG_LONG_INT + New macros to check for C99 and POSIX types. + +** AC_USE_SYSTEM_EXTENSIONS + New macro to enable extensions to Posix. + +** AH_HEADER + New macro which is defined to the name of the first declared config header + or undefined if no config headers have been declared yet. + +** AS_HELP_STRING + The macro correctly handles quadrigraphs now. + +** AS_BOURNE_COMPATIBLE, AS_SHELL_SANITIZE, AS_CASE + These macros are new or published now. + +** AT_COPYRIGHT + New macro for copyright notices in testsuite files. + +** ALLOCA, LIBOBJS, LTLIBOBJS + Object names added to these variables are now prefixed with `${LIBOBJDIR}', + as in `${LIBOBJDIR}alloca.o'. LIBOBJDIR is meant to be defined from + `Makefile.in' in case the object files lie in a different directory. + The LIBOBJDIR feature is experimental. + +** autoreconf + Supports --no-recursive now. + +** New macros to support Erlang/OTP. + New macros for configuring paths to Erlang tools and libraries: + AC_ERLANG_PATH_ERLC, AC_ERLANG_NEED_ERLC, AC_ERLANG_PATH_ERL, + AC_ERLANG_NEED_ERL, AC_ERLANG_CHECK_LIB, AC_ERLANG_SUBST_ROOT_DIR, + AC_ERLANG_SUBST_LIB_DIR. + + New macros for configuring installation of Erlang libraries: + AC_ERLANG_SUBST_INSTALL_LIB_DIR, AC_ERLANG_SUBST_INSTALL_LIB_SUBDIR. + +** The manual now mentions Gnulib more prominently. + +** New macros to support Objective C. + AC_PROG_OBJC, AC_PROG_OBJCPP. + +* Major changes in Autoconf 2.59b + + Released 2004-08-20, by Paul Eggert. + +** AC_CHECK_ALIGNOF + New macro that computes the default alignment of a type. + +** AC_CHECK_TOOL, AC_PATH_TOOL, AC_CHECK_TOOLS + When cross-compiling, these macros will give a warning if the tool + is not prefixed. In the future, unprefixed cross tools will not + be detected; please consult the info documentation for information + about the reason of this change. + +** AC_CHECK_TARGET_TOOL, AC_PATH_TARGET_TOOL, AC_CHECK_TARGET_TOOLS + New macros that detect programs whose name is prefixed with the + target type, if the build type and target type are different. + +** AC_REQUIRE_AUX_FILE + New trace macro that declares expected auxiliary files. + +** AC_PROG_GREP + New macro that tests for a grep program that accepts as a long a line + as possible. + +** AC_PROG_EGREP, AC_PROG_FGREP + These macros now require AC_PROG_GREP, and try EGREP="$GREP -E" and + FGREP="$GREP -F" respectively if possible, or else run a path search for + a program that accepts as long a line as possible. + +** AC_PROG_SED + New macro that tests for a sed program that truncates as few characters + as possible. + +* Major changes in Autoconf 2.59 + + Released 2003-11-04, by Akim Demaille + +** ac_abs_builddir etc. + Absolute file names were actually relative in 2.58. + +* Major changes in Autoconf 2.58 + + Released 2003-11-04, by Akim Demaille + +** core.* + core.* files are no longer removed, as they may be valid user files. + +** autoreconf and auxiliary directory + Autoreconf creates the auxiliary directory if needed. This is + especially useful for initial "bootstrapping" of fresh CVS checkouts. + +** AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR + Use this macro to declare the directory for local M4 macros for aclocal. + +** AC_LIBOBJS + No longer includes twice the same file in LIBOBJS if invoked + multiple times. + +** AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS + The directory for its first argument is automatically created. For + instance, with + + AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS([src/modules.hh], [...]) + + $top_builddir/src/ is created if needed. + +** Autotest and local.at + The optional file local.at is always included in Autotest test suites. + +** Warnings + The warnings are always issued, including with cached runs. + This became a significant problem since aclocal and automake can + run autoconf behind the scene. + +** autoheader warnings + The warnings of autoheader can be turned off, using --warning. + For instance, -Wno-obsolete disables the complaints about acconfig.h + and other deprecated constructs. + +** New macros + AC_C_RESTRICT, AC_INCLUDES_DEFAULT, AC_LANG_ASSERT, AC_LANG_WERROR, + AS_SET_CATFILE. + +** AC_DECL_SYS_SIGLIST + Works again. + +** AC_FUNC_MKTIME + Now checks that mktime is the inverse of localtime. + +** Improve DJGPP portability + The Autoconf tools and configure behave better under DJGPP. + +** Present But Cannot Be Compiled + New FAQ section dedicated to the mystic + + configure: WARNING: pi.h: present but cannot be compiled + configure: WARNING: pi.h: check for missing prerequisite headers? + configure: WARNING: pi.h: proceeding with the preprocessor's result + messages. + +** Concurrent executions of autom4te + autom4te now locks its internal files, which enables concurrent + executions of autom4te, likely to happen if automake, autoconf, + autoheader etc. are run simultaneously. + +** Libtool + Use of Libtool 1.5 and higher is encouraged. Compatibility with + Libtool pre-1.4 is not checked. + +** Autotest + Testsuites no longer rerun failed tests in verbose mode; instead, + failures are logged while the test is run. + + In addition, expected failures can be marked as such. + +* Major changes in Autoconf 2.57 + + Released 2002-12-03 by Paul Eggert. + +Bug fixes for problems with AIX linker, with freestanding C compilers, +with GNU M4 limitations, and with obsolete copies of GNU documents. + +The Free Documentation License has been upgraded from 1.1 to 1.2. + +* Major changes in Autoconf 2.56 + + Released 2002-11-15 by Akim Demaille. + +One packaging problem fixed (config/install-sh was not executable). + +* Major changes in Autoconf 2.55 + + Released 2002-11-14 by Akim Demaille. + +Release tips: + + Have your