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NEWS
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For planned incompatibilities in a possible future Automake 2.0 release,
please see NEWS-2.0 and start following the advice there now.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
New in 1.x:
* Miscellaneous changes
- Only require the presence of an ABOUT-NLS file at the 'gnits'
strictness level.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
New in 1.17:
* New features added
- AM_PATH_PYTHON will, after checking "python", prefer any Python 3
version (latest versions checked first) over any Python 2
version. If a specific version of Python 2 is still needed, the
$PYTHON variable should be set beforehand.
- AM_PATH_PYTHON will also search for Python versions 3.20 through 3.10.
It previously searched for 3.9 through 3.0. (bug#53530)
- RANLIB may be overridden on a per-target basis.
- AM_TEXI2FLAGS may be defined to pass extra flags to TEXI2DVI & TEXI2PDF.
- New option "posix" to emit the special target .POSIX for make.
(bug#55025, bug#67891)
- Systems with non-POSIX "rm -f" behavior are now supported, and the
prior intent to drop support for them has been reversed.
The ACCEPT_INFERIOR_RM_PROGRAM setting no longer exists.
(bug#10828)
- Variables using escaped \# will trigger portability warnings, but be
retained when appended. GNU Make & BSD Makes are known to support it.
(bug#7610)
- GNU Make's default pattern rules are disabled, for speed and debugging.
(.SUFFIXES was already cleared.) (bug#64743)
- For Texinfo documents, if a .texi.in file exists, but no .texi, the
.texi.in will be read. Texinfo source files need not be present at
all, and if present, need not contain @setfilename. Then the file name
as given in the Makefile.am will be used. If @setfilename is present,
it should be the basename of the Texinfo file, extended with .info.
(bug#54063)
- aclocal has a new option --aclocal-path to override $ACLOCAL_PATH.
(https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/automake-patches/2022-01/msg00029.html)
- The missing script also supports autoreconf, autogen, and perl.
(https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/automake-patches/2015-08/msg00000.html)
- test-suite.log now contains basic system information, and the
console message about bug reporting on failure has a bit more detail.
(bug#68746, bug#71421)
- When using the (default) "parallel" test driver, you can now omit the
output of skipped tests from test-suite.log by defining the
variable IGNORE_SKIPPED_LOGS to a non-empty value. (bug#71422)
* Bugs fixed
- Generated file timestamp checks handle filesystems with subsecond
timestamp granularity dynamically, greatly speeding up the sleep
done by AC_OUTPUT when generating config.status (all packages) and
Automake's make check.
However, this subsecond-mtime support requires an autom4te from
Autoconf 2.72 or later (or random test failures and other timing
problems may ensue), as well as a Perl, sleep program, make program,
and filesystem that all support subsecond resolution; otherwise, we
fall back to a two-second granularity, not even testing the (common)
1s case since that would induce a 2s delay for all configure scripts
in all packages on all systems that don't support subsecond mtimes.
When everything is supported, a line "Features: subsecond-mtime" is
now printed by automake --version and autom4te --version.
To override this check and delay, e.g. to use 1 second:
am_cv_filesystem_timestamp_resolution=1
export am_cv_filesystem_timestamp_resolution
(commit 720a11531,
https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/automake-commit/2022-02/msg00009.html
then bug#60808, bug#64756, bug#67670, bug#68808, bug#71652,
history reviewed in
https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/automake/2024-06/msg00054.html
and more info in surrounding threads.)
- The default value of $ARFLAGS is now "cr" instead of "cru", to better
support deterministic builds. (bug#20082)
- Automake's make dist now uses -9 instead of --best with gzip,
because Alpine gzip does not support --best. Also, GZIP_ENV is used
only for compression, not decompression, because of the same system.
(bug#68151)
- Dependency files are now empty, instead of "# dummy", for speed.
(https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/automake/2022-05/msg00006.html)
- Compiling Python modules with Python 3.5+ uses multiple optimization
levels. (bug#38043)
- If the Python installation "scheme" is set to posix_local (Debian),
it is reset to either deb_system (if the prefix = /usr), or
posix_prefix (otherwise). (bug#54412, bug#64837)
- As a result of the Python scheme change, the installation directory
for Python files again defaults to "site-packages" under the usual
installation prefix, even on systems (generally Debian-based) that
would normally use the "dist-packages" subdirectory under
/usr/local.