configure.ac checked by autoscan ("autoscan"). + Try the warning options ("autoreconf -fv -Wall"). + +** Documentation + +- AC_CHECK_HEADER, AC_CHECK_HEADERS + More information on proper use. + +- Writing Test Programs + + This sections explains how to write good test sources to use with + AC_COMPILE_IFELSE etc. It documents AC_LANG_PROGRAM and so forth. + +- AC_FOO_IFELSE vs. AC_TRY_FOO + + Explains why Autoconf moves from AC_TRY_COMPILE etc. to + AC_COMPILE_IFELSE and AC_LANG_PROGRAM etc. + +** autoreconf + +- Is more robust to different Gettext installations. + +- Produces messages (when --verbose) to be understood by Emacs' + compile mode. + +- Supports -W/--warnings. + +- -m/--make + Once the GNU Build System reinstalled, run `./config.status + --recheck && ./config.status && make' if possible. + +** autom4te + +- Supports --cache, and --no-cache. + +- ~/.autom4te.cfg makes it possible to disable the caching mechanism + (autom4te.cache). See `Customizing autom4te' in the documentation. + +** config.status + Supports --quiet. + +** Obsolete options + + Support for the obsoleted options -m, --macrodir, -l, --localdir is + dropped in favor of the safer --include/--prepend-include scheme. + +** Macros + +- New macros + AC_COMPILER_IFELSE, AC_FUNC_MBRTOWC, AC_HEADER_STDBOOL, + AC_LANG_CONFTEST, AC_LANG_SOURCE, AC_LANG_PROGRAM, AC_LANG_CALL, + AC_LANG_FUNC_TRY_LINK, AC_MSG_FAILURE, AC_PREPROC_IFELSE. + +- Obsoleted + Obsoleted macros are kept for Autoconf backward compatibility, but + should be avoided in configure.ac. Running autoupdate is advised. + AC_DECL_SYS_SIGLIST. + +- AC_DEFINE/AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED + + We have to stop using the old compatibility scheme --that tried to + avoid useless backslashes-- because Libtool 1.4.3 contains a + + AC_DEFINE([error_t], [int], + [Define to a type to use for \`error_t' if it is not + otherwise available.]) + + We have to quote the single quotes and backslashes with \. The old + compatibility scheme saw that ` was backslashed, and therefore did + not quote the single quote... Failure. Hence, Autoconf 2.54 is not + compatible with Libtool. Autoconf 2.55 is, but in some cases might + produce more \ than wanted. + + Please, note that in the future the same problem will happen with + AC_MSG_*: use `autoreconf -f -Wall'. + +** Bug Fixes + +- Portability of the Autoconf package to Solaris. + +- Spurious warnings caused by config.status. + This bug is benign, but painful: on some systems (typically + FreeBSD), warnings such as: + + config.status: creating Makefile + mv: Makefile: set owner/group (was: 1357/0): Operation not permitted + + could be issued. This is fixed. + +- Parallel Builds + Simultaneous executions of config.status are possible again. + +- Precious variables accumulation + + config.status could stack several copies of the precious variables + assignments. + + +** Plans for later versions + +- ./configure <host> + + The compatibility hooks with the old scheme will be completely + removed. Please, advice/use `--build', `--host', and `--target' + only. + +- AC_CHECK_HEADER, AC_CHECK_HEADERS + + The tests will be stricter, please make sure your invocations are + valid. + +- shell functions + + Shell functions will gradually be introduced, probably starting with + Autotest. If you know machines which are in use that you suspect + *not* to support shell functions, please run the test suite of + Autoconf 2.55 on it, and report the results to + bug-autoconf@gnu.org. + +- AC_MSG_* + + Special characters in AC_MSG_* need not be quoted. Currently, + Autoconf has heuristics to decide when a string is escaped, or has + to be escaped. This scheme is fragile, and will be removed; the + only risk is uglified messages. Please, run `autoreconf -f -Wall' + to find occurrences that will be affected. + +* Major changes in Autoconf 2.54 + + Released 2002-09-13 by Akim Demaille. + +** Executables + +- autoreconf no longer changes the version of the gettext/po/intl + support files. It now adds the files the correspond to the + AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION declared in configure.ac. + + Warning: It now relies on the 'autopoint' program, which is part + of GNU gettext 0.11.4 and newer. + + Please note that you need to have a GNU gettext version that + corresponds at least to the AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION declared + in configure.ac. You can upgrade to newer GNU gettext versions, + though, without needing to change configure.ac. + +- The -I DIR or --include=DIR option now appends DIR to the include path + instead of prepending; this is for consistency with other GNU tools. + The new -B DIR or --prepend-include=DIR option has the old behavior. + +** Macros + +- AC_OUTPUT + Now handles all the gory details about LIBOBJS and LTLIBOBJS. + Please, remove lines such as + + # This is necessary so that .o files in LIBOBJS are also + # built via the ANSI2KNR-filtering rules. + LIBOBJS=`echo $LIBOBJS|sed 's/\.o /\$U.o /g;s/\.o$/\$U.o/'` + + and read the `AC_LIBOBJ vs LIBOBJS' section. Do not define U in + your Makefiles either. + +- AC_CONFIG_LINKS now makes copies if it can't make links. + +- AC_FUNC_FNMATCH now tests only for POSIX compatibility, reverting to + Autoconf 2.13 behavior. The new macro AC_FUNC_FNMATCH_GNU also + tests for GNU extensions to fnmatch, and replaces fnmatch if needed. + +- AC_FUNC_SETVBUF_REVERSED no longer fails when cross-compiling. + +- AC_PROG_CC_STDC is integrated into AC_PROG_CC. + +- AC_PROG_F77 default search no longer includes cf77 and cfg77. + +- New macros + + AC_C_BACKSLASH_A, AC_CONFIG_LIBOBJ_DIR, AC_GNU_SOURCE, + AC_PROG_EGREP, AC_PROG_FGREP, AC_REPLACE_FNMATCH, + AC_FUNC_FNMATCH_GNU, AC_FUNC_REALLOC, AC_TYPE_MBSTATE_T. + +- AC_FUNC_GETLOADAVG + looks for getloadavg.c in the CONFIG_LIBOBJ_DIR. + +- AC_FUNC_MALLOC + Now defines HAVE_MALLOC to 0 if `malloc' does not work, and asks + for an AC_LIBOBJ replacement. + +** Bug fixes + +- Spurious complaints from `m4_bmatch' about invalid regular + expressions are suppressed. + +- Empty top_builddirs are properly handled. + +- AC_CHECK_MEMBER works correctly when the member is an aggregate. + +- AC_PATH_PROG + Now colon in the optional path arguments are properly handled. + +** Improved portability + +- Both Autoconf the package, and the scripts it produces, should run + more reliably with Zsh. Bear in mind it is the default Bourne shell + on Darwin. + +- Autoconf and the scripts it produces no longer assume the existence of + the obsolescent commands egrep and fgrep. + +** Documentation + +- Limitations of Make + More of them. + +- GNATS + The GNATS base moved to + http://bugs.gnu.org/cgi-bin/gnatsweb.pl?database=autoconf + (It is no longer available, though.) + +** Misc. + +- config.log + Now contains the list of output variables and files (AC_SUBST, + AC_SUBST_FILES). + +* Major changes in Autoconf 2.53 + + Released 2002-03-08 by Akim Demaille. + +** Requirements + + Perl 5.005_03 or later is required: autom4te is written in Perl and is + needed by autoconf. autoheader, autoreconf, ifnames, and autoscan are + rewritten in Perl. + +** Documentation + +- AC_INIT + Argument requirements, output variables, defined macros. +- M4sugar, M4sh, Autotest + First sketch. +- Double quoting macros + AC_TRY_CPP, AC_TRY_COMPILE, AC_TRY_LINK and AC_TRY_RUN. +- Licensing + The Autoconf manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL. +- Section `Hosts and Cross-Compilation' + Explains the rationale for the 2.5x changes in the cross-compilation + chain, and in the relationships between build, host, and target + types. + Emphasizes that `cross-compilation' == `--host is given'. + If you are working on compilers etc., be sure to read this section. +- Section `AC_LIBOBJ vs. LIBOBJS' + Explains why assigning LIBOBJS directly is now an error. + Details how to update the code. + +** configure + +- $LINENO + Now used instead of hard coded line numbers. + This eases the comparison of `configure's, and diminishes the + pressure over control version archives. + Automatic replacement for shells that don't support this feature. +- New output variables + @builddir@, @top_builddir@, @abs_srcdir@, @abs_top_srcdir@, @abs_builddir@, + @abs_top_builddir@. + +** Emacs + + Autoconf and Autotest modes are provided. + +** Executables + +- autom4te + New, used by the Autoconf suite to cache and speed up most processing. +- --force, -f + Supported by autom4te, autoconf and autoheader. +- --include, -I + Replaces --autoconf-dir and --localdir in autoconf, autoheader, + autoupdate, and autoreconf. +- autoreconf + No longer passes --cygnus, --foreign, --gnits, --gnu, --include-deps: + automake options are to be given via AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS. +- autoreconf + Runs gettextize and libtoolize when appropriate. +- autoreconf + --m4dir is no longer supported. +- autoreconf + Now runs only in the specified directories, defaulting to `.', + but understands AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS for dependent directories. + Before, it used to run on all the `configure.ac' found in the + current tree. + Independent packages are properly updated. + +** Bug fixes + +- The top level $prefix is propagated to the AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS configures. +- AC_TRY_RUN + Under the user pressure, $? is finally available. Probably a mistake. +- AC_F77_LIBRARY_LDFLAGS now supports the HP/UX f90 compiler. +- Precious variables accumulation + config.status could stack several copies of the precious variables + assignments. +- AC_PATH_PROG and family. + Works properly when given a literal path. +- AC_FUNC_SETPGRP + Somewhere since 2.13, the result had been reversed. + +** C Macros + +- AC_C_BIGENDIAN supports the cross-compiling case. +- AC_C_BIGENDIAN accepts ACTION-IF-TRUE, ACTION-IF-FALSE, and + ACTION-IF-UNKNOWN arguments. All are optional, and the default + for ACTION-IF-TRUE is to define WORDS_BIGENDIAN like AC_C_BIGENDIAN + always did. +- AC_C_LONG_DOUBLE now succeeds only if `long double' has more range or + precision than `double'. + +** Generic macros + +- AC_INIT + It now defines the preprocessor symbols PACKAGE_NAME, + PACKAGE_TARNAME, PACKAGE_VERSION, PACKAGE_STRING, and + PACKAGE_BUGREPORT. + +- AC_INIT + Admits a fourth optional parameter: the tar name. + +- AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS, HEADERS, FILES, LINKS. + Provide the user with srcdir, ac_srcdir, ac_top_srcdir, ac_builddir, + ac_top_builddir, ac_abs_srcdir, ac_abs_top_srcdir, ac_abs_builddir, + ac_abs_top_builddir. + +- AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS, HEADERS, FILES, LINKS and AC_OUTPUT. + Are much less expensive when using long lists of files. + +- AC_PREFIX_PROGRAM + Works with shell variables, and non alphanumeric names. + +** Library macros + +- AC_FUNC_STRERROR_R now sets STRERROR_R_CHAR_P, not HAVE_WORKING_STRERROR_R, + because POSIX 1003.1-200x draft 7 says strerror_r returns int, not char *. + +- AC_FUNC_STRTOD substitutes POW_LIB. + +- AC_FUNC_STRNLEN + New. + +* Major changes in Autoconf 2.52 + + Released 2001-07-18 by Akim Demaille. + +** Documentation +- AC_ARG_VAR +- Quadrigraphs + This feature was present in autoconf 2.50 but was not documented. + For example, `@<:@' is translated to `[' just before output. This + is useful when writing strings that contain unbalanced quotes, or + other hard-to-quote constructs. +- m4_pattern_forbid, m4_pattern_allow +- Tips for upgrading from 2.13. +- Using autoscan to maintain a configure.ac. + +** Default includes +- Now include stdint.h. +- sys/types.h and sys/stat.h are guarded. +- strings.h is included if available, and not conflicting with string.h. + +** Bug fixes +- The test suite is more robust and presents less false failures. +- Invocation of GNU M4 now robust to POSIXLY_CORRECT. +- configure accepts --prefix='' again. +- AC_CHECK_LIB works properly when its first argument is not a + literal. +- HAVE_INTTYPES_H is defined only if not conflicting with sys/types.h. +- build_, host_, and target_alias are AC_SUBST as in 2.13. +- AC_ARG_VAR properly propagates precious variables inherited from the + environment to ./config.status. +- Using --program-suffix/--program-prefix is portable. +- Failures to detect the default compiler's output extension are less + likely. +- `config.status foo' works properly when `foo' depends on variables + set in an AC_CONFIG_THING INIT-CMD. +- autoheader is more robust to broken input. +- Fixed Fortran name-mangling and link tests on a number of systems, + e.g. NetBSD; see AC_F77_DUMMY_MAIN, below. + +** Generic macros +- AC_CHECK_HEADER and AC_CHECK_HEADERS support a fourth argument to + specify pre-includes. In this case, the headers are compiled with + cc, not merely preprocessed by cpp. Therefore it is the _usability_ + of a header which is checked for, not just its availability. +- AC_ARG_VAR refuses to run configure when precious variables have + changed. +- Versions of compilers are dumped in the logs. +- AC_CHECK_TYPE recognizes use of `foo_t' as a replacement type. + +** Specific Macros +- AC_PATH_XTRA only adds -ldnet to $LIBS if it's needed to link. +- AC_FUNC_WAIT3 and AC_SYS_RESTARTABLE_SYSCALLS are obsoleted. +- AM_FUNC_ERROR_AT_LINE, AM_FUNC_FNMATCH, AM_FUNC_MKTIME, + AM_FUNC_OBSTACK, and AM_FUNC_STRTOD are now activated. + Be sure to read `Upgrading from Version 2.13' to understand why + running `autoupdate' is needed. +- AC_F77_DUMMY_MAIN, AC_F77_MAIN: new macros to detect whether + a main-like routine is required/possible when linking C/C++ with + Fortran. Users of e.g. AC_F77_WRAPPERS should be aware of these. +- AC_FUNC_GETPGRG behaves better when cross-compiling. + +* Major changes in Autoconf 2.51 +There was no release of Autoconf 2.51 since some packagers had used +this version number without permission to ship intermediary versions +of 2.50. The version was skipped to avoid confusion. + +* Major changes in Autoconf 2.50 + + Released 2001-05-21 by Akim Demaille. + +** Lots of bug fixes +There have been far too many to enumerate them here. Check out +ChangeLog if you really want to know more. + +** Improved documentation +In particular, portability issues are better covered. + +** Use of Automake +All the standard GNU Makefile targets are supported. The layout has +changed: m4/ holds the M4 extensions Autoconf needs for its +configuration, doc/ contains the documentation, and tests/ contains +the test suite. + +** Man pages are provided +For autoconf, autoreconf, autoupdate, autoheader, autoscan, ifnames, +config.guess, config.sub. + +** autoconf +- --trace + Provides a safe and powerful means to trace the macro uses. This + provide the parsing layer for tools which need to `study' + configure.in. + +- --warnings + Specify what category of warnings should be enabled. + +- When recursing into subdirectories, try for configure.gnu before + configure to adapt for packages not using autoconf on case-insensitive + file systems. + +- Diagnostics + More errors are now caught (circular AC_REQUIRE dependencies, + AC_DEFINE in the action part of an AC_CACHE_CHECK, too many pops + etc.). In addition, their location and call stack are given. + +** autoupdate +autoupdate is much more powerful, and is able to provide the glue code +which might be needed to move from an old macro to its newer +equivalent. + +You are strongly encouraged to use it to modernize both your +`configure.in' and your .m4 extension files. + +** autoheader +The internal machinery of autoheader has completely changed. As a +result, using `acconfig.h' should be considered to be obsoleted, and +you are encouraged to get rid of it using the AH macros. + +** autoreconf +Extensive overhaul. + +** Fortran 77 compilers +Globally, the support for Fortran 77 is considerably improved. + +Support for automatically determining a Fortran 77 compiler's +name-mangling scheme. New CPP macros F77_FUNC and F77_FUNC_ are +provided to wrap C/C++ identifiers, thus making it easier and more +transparent for C/C++ to call Fortran 77 routines, and Fortran 77 to +call C/C++ routines. See the Texinfo documentation for details. + +** Test suite +The test suite no longer uses DejaGNU. It should be easy to submit +test cases in this new framework. + +** configure +- --help, --help=long, -hl + no longer dumps useless items. +- --help=short, -hs + lists only specific options. +- --help=recursive, -hr + displays the help of all the embedded packages. +- Remembers environment variables when reconfiguring. + The previous scheme to set envvar before running configure was + ENV=VAL ./configure + what prevented configure from remembering the environment in which + it was run, therefore --recheck was run in an inconsistent + environment. Now, one should run + ./configure ENV=VAR + and then --recheck will work properly. Variables declared with + AC_ARG_VAR are also preserved. +- cross-compilation + $build defaults to `config.guess`, $host to $build, and then $target + to $host. + Cross-compilation is a global status of the package, it no longer + depends upon the current language. + Cross compilation is