- When compiling Emacs Lisp files, emacs is run with --no-site-file to
disable user config files that might hang or access the terminal;
and -Q is not used, since its support and behavior varies. (bug#58102)
- Emacs Lisp compilations respect silent make output.
- Automake no longer incorrectly warns that the POSIX make variables
$(*D) and the like are non-POSIX. Unfortunately, the make
implementations which do not correctly implement all the POSIX
variables are not detected, but this seems to have little impact
in practice. (bug#9587)
- Pass libtool tags OBJC and OBJCXX for the respective languages.
(bug#67539)
- distcleancheck ignores "silly rename" files (.nfs* .smb* .__afs*)
that can show up on network file systems.
(https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/automake/2022-09/msg00002.html)
- Pass any options given to AM_PROG_LEX on to AC_PROG_LEX.
(bug#65600, bug#65730)
- aclocal: recognize ; as path separator on OS/2 and Windows. (bug#71534)
- Hash iterations with external effects now consistently sort keys.
(bug#25629, bug#46744)
- tests: avoid some declaration conflicts for lex et al. on SunOS.
(bug#34151 and others)
- tests: declare yyparse before use and use (void) parameter lists
instead of (), to placate C23. (bug#71425)
- Typos in code and other doc fixes. (bug#68003, bug#68004, et al.)
* Obsolescence:
- py-compile no longer supports Python 0.x or 1.x versions. Python 2.0,
released in 2000, is currently the minimum required version.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
New in 1.16.5:
* Bugs fixed
- PYTHON_PREFIX and PYTHON_EXEC_PREFIX are now set according to
Python's sys.* values only if the new configure option
--with-python-sys-prefix is specified. Otherwise, GNU default values
are used, as in the past. (The change in 1.16.3 was too incompatible.)
- consistently depend on install-libLTLIBRARIES.
* Distribution
- use const for yyerror declaration in bison/yacc tests.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
New in 1.16.4:
* New features added
- The PYTHON_PREFIX and PYTHON_EXEC_PREFIX variables are now set from
Python's sys.prefix and sys.exec_prefix; use the new configure options
--with-python_prefix and --with-python_exec_prefix to specify explicitly.
- Common top-level files can be provided as .md; the non-md version is
used if both are present:
AUTHORS ChangeLog INSTALL NEWS README README-alpha THANKS
- CTAGS, ETAGS, SCOPE variables can be set via configure.
- Silent make output for custom link commands.
- New option "no-dist-built-sources" skips generating $(BUILT_SOURCES)
before building the tarball as part of "make dist", that is,
omits the dependency of $(distdir): $(BUILT_SOURCES).
* Bugs fixed
- automake output more reproducible.
- test-driver less likely to clash with tests writing to the same file.
- DejaGnu tests always use the directory name, testsuite/, for
compatibility with the newer dejagnu-1.6.3 and with prior versions.
* Distribution
- config.sub and config.guess updates include restoration of `...`
for maximum portability.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
New in 1.16.3:
* New features added
- In the testsuite summary, the "for $(PACKAGE_STRING)" suffix
can be overridden with the AM_TESTSUITE_SUMMARY_HEADER variable.
* Bugs fixed
- Python version number 3.10 no longer considered to be 3.1.
- Broken links in manual fixed or removed, and new script
contrib/checklinkx (a small modification of W3C checklink) added,
with accompany target checklinkx to recheck urls.
- install-exec target depends on $(BUILT_SOURCES).
- valac argument matching more precise, to avoid garbage in DIST_COMMON.
- Support for Vala in VPATH builds fixed so that both freshly-generated and
distributed C files work, and operation is more reliable with or without
an installed valac.
- Dejagnu doesn't break on directories containing spaces.
* Distribution
- new variable AM_DISTCHECK_DVI_TARGET, to allow overriding the
"make dvi" that is done as part of distcheck.
* Miscellaneous changes
- install-sh tweaks:
. new option -p to preserve mtime, i.e., invoke cp -p.
. new option -S SUFFIX to attempt backup files using SUFFIX.
. no longer unconditionally uses -f when rm is overridden by RMPROG.
. does not chown existing directories.
- Removed function up_to_date_p in lib/Automake/FileUtils.pm.
We believe this function is completely unused.
- Support for in-tree Vala libraries improved.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
New in 1.16.2:
* New features added
- add zstd support and the automake option, dist-zstd.