enabled iff the user specified `--host'. + `configure' now fails if it can't run the executables it compiles, + unless cross-compilation is enabled. +- Cache file + The cache file is disabled by default. The new options + `--config-cache', `-C' set the cache to `config.cache'. + +** config.status +- faster + Much faster on most architectures. +- concurrent executions + It is safe to use `make -j' with config.status. +- human interface improved + It is possible to invoke + ./config.status foobar + instead of the former form (still valid) + CONFIG_COMMANDS= CONFIG_HEADERS= CONFIG_LINKS= \ + CONFIG_FILES=foobar:foo.in:bar.in \ + ./config.status + The same holds for configuration headers and links. + You can instantiate unknown files and headers: + ./config.status --header foo.h:foo.h.in --file bar:baz +- has a useful --help +- accepts special file name "-" for stdin/stdout + + +** Identity Macros +- AC_COPYRIGHT + Specify additional copyright information. + +- AC_INIT + Now expects the identity of the package as argument. + +** General changes. +- Uniform quotation + Most macros, if not all, now strictly follow the `one quotation + level' rule. This results in a more predictable expansion. + +- AC_REQUIRE + A sly bug in the AC_REQUIRE machinery, which could produce incorrect + configure scripts, was fixed by Axel Thimm. + +** Setup Macros +- AC_ARG_VAR + Document and ask for the registration of an envvar. + +- AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR + Specifies the file which `configure' should look for when trying to + find the source tree (used to be handled by AC_INIT). + +- AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS + To add new actions to config.status. Should be used instead of + AC_OUTPUT_COMMANDS. + +- AC_CONFIG_LINKS + Replaces AC_LINK_FILES. + +- AC_CONFIG_HEADERS, AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS, AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS, + AC_CONFIG_LINKS, and AC_CONFIG_FILES + They now obey sh: you should no longer use shell variables as + argument. Instead of + + test "$package_foo_enabled" = yes && $my_subdirs="$my_subdirs foo" + AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS($my_subdirs) + + write + + if test "$package_foo_enabled" = yes; then + AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS(foo) + fi + +- AC_HELP_STRING + To format an Autoconf macro's help string so that it looks pretty + when the user executes `configure --help'. + + +** Generic Test Macros +- AC_CHECK families + The interface of the AC_CHECK families of macros (decl, header, + type, member, func) is now uniform. They support the same set of + default includes. + +- AC_CHECK_DECL, AC_CHECK_DECLS + To check whether a symbol is declared. + +- AC_CHECK_SIZEOF, AC_C_CHAR_UNSIGNED. + No longer need a cross-compilation default. + +- AC_CHECK_TYPE + The test it performs is much more robust than previously, and makes + it possible to test builtin types in addition to typedefs. + It is now schizophrenic: + - AC_CHECK_TYPE(TYPE, REPLACEMENT) + remains for backward compatibility, but its use is discouraged. + - AC_CHECK_TYPE(TYPE, IF-FOUND, IF-NOT-FOUND, INCLUDES) + behaves exactly like the other AC_CHECK macros. + +- AC_CHECK_TYPES + Checks whether given types are supported by the system. + +- AC_CHECK_MEMBER, AC_CHECK_MEMBERS + Check for given members in aggregates (e.g., pw_gecos in struct + passwd). + +- AC_PROG_CC_STDC + Checks if the compiler supports ISO C, included when needs special + options. + +- AC_PROG_CPP + Checking whether the preprocessor indicates missing includes by the + error code. stderr is checked by AC_TRY_CPP only as a fallback. + +- AC_LANG + Takes a language as argument and replaces AC_LANG_C, + AC_LANG_CPLUSPLUS and AC_LANG_FORTRAN77. + +- AC_LANG_PUSH, AC_LANG_POP + Are preferred to AC_LANG_SAVE, AC_LANG_RESTORE. + +** Specific Macros +- AC_FUNC_CHOWN, AC_FUNC_MALLOC, AC_FUNC_STRERROR_R, + AC_FUNC_LSTAT_FOLLOWS_SLASHED_SYMLINK, AC_FUNC_STAT, AC_FUNC_LSTAT, + AC_FUNC_ERROR_AT_LINE, AC_FUNC_OBSTACK, AC_FUNC_STRTOD, AC_FUNC_FSEEKO. + New. + +- AC_FUNC_GETGROUPS + Sets GETGROUPS_LIBS. + +- AC_FUNC_GETLOADAVG + Defines `HAVE_STRUCT_NLIST_N_UN_N_NAME' instead of `NLIST_NAME_UNION'. + +- AC_PROG_LEX + Now integrates `AC_DECL_YYTEXT' which is obsoleted. + +- AC_SYS_LARGEFILE + Arrange for large-file support. + +- AC_EXEEXT, AC_OBJEXT + You are no longer expected to use them: their computation is + performed by default. + +** C++ compatibility + Every macro has been revisited in order to support at best CC=c++. + +Major changes in Autoconf 2.14: + There was no release of GNU Autoconf 2.14. + +Major changes in Autoconf 2.13: + + Released 1999-05-01 by Ben Elliston. + +* Support for building on 32-bit Windows systems where the only available C or + C++ compiler is the Microsoft Visual C++ command line compiler + (`cl'). Additional support for building on 32-bit Windows systems which are + using the Cygwin or Mingw32 environments. +* Support for alternative object file and executable file extensions. + On 32-bit Windows, for example, these are .obj and .exe. These are discovered + using AC_OBJEXT and AC_EXEEXT, which substitute @OBJEXT@ and + @EXEEXT@ in the output, respectively. +* New macros: AC_CACHE_LOAD, AC_CACHE_SAVE, AC_FUNC_SELECT_ARGTYPES, + AC_VALIDATE_CACHED_SYSTEM_TUPLE, AC_SEARCH_LIBS, AC_TRY_LINK_FUNC, + AC_C_STRINGIZE, AC_CHECK_FILE(S), AC_PROG_F77 (and friends). +* AC_DEFINE now has an optional third argument for a description to be + placed in the config header input file (e.g. config.h.in). +* The C++ code fragment compiled for the C++ compiler test had to be + improved to include an explicit return type for main(). This was + causing failures on systems using recent versions of the EGCS C++ + compiler. +* Fixed an important bug in AC_CHECK_TYPE that would cause a configure + script to report that `sometype_t' was present when only `type_t' + was defined. +* Merge of the FSF version of config.guess and config.sub to modernize + these scripts. Add support for a few new hosts in config.guess. + Incorporate latest versions of install-sh, mkinstalldirs and + texinfo.tex from the FSF. +* autoreconf is capable of running automake if necessary (and + applicable). +* Support for Fortran 77. See the Texinfo documentation for details. +* Bug fixes and workarounds for quirky bugs in vendor utilities. + +Major changes in Autoconf 2.12: + + Released 1996-11-26 by David J. MacKenzie + +* AC_OUTPUT and AC_CONFIG_HEADER can create output files by + concatenating multiple input files separated by colons, like so: + AC_CONFIG_HEADER(config.h:conf.pre:config.h.in:conf.post) + AC_OUTPUT(Makefile:Makefile.in:Makefile.rules) + The arguments may be shell variables, to compute the lists on the fly. +* AC_LINK_FILES and AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS may be called multiple times. +* New macro AC_OUTPUT_COMMANDS adds more commands to run in config.status. +* Bug fixes. + +Major changes in Autoconf 2.11: + + Released November 18th, 1996, by David J. MacKenzie + +* AC_PROG_CC and AC_PROG_CXX check whether the compiler works. + They also default CFLAGS/CXXFLAGS to "-g -O2" for gcc, instead of "-g -O". +* AC_REPLACE_FUNCS defines HAVE_foo if the system has the function `foo'. +* AC_CONFIG_HEADER expands shell variables in its argument. +* New macros: AC_FUNC_FNMATCH, AC_FUNC_SETPGRP. +* The "checking..." messages and the source code for test programs that + fail are saved in config.log. +* Another workaround has been added for seds with small command length limits. +* config.sub and config.guess recognize more system types. +* Bug fixes. + +Major changes in Autoconf 2.10: + + Released May 7th, 1996, by Roland McGrath + +* Bug fixes. +* The cache variable names used by `AC_CHECK_LIB(LIB, FUNC, ...)' has + changed: now $ac_cv_lib_LIB_FUNC, previously $ac_cv_lib_LIB. + +Major changes in Autoconf 2.9: + + Released March 16th, 1996, by Roland McGrath + +* Bug fixes. + +Major changes in Autoconf 2.8: + + Released March 8th, 1996, by Roland McGrath + +* Bug fixes. + +Major changes in Autoconf 2.7: + + Released November 22nd, 1995, by David J. MacKenzie + +* Bug fixes. + +Major changes in Autoconf 2.6: + + Released November 20th, 1995, by David J. MacKenzie + +* Bug fixes. + +Major changes in Autoconf 2.5: + + Released November 17th, 1995, by Roland McGrath + +* New configure options --bindir, --libdir, --datadir, etc., with + corresponding output variables. +* New macro: AC_CACHE_CHECK, to make using the cache easier. +* config.log contains the command being run as well as any output from it. +* AC_CHECK_LIB can check for libraries with "." or "/" or "+" in their name. +* AC_PROG_INSTALL doesn't cache a name for install-sh, for sharing caches. +* AC_CHECK_PROG, AC_PATH_PROG, AC_CHECK_PROGS, AC_PATH_PROGS, and + AC_CHECK_TOOL can search a path other than $PATH. +* AC_CHECK_SIZEOF takes an optional size to use when cross-compiling. + +Major changes in Autoconf 2.4: + + Released June 14th, 1995, by David J. MacKenzie + +* Fix a few bugs found by Emacs testers. + +Major changes in Autoconf 2.3: + + Released March 27th, 1995, by David J. MacKenzie + +* Fix the cleanup trap in several ways. +* Handle C compilers that are picky about option placement. +* ifnames gets the version number from the right directory. + +Major changes in Autoconf 2.2: + + Released March 8th, 1995, by David J. MacKenzie + +* The ifnames utility is much faster but requires a "new awk" interpreter. +* AC_CHECK_LIB and AC_HAVE_LIBRARY check and add the new + library before existing libs, not after, in case it uses them. +* New macros: AC_FUNC_GETPGRP, AC_CHECK_TOOL. +* Lots of bug fixes. +* Many additions to the TODO file :-) + +Major changes in Autoconf 2.1: + + Released November 4th, 1994, by David J. MacKenzie + +* Fix C++ problems. +* More explanations in the manual. +* Fix a spurious failure in the testsuite. +* Clarify some warning messages. +* autoreconf by default only rebuilds configure and config.h.in files + that are older than any of their particular input files; there is a + --force option to use after installing a new version of Autoconf. + +Thanks to everybody who's submitted changes and additions to Autoconf! +I've incorporated many of them, and am still considering others for +future releases -- but I didn't want to postpone this release indefinitely. + +Caution: don't indiscriminately rebuild configure scripts with +Autoconf version 2. Some configure.in files need minor adjustments to +work with it; the documentation has a chapter on upgrading. A few +configure.in files, including those for GNU Emacs and the GNU C +Library, need major changes because they relied on undocumented +internals of version 1. Future releases of those packages will have +updated configure.in files. + +It's best to use GNU M4 1.3 (or later) with Autoconf version 2. +Autoconf now makes heavy use of M4 diversions, which were implemented +inefficiently in GNU M4 releases before 1.3. + +Major changes in Autoconf 2.0: + + Released October 26th, 1994, by David J. MacKenzie + +** New copyright terms: +* There are no restrictions on distribution or use of configure scripts. + +** Documentation: +* Autoconf manual is reorganized to make information easier to find + and has several new indexes. +* INSTALL is reorganized and clearer and is now made from Texinfo source. + +** New utilities: +* autoscan to generate a preliminary configure.in for a package by + scanning its source code for commonly used nonportable functions, + programs, and header files. +* ifnames to list the symbols used in #if and #ifdef directives in a + source tree. +* autoupdate to update a configure.in to use the version 2 macro names. +* autoreconf to recursively remake configure and configuration header + files in a source tree. + +** Changed utilities: +* autoheader can take pieces of acconfig.h to replace config.h.{top,bot}. +* autoconf and autoheader can look for package-local definition files + in an alternate directory. + +** New macros: +* AC_CACHE_VAL to share results of tests between configure runs. +* AC_DEFUN to define macros, automatically AC_PROVIDE them, and ensure + that macros invoked with AC_REQUIRE don't interrupt other macros. +* AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR, AC_CANONICAL_SYSTEM, AC_CANONICAL_HOST, AC_LINK_FILES to + support deciding unguessable features based on the host and target types. +* AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS to recursively configure a source tree. +* AC_ARG_PROGRAM to use the options --program-prefix, + --program-suffix, and --program-transform-name to change the names + of programs being installed. +* AC_PREFIX_DEFAULT to change the default installation prefix. +* AC_TRY_COMPILE to compile a test program without linking it. +* AC_CHECK_TYPE to check whether sys/types.h or stdlib.h defines a given type. +* AC_CHECK_LIB to check for a particular function and library. +* AC_MSG_CHECKING and AC_MSG_RESULT to print test results, on a single line, + whether or not the test succeeds. They obsolete AC_CHECKING and AC_VERBOSE. +* AC_SUBST_FILE to insert one file into another. +* AC_FUNC_MEMCMP to check whether memcmp is 8-bit clean. +* AC_FUNC_STRFTIME to find strftime even if it's in -lintl. +* AC_FUNC_GETMNTENT to find getmntent even if it's in -lsun or -lseq. +* AC_HEADER_SYS_WAIT to check whether sys/wait.h is POSIX.1 compatible. + +** Changed macros: +* Many macros renamed systematically, but old names are accepted for + backward compatibility. +* AC_OUTPUT adds the "automatically generated" comment to + non-Makefiles where it finds @configure_input@ in an input file, to + support files with various comment syntaxes. +* AC_OUTPUT does not replace "prefix" and "exec_prefix" in generated + files when they are not enclosed in @ signs. +* AC_OUTPUT allows the optional environment variable CONFIG_STATUS to + override the file name "config.status". +* AC_OUTPUT takes an optional argument for passing variables from + configure to config.status. +* AC_OUTPUT and AC_CONFIG_HEADER allow you to override the input-file names. +* AC_OUTPUT automatically substitutes the values of CFLAGS, CXXFLAGS, + CPPFLAGS, and LDFLAGS from the environment. +* AC_PROG_CC and AC_PROG_CXX now set CFLAGS and CXXFLAGS, respectively. +* AC_PROG_INSTALL looks for install-sh or install.sh in the directory + specified by AC_CONFIG_AUXDIR, or srcdir or srcdir/.. or + srcdir/../.. by default. +* AC_DEFINE, AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED, and AC_SUBST are more robust and smaller. +* AC_DEFINE no longer prints anything, because of the new result reporting + mechanism (AC_MSG_CHECKING and AC_MSG_RESULT). +* AC_VERBOSE pays attention to --quiet/--silent, not --verbose. +* AC_ARG_ENABLE and AC_ARG_WITH support whitespace in the arguments to + --enable- and --with- options. +* AC_CHECK_FUNCS and AC_CHECK_HEADERS take optional shell commands to + execute on success or failure. +* Checking for C functions in C++ works. + +** Removed macros: +* AC_REMOTE_TAPE and AC_RSH removed; too specific to tar and cpio, and + better maintained with them. +* AC_ARG_ARRAY removed because no one was likely using it. +* AC_HAVE_POUNDBANG replaced with AC_SYS_INTERPRETER, which doesn't + take arguments, for consistency with all of the other specific checks. + +** New files: +* Comes with config.sub and config.guess, and uses them optionally. +* Uses config.cache to cache test results. An alternate cache file + can be selected with the --cache-file=FILE option. +* Uses optional shell scripts $prefix/share/config.site and + $prefix/etc/config.site to perform site or system specific initializations. +* configure saves compiler output to ./config.log for debugging. +* New files autoconf.m4 and autoheader.m4 load the other Autoconf macros. +* acsite.m4 is the new name for the system-wide aclocal.m4. +* Has a DejaGnu test suite. + +Major changes in Autoconf 1.11: + +* AC_PROG_INSTALL calls install.sh with the -c option. +* AC_SET_MAKE cleans up after itself. +* AC_OUTPUT sets prefix and exec_prefix if they weren't set already. +* AC_OUTPUT prevents shells from looking in PATH for config.status. + +Plus a few other bug fixes. + +Major changes in Autoconf 1.10: + +* autoheader uses config.h.bot if present, analogous to config.h.top. +* AC_PROG_INSTALL looks for install.sh in srcdir or srcdir/.. and + never uses cp. +* AC_PROG_CXX looks for cxx as a C++ compiler. + +Plus several bugs fixed. + +Major changes in Autoconf 1.9: + +* AC_YYTEXT_POINTER replaces AC_DECLARE_YYTEXT. +* AC_SIZEOF_TYPE generates the cpp symbol name automatically, + and autoheader generates entries for those names automatically. +* AC_FIND_X gets the result from xmkmf correctly. +* AC_FIND_X assumes no X if --without-x was given. +* AC_FIND_XTRA adds libraries to the variable X_EXTRA_LIBS. +* AC_PROG_INSTALL finds OSF/1 installbsd. + +Major changes in Autoconf 1.8: + +** New macros: +* New macros AC_LANG_C, AC_LANG_CPLUSPLUS, AC_LANG_SAVE, AC_LANG_RESTORE, + AC_PROG_CXX, AC_PROG_CXXCPP, AC_REQUIRE_CPP + for checking both C++ and C features in one configure script. +* New macros AC_CHECKING, AC_VERBOSE, AC_WARN, AC_ERROR for printing messages. +* New macros AC_FIND_XTRA, AC_MMAP, AC_SIZEOF_TYPE, AC_PREREQ, + AC_SET_MAKE, AC_ENABLE. + +** Changed macros: +* AC_FIND_X looks for X in more places. +* AC_PROG_INSTALL defaults to install.sh instead of cp, if it's in srcdir. + install.sh is distributed with Autoconf. +* AC_DECLARE_YYTEXT has been removed because it can't work, pending + a rewrite of quoting in AC_DEFINE. +* AC_OUTPUT adds its comments in C format when substituting in C files. +* AC_COMPILE_CHECK protects its ECHO-TEXT argument with double quotes. + +** New or changed command line options: +* configure accepts --enable-FEATURE[=ARG] and --disable-FEATURE options. +* configure accepts --without-PACKAGE, which sets withval=no. +* configure accepts --x-includes=DIR and --x-libraries=DIR. +* Giving --with-PACKAGE no argument sets withval=yes instead of withval=1. +* configure accepts --help, --version, --silent/--quiet, --no-create options. +* configure accepts and ignores most other Cygnus configure options, and + warns about unknown options. +* config.status accepts --help, --version options. + +** File names and other changes: +* Relative srcdir values are not made absolute. +* The values of @prefix@ and @exec_prefix@ and @top_srcdir@ get substituted. +* Autoconf library files are installed in ${datadir}/autoconf, not ${datadir}. +* autoheader optionally copies config.h.top to the beginning of config.h.in. +* The example Makefile dependencies for configure et al. work better. +* Namespace cleanup: all shell variables used internally by Autoconf + have names beginning with `ac_'. + +More big improvements are in process for future releases, but have not +yet been (variously) finished, integrated, tested, or documented enough +to release yet. + +Major changes in Autoconf 1.7: + +* New macro AC_OBSOLETE. +* Bugs in Makefile.in fixed. +* AC_LONG_FILE_NAMES improved. + +Major changes in Autoconf 1.6: + +* New macro AC_LONG_64_BITS. +* Multiple .h files can be created. +* AC_FIND_X looks for X files directly if it doesn't find xmkmf. +* AC_ALLOCA defines C_ALLOCA if using alloca.c. +* --with-NAME can take a value, e.g., --with-targets=sun4,hp300bsd. +* Unused --no-create option to configure removed. +* autoheader doesn't change the timestamp of its output file if + the file didn't change. +* All macros that look for libraries now use AC_HAVE_LIBRARY. +* config.status checks three optional environment variables to + modify its behavior. +* The usual bug fixes. + +Major changes in Autoconf 1.5: + +* New macros AC_FIND_X, AC_OFF_T, AC_STAT_MACROS_BROKEN, AC_REVISION. +* autoconf and autoheader scripts have GNU standards conforming + --version and --help options (they print their message and exit). +* Many bug fixes. + +Major changes in Autoconf 1.4: + +* New macros AC_HAVE_POUNDBANG, AC_TIME_WITH_SYS_TIME, AC_LONG_DOUBLE, + AC_GETGROUPS_T, AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED. +* autoconf and autoheader use the M4 environment variable to determine the + name of the M4 program to use. +* The --macrodir option to autoconf and autoheader specifies the directory + in which acspecific.m4, acgeneral.m4, etc. reside if not the default. +* autoconf and autoheader can take `-' as their file names, which means to + read stdin as input. +* Resulting configure scripts can take a --verbose option which causes them + to print the results of their tests. +* AC_DEFINE quotes its second argument in such a way that spaces, magic + shell characters, etc. will be preserved during various stages of + expansion done by the shell. If you don't want this, use + AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED instead. +* Much textual processing done with external calls to tr and sed have been + internalized with builtin M4 `patsubst' and `translit' calls. +* AC_OUTPUT doesn't hardwire the file names it outputs. Instead, you can + set the shell variables `gen_files' and `gen_config' to the list of + file names to output. +* AC_DECLARE_YYTEXT does an AC_SUBST of `LEX_OUTPUT_ROOT', which may be + "lex.yy" or "lexyy", depending on the system. +* AC_PROGRAMS_CHECK takes an optional third arg. If given, it is used as + the default value. +* If AC_ALLOCA chooses alloca.c, it also defines STACK_DIRECTION. +* AC_CONST works much more reliably on more systems. +* Many bug fixes. + +Major changes in Autoconf 1.3: + +configure no longer requires awk for packages that use a config.h. +Support handling --with-PACKAGE options. +New `autoheader' script to create `config.h.in' from `configure.in'. +Ignore troublesome -lucb and -lPW when searching for alloca. +Rename --exec_prefix to --exec-prefix for GNU standards conformance. +Improve detection of STDC library. +Add AC_HAVE_LIBRARY to check for non-default libraries. +Function checking should work with future GNU libc releases. + +Major changes in Autoconf 1.2: + +The --srcdir option is now usually unnecessary. +Add a file containing sample comments describing CPP macros. +A comment in config.status tells which host it was configured on. +Substituted variable values can now contain commas. +Fix bugs in various feature checks. + +Major changes in Autoconf 1.1: + +Added AC_STRCOLL macro. +Made AC_GETLOADAVG check for more things. +AC_OUTPUT argument is now optional. +Various bug fixes. + +----- + +Copyright (C) 1993-1996, 1998-2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc. + +Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification, +are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright +notice and this notice are preserved. This file is offered as-is, +without warranty of any kind. + +Local Variables: +mode: outline +End: |