- support for Python 3: py-compile now supports both Python 3
and Python 2; tests do not require .pyo files, and uninstall
deletes __pycache__ correctly (automake bug #32088).
* Miscellaneous changes
- automake no longer requires a @setfilename in each .texi file
* Bugs fixed
- When cleaning the compiled python files, '\n' is not used anymore in the
substitution text of 'sed' transformations. This is done to preserve
compatibility with the 'sed' implementation provided by macOS which
considers '\n' as the 'n' character instead of a newline.
(automake bug#31222)
- For make tags, lisp_LISP is followed by the necessary space when
used with CONFIG_HEADERS.
(automake bug#38139)
- The automake test txinfo-vtexi4.sh no longer fails when localtime
and UTC cross a day boundary.
- Emacsen older than version 25, which require use of
byte-compile-dest-file, are supported again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
New in 1.16.1:
* Bugs fixed:
- 'install-sh' now ensures that nobody can cross privilege boundaries by
pre-creating symlink on the directory inside "/tmp".
- 'automake' does not depend on the 'none' subroutine of the List::Util
module anymore to support older Perl version. (automake bug#30631)
- A regression in AM_PYTHON_PATH causing the rejection of non literal
minimum version parameter hasn't been fixed. (automake bug#30616)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
New in 1.16:
* Miscellaneous changes
- When subdir-objects is in effect, Automake will now construct
shorter object file names when no programs and libraries name
clashes are encountered. This should make the discouraged use of
'foo_SHORTNAME' unnecessary in many cases.
* Bugs fixed:
- Automatic dependency tracking has been fixed to work also when the
'subdir-object' option is used and some 'foo_SOURCES' definition
contains unexpanded references to make variables, as in, e.g.:
a_src = sources/libs/aaa
b_src = sources/bbb
foo_SOURCES = $(a_src)/bar.c $(b_src)/baz.c
With such a setup, the created makefile fragment containing dependency
tracking information will be correctly placed under the directories
named 'sources/libs/aaa/.deps' and 'sources/bbb/.deps', rather than
mistakenly under directories named (literally!) '$(src_a)/.deps' and
'$(src_b)/.deps' (this was the first part of automake bug#13928).
Notice that in order to fix this bug we had to slightly change the
semantics of how config.status bootstraps the makefile fragments
required for the dependency tracking to work: rather than attempting
to parse the Makefiles via grep and sed trickeries only, we actually
invoke 'make' on a slightly preprocessed version of those Makefiles,
using a private target that is only meant to bootstrap the required
makefile fragments.
- The 'subdir-object' option no longer causes object files corresponding
to source files specified with an explicit '$(srcdir)' component to be
placed in the source tree rather than in the build tree.
For example, if Makefile.am contains:
AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = subdir-objects
foo_SOURCES = $(srcdir)/foo.c $(srcdir)/s/bar.c $(top_srcdir)/baz.c
then "make all" will create 'foo.o' and 's/bar.o' in $(builddir) rather
than in $(srcdir), and will create 'baz.o' in $(top_builddir) rather
than in $(top_srcdir).
This was the second part of automake bug#13928.
- Installed 'aclocal' m4 macros can now accept installation directories
containing '@' characters (automake bug#20903)
- "./configure && make dist" no longer fails when a distributed file depends
on one from BUILT_SOURCES.
- When combining AC_LIBOBJ or AC_FUNC_ALLOCA with the
"--disable-dependency-tracking" configure option in an out of source
build, the build sub-directory defined by AC_CONFIG_LIBOBJ_DIR is now
properly created. (automake bug#27781)
- The time printed by 'mdate-sh' is now using the UTC time zone to support
the reproducible build effort. (automake bug#20314)
- The elisp byte-compilation rule now uses byte-compile-dest-file-function,
rather than byte-compile-dest-file, which was obsoleted in 2009. We expect
that Emacs-26 will continue to support the old function, but will complain
loudly, and that Emacs-27 will remove support for it altogether.
* New features added
- A custom testsuite driver for the Guile Scheme SRFI-64 API has been added
to the "contrib" section. This allows a more convenient way to test Guile
code without having to use low primitives such as exit status. See
SRFI-64 API specification for more details:
<https://srfi.schemers.org/srfi-64/srfi-64.html>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
New in 1.15.1:
* Bugs fixed:
- The code has been adapted to remove a warning present since Perl
5.22 stating that "Unescaped left brace in regex is deprecated".
This warning has become an hard error in Perl 5.26 (bug#22372).
- The generated Makefiles do not rely on the obsolescent GZIP
environment variable which was used for passing arguments to
'gzip'. Compatibility with old versions has been
preserved. (bug#20132)
* Miscellaneous changes:
- Support the Windows version of the Intel C Compiler (icl) in the
'compile' script in the same way the (compatible) Microsoft C
Compiler is supported.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
New in 1.15:
* Improvements and refactorings in the install-sh script:
- It has been modernized, and now makes the following assumptions
*unconditionally*:
(1) a working 'dirname' program is available;
(2) the ${var:-value} shell parameters substitution works;
(3) the "set -f" and "set +f" shell commands work, and, respectively,
disable and enable shell globbing.
- The script implements stricter error checking, and now it complains
and bails out if any of the following expectations is not met:
(1) the options -d and -t are never used together;
(2) the argument passed to option -t is a directory;
(3) if there are two or more SOURCEFILE arguments, the
DESTINATION argument must be a directory.
* Automake-generated testsuites:
- The default test-driver used by the Automake-generated testsuites
now appends the result and exit status of each "plain" test to the
associated log file (automake bug#11814).
- The perl implementation of the TAP testsuite driver is no longer
installed in the Automake's scripts directory, and is instead just
distributed as a "contrib" addition. There should be no reason to
use this implementation anyway in real packages, since the awk+shell
implementation of the TAP driver (which is documented in the manual)
is more portable and has feature parity with the perl implementation.
- The rule generating 'test-suite.log' no longer risk incurring in an
extra useless "make all" recursive invocation in some corner cases
(automake bug#16302).
* Distribution:
- Automake bug#18286: "make distcheck" could sometimes fail to detect
files missing from the distribution tarball, especially in those cases
where both the generated files and their dependencies are explicitly
in $(srcdir). An important example of this are *generated* makefile
fragments included at Automake time in Makefile.am; e.g.:
...
$(srcdir)/fragment.am: $(srcdir)/data.txt $(srcdir)/preproc.sh
cd $(srcdir) && $(SHELL) preproc.sh <data.txt >fragment.am
include $(srcdir)/fragment.am
...
If the user forgot to add data.txt and/or preproc.sh in the distribution
tarball, "make distcheck" would have erroneously succeeded! This issue
is now fixed.
- As a consequence of the previous change, "make distcheck" will run
using '$(distdir)/_build/sub' as the build directory, rather than
simply '$(distdir)/_build' (as it was the case for Automake 1.14 and
earlier). Consequently, the './configure' and 'make' invocations
issued by the distcheck recipe now have $(srcdir) equal to '../..',
rather than to just '..'. Dependent and similar variables (e.g.,
'$(top_srcdir)') are also changed accordingly.
Thus, Makefiles that made assumptions about the exact values of the
build and source directories used by "make distcheck" will have to
be adjusted. Notice that making such assumptions was a bad and
unsupported practice anyway, since the exact locations of those
directories should be considered implementation details, and we
reserve the right to change them at any time.
* Miscellaneous bugs fixed:
- The expansion of AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE ends once again with a trailing
newline (bug#16841). Regression introduced in Automake 1.14.
- We no longer risk to use '$ac_aux_dir' before it's defined (see
automake bug#15981). Bug introduced in Automake 1.14.
- The code used to detect whether the currently used make is GNU make
or not (relying on the private macro 'am__is_gnu_make') no longer
risks causing "Arg list too long" for projects using automatic
dependency tracking and having a ton of source files (bug#18744).
- Automake tries to offer a more deterministic output for generated
Makefiles, in the face of the newly-introduced randomization for
hash keys order in Perl 5.18.
- In older Automake versions, if a user defined one single Makefile
fragment (say 'foo.am') to be included via Automake includes in
his main Makefile.am, and defined a custom make rule to generate that
file from other data, Automake used to spuriously complain with some
message like "... overrides Automake target '$(srcdir)/foo.am".
This bug is now fixed.
- The user can now extend the special .PRECIOUS target, the same way
he could already do with the .MAKE .and .PHONY targets.
- Some confusing typos have been fixed in the manual and in few warning
messages (automake bug#16827 and bug#16997).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
New in 1.14.1:
* Bugs fixed:
- The user is no longer allowed to override the --srcdir nor the --prefix
configure options used by "make distcheck" (bug#14991).
- Fixed a gross inefficiency in the recipes for installing byte-compiled
python files, that was causing an O(N^2) performance on the number N of
files, instead of the expected O(N) performance. Note that this bug
was only relevant when the number of python files was high (which is
unusual in practice).
- Automake try to offer a more deterministic output for warning messages,
in the face of the newly-introduced randomization for hash keys order
in Perl 5.18.
- The 'test-driver' script now actually error out with a clear error
message on the most common invalid usages.
- Several spurious failures/hangs in the testsuite (bugs #14706, #14707,
#14760, #14911, #15181, #15237).
* Documentation fixes:
- Fixed typos in the 'fix-timestamp.sh' example script that made it
nonsensical.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
New in 1.14:
* C compilation, and the AC_PROG_CC and AM_PROG_CC_C_O macros:
- The 'compile' script is now unconditionally required for all packages
that perform C compilation (if you are using the '--add-missing'
option, automake will fetch that script for you, so you shouldn't
need any explicit adjustment). This new behavior is needed to avoid
obscure errors when the 'subdir-objects' option is used, and the
compiler is an inferior one that doesn't grasp the combined use of
both the "-c -o" options; see discussion about automake bug#13378 for
more details:
<https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=13378#35>
<https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=13378#44>
- The next major Automake version (2.0) will unconditionally activate
the 'subdir-objects' option. In order to smooth out the transition,
we now give a warning (in the category 'unsupported') whenever a
source file is present in a subdirectory but the 'subdir-object' is
not enabled. For example, the following usage will trigger such a
warning:
bin_PROGRAMS = sub/foo
sub_foo_SOURCES = sub/main.c sub/bar.c
- Automake will automatically enhance the autoconf-provided macro
AC_PROG_CC to force it to check, at configure time, that the
C compiler supports the combined use of both the '-c' and '-o'
options. The result of this check is saved in the cache variable
'am_cv_prog_cc_c_o', and said result can be overridden by
pre-defining that variable.
- The AM_PROG_CC_C_O macro can still be called, albeit that should no
longer be necessary. This macro is now just a thin wrapper around the
Automake-enhanced AC_PROG_CC. This means, among the other things,
that its behavior is changed in three ways:
1. It no longer invokes the Autoconf-provided AC_PROG_CC_C_O
macro behind the scenes.
2. It caches the check result in the 'am_cv_prog_cc_c_o' variable,
and not in a 'ac_cv_prog_cc_*_c_o' variable whose exact name is
dynamically computed only at configure runtime (really!) from
the content of the '$CC' variable.
3. It no longer automatically AC_DEFINE the C preprocessor
symbol 'NO_MINUS_C_MINUS_O'.
* Texinfo support:
- Automake can now be instructed to place '.info' files generated from
Texinfo input in the builddir rather than in the srcdir; this is done
specifying the new automake option 'info-in-builddir'. This feature
was requested by the developers of GCC, GDB, GNU binutils and the GNU
bfd library. See the extensive discussion about automake bug#11034
for more details.
- For quite a long time, Automake has been implementing an undocumented
hack which ensured that '.info' files which appeared to be cleaned
(by being listed in the CLEANFILES or DISTCLEANFILES variables) were
built in the builddir rather than in the srcdir; this hack was
introduced to ensure better backward-compatibility with package
such as Texinfo, which do things like:
info_TEXINFOS = texinfo.txi info-stnd.texi info.texi
DISTCLEANFILES = texinfo texinfo-* info*.info*
# Do not create info files for distribution.
dist-info:
@:
in order not to distribute generated '.info' files.
Now that we have the 'info-in-builddir' option that explicitly causes
generated '.info' files to be placed in the builddir, this hack should
be longer necessary, so we deprecate it with runtime warnings.
It will be removed altogether in Automake 2.0.
* Relative directory in Makefile fragments:
- The special Automake-time substitutions '%reldir%' and '%canon_reldir%'
(and their short versions, '%D%' and '%C%' respectively) can now be used
in an included Makefile fragment. The former is substituted with the
relative directory of the included fragment (compared to the top-level
including Makefile), and the latter with the canonicalized version of
the same relative directory.
# in 'Makefile.am':
bin_PROGRAMS = # will be updated by included Makefile fragments
include src/Makefile.inc
# in 'src/Makefile.inc':
bin_PROGRAMS += %reldir%/foo
%canon_reldir%_foo_SOURCES = %reldir%/bar.c
This should be especially useful for packages using a non-recursive
build system.
* Deprecated distribution formats:
- The 'shar' and 'compress' distribution formats are deprecated, and
scheduled for removal in Automake 2.0. Accordingly, the use of the
'dist-shar' and 'dist-tarZ' will cause warnings at automake runtime
(in the 'obsolete' category), and the recipes of the Automake-generated
targets 'dist-shar' and 'dist-tarZ' will unconditionally display
(non-fatal) warnings at make runtime.
* New configure runtime warnings about "rm -f" support:
- To simplify transition to Automake 2.0, the shell code expanded by
AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE now checks (at configure runtime) that the default
'rm' program in PATH doesn't complain when called without any
non-option argument if the '-f' option is given (so that commands like
"rm -f" and "rm -rf" act as a no-op, instead of raising usage errors).
If this is not the case, the configure script is aborted, to call the
attention of the user on the issue, and invite him to fix his PATH.
The checked 'rm' behavior is very widespread in the wild, and will be
required by future POSIX versions:
<http://austingroupbugs.net/view.php?id=542>
The user can still force the configure process to complete even in the
presence of a broken 'rm' by defining the ACCEPT_INFERIOR_RM_PROGRAM
environment variable to "yes". And the generated Makefiles should
still work correctly even when such broken 'rm' is used. But note
that this will no longer be the case with Automake 2.0 though, so, if
you encounter the warning, please report it to us ASAP (and try to fix
your environment as well).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
New in 1.13.4:
* Bugs fixed:
- Fix a minor regression introduced in Automake 1.13.3: when two or more
user-defined suffix rules were present in a single Makefile.am,
automake would needlessly include definition of some make variables
related to C compilation in the generated Makefile.in (bug#14560).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
New in 1.13.3:
* Documentation fixes:
- The documentation no longer mistakenly reports that the obsolete
'AM_MKDIR_PROG_P' macro and '$(mkdir_p)' make variable are going
to be removed in Automake 2.0.
* Bugs fixed:
- Byte-compilation of Emacs lisp files could fail spuriously on
Solaris, when /bin/ksh or /usr/xpg4/bin/sh were used as shell.
- If the same user-defined suffixes were transformed into different
Automake-known suffixes in different Makefile.am files in the same
project, automake could get confused and generate inconsistent
Makefiles (automake bug#14441).
For example, if 'Makefile.am' contained a ".ext.cc:" suffix rule,
and 'sub/Makefile.am' contained a ".ext.c:" suffix rule, automake
would have mistakenly placed into 'Makefile.in' rules to compile
"*.c" files into object files, and into 'sub/Makefile.in' rules to
compile "*.cc" files into object files --- rather than the other
way around. This is now fixed.
* Testsuite work:
- The test cases no longer have the executable bit set. This should
make it clear that they are not meant to be run directly; as
explained in t/README, they can only be run through the custom
'runtest' script, or by a "make check" invocation.
- The testsuite has seen the introduction of a new helper function
'run_make', and several related changes. These serve a two-fold
purpose:
1. Remove brittleness due to the use of "make -e" in test cases.
2. Seamlessly allow the use of parallel make ("make -j...") in the
test cases, even where redirection of make output is involved
(see automake bug#11413 for a description of the subtle issues
in this area).
- Several spurious failures have been fixed (they hit especially
MinGW/MSYS builds). See automake bugs #14493, #14494, #14495,
#14498, #14499, #14500, #14501, #14517 and #14528.
- Some other minor miscellaneous changes and fixlets.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
New in 1.13.2:
* Documentation fixes:
- The long-deprecated but still supported two-arguments invocation form
of AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE is documented once again. This seems the sanest
thing to do, given that support for such usage might need to remain
in place for an unspecified amount of time in order to cater to people
who want to define the version number for their package dynamically at
configure runtime (unfortunately, Autoconf does not yet support this
scenario, so we cannot delegate the work to it).
- The serial testsuite harness is no longer reported as "deprecated",
but as "discouraged". We have no plan to remove it, nor to make its
use cause runtime warnings.
- The parallel testsuite is no longer reported as "experimental"; it
is well tested, and should be stable now.
- The 'shar' and 'tarZ' distribution formats and the 'dist-shar' and
'dist-tarZ' options are obsolescent, and their use is deprecated
in the documentation.
- Other minor miscellaneous fixes and improvements; in particular,
some improvements in cross-references.
* Obsolescent features:
- Use of suffix-less info files (that can be specified through the
'@setfilename' macro in Texinfo input files) is discouraged, and
its use will raise warnings in the 'obsolete' category. Simply
use the '.info' extension for all your info files, transforming
usages like:
@setfilename myprogram
into:
@setfilename myprogram.info
- Use of Texinfo input files with '.txi' or '.texinfo' extensions
is discouraged, and its use will raise warnings in the 'obsolete'
category. You are advised to simply use the '.texi' extension
instead.
* Bugs fixed:
- When the 'ustar' option is used, the generated configure script no
longer risks hanging during the tests for the availability of the
'pax' utility, even if the user running configure has a UID or GID
that requires more than 21 bits to be represented.
See automake bug#8343 and bug#13588.
- The obsolete macros AM_CONFIG_HEADER or AM_PROG_CC_STDC work once
again, as they did in Automake 1.12.x (albeit printing runtime
warnings in the 'obsolete' category). Removing them has turned
out to be a very bad idea, because it complicated distro packing
enormously. Making them issue fatal warnings, as we did in
Automake 1.13, has turned out to be a similarly very bad idea,
for exactly the same reason.
- aclocal will no longer error out if the first local m4 directory
(as specified by the '-I' option or the 'AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIRS' or
'AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR' macros) doesn't exist; it will merely report
a warning in the 'unsupported' category. This is done to support
some pre-existing real-world usages. See automake bug#13514.
- aclocal will no longer consider directories for extra m4 files more
than once, even if they are specified multiple times. This ensures
packages that specify both
AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR([m4]) in configure.ac
ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS = -I m4 in Makefile.am
will work correctly, even when the 'm4' directory contains no
package-specific files, but is used only to install third-party
m4 files (as can happen with e.g., "libtoolize --install").
See automake bug#13514.
- Analysis of make flags in Automake-generated rules has been made more
robust, and more future-proof. For example, in presence of make that
(like '-I') take an argument, the characters in said argument will no
longer be spuriously considered as a set of additional make options.
In particular, automake-generated rules will no longer spuriously
believe to be running in dry mode ("make -n") if run with an invocation
like "make -I noob"; nor will they believe to be running in keep-going
mode ("make -k") if run with an invocation like "make -I kool"
(automake bug#12554).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
New in 1.13.1:
* Bugs fixed:
- Use of the obsolete macros AM_CONFIG_HEADER or AM_PROG_CC_STDC now
causes a clear and helpful error message, instead of obscure ones
(issue introduced in Automake 1.13).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
New in 1.13:
* Bugs fixed:
- ylwrap renames properly header guards in generated header files
(*.h), instead of leaving Y_TAB_H.
- ylwrap now also converts header guards in implementation files
(*.c). Because ylwrap failed to rename properly #include in the
implementation files, current versions of Bison (e.g., 2.7)
duplicate the generated header file in the implementation file.
The header guard then protects the implementation file from
duplicate definitions from the header file.
* Version requirements:
- Autoconf 2.65 or greater is now required.
- The rules to build PDF and DVI output from Texinfo input now
require Texinfo 4.9 or later.
* Obsolete features:
- Support for the "Cygnus-style" trees (once enabled by the 'cygnus'
option) has been removed. See discussion about automake bug#11034
for more background: <https://debbugs.gnu.org/11034>.
- The deprecated aclocal option '--acdir' has been removed. You
should use the options '--automake-acdir' and '--system-acdir'
instead (which have been introduced in Automake 1.11.2).
- The following long-obsolete m4 macros have been removed:
AM_PROG_CC_STDC: superseded by AC_PROG_CC since October 2002
fp_PROG_CC_STDC: broken alias for AM_PROG_CC_STDC
fp_WITH_DMALLOC: old alias for AM_WITH_DMALLOC
AM_CONFIG_HEADER: superseded by AC_CONFIG_HEADERS since July 2002
ud_PATH_LISPDIR: old alias for AM_PATH_LISPDIR
jm_MAINTAINER_MODE: old alias for AM_MAINTAINER_MODE
ud_GNU_GETTEXT: old alias for AM_GNU_GETTEXT
gm_PROG_LIBTOOL: old alias for AC_PROG_LIBTOOL
fp_C_PROTOTYPES: old alias for AM_C_PROTOTYPES (which was part
of the now-removed automatic de-ANSI-fication
support of Automake)
- All the "old alias" macros in 'm4/obsolete.m4' have been removed.
- Use of the long-deprecated two- and three-arguments invocation forms
of the AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE is no longer documented. It's still supported
though (albeit with a warning in the 'obsolete' category), to cater
for people who want to define the version number for their package
dynamically (e.g., from the current VCS revision). We'll have to
continue this support until Autoconf itself is fixed to allow better
support for such dynamic version numbers.
* Elisp byte-compilation:
- The byte compilation of '.el' files into '.elc' files is now done
with a suffix rule. This has simplified the compilation process, and
more importantly made it less brittle. The downside is that emacs is
now invoked once for each '.el' files, which cause some noticeable
slowdowns. These should however be mitigated on multicore machines
(which are becoming the norm today) if concurrent make ("make -j")
is used.
- Elisp files placed in a subdirectory are now byte-compiled to '.elc'
files in the same subdirectory; for example, byte-compiling of file
'sub/foo.el' file will result in 'sub/foo.elc' rather than in
'foo.elc'. This behavior is backward-incompatible with older
Automake versions, but it is more natural and more sane. See also
automake bug#7441.
- The Emacs invocation performing byte-compilation of '.el' files honors
the $(AM_ELCFLAGS) and $(ELCFLAGS) variables; as typical, the former
one is developer-reserved and the latter one user-reserved.
- The 'elisp-comp' script, once provided by Automake, has been rendered
obsoleted by the just-described changes, and thus removed.
* Changes to Automake-generated testsuite harnesses:
- The parallel testsuite harness (previously only enabled by the
'parallel-tests' option) is the default one; the older serial
testsuite harness will still be available through the use of the
'serial-tests' option (introduced in Automake 1.12).
- The 'color-tests' option is now unconditionally activated by default.
In particular, this means that testsuite output is now colorized by
default if the attached terminal seems to support ANSI escapes, and
that the user can force output colorization by setting the variable
AM_COLOR_TESTS to "always". The 'color-tests' is still recognized
for backward-compatibility, although it's a handled as a no-op now.
* Silent rules support:
- Support for silent rules is now always active in Automake-generated
Makefiles. So, although the verbose output is still the default,
the user can now always use "./configure --enable-silent-rules" or
"make V=0" to enable quieter output in the package he's building.
- The 'silent-rules' option has now become a no-op, preserved for
backward-compatibility only. In particular, its use no longer
disables the warnings in the 'portability-recursive' category.
* Texinfo Support:
- The rules to build PDF and DVI files from Texinfo input now require
Texinfo 4.9 or later.
- The rules to build PDF and DVI files from Texinfo input now use the
'--build-dir' option, to keep the auxiliary files used by texi2dvi
and texi2pdf around without cluttering the build directory, and to
make it possible to run the "dvi" and "pdf" recipes in parallel.
* Automatic remake rules and 'missing' script:
- The 'missing' script no longer tries to update the timestamp of
out-of-date files that require a maintainer-specific tool to be
remade, in case the user lacks such a tool (or has a too-old version
of it). It just gives a useful warning, and in some cases also a
tip about how to obtain such a tool.
- The missing script has thus become useless as a (poor) way to work
around the sketched-timestamps issues that can happen for projects
that keep generated files committed in their VCS repository. Such
projects are now encouraged to write a custom "fix-timestamp.sh"
script to avoid such issues; a simple example is provided in the
"CVS and generated files" chapter of the automake manual.
* Recursive targets:
- The user can now define his own recursive targets that recurse
in the directories specified in $(SUBDIRS). This can be done by
specifying the name of such targets in invocations of the new
'AM_EXTRA_RECURSIVE_TARGETS' m4 macro.
* Tags:
- Any failure in the recipe of the "tags", "ctags", "cscope" or
"cscopelist" targets in a subdirectory is now propagated to the
top-level make invocation.
- Tags are correctly computed also for files in _SOURCES variables that
only list files with non-standard suffixes (see automake bug#12372).
* Improvements to aclocal and related rebuilds rules:
- Autoconf-provided macros AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR and AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIRS
are now traced by aclocal, and can be used to declare the local m4
include directories. Formerly, one had to specify it with an explicit
'-I' option to the 'aclocal' invocation.
- The special make variable ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS may be deprecated in
a future Automake major release.
* The depcomp script:
- Dropped support for libtool 1.4.
- Various internal refactorings. They should cause no visible change,
but the chance for regression is there anyway, so please report any
unexpected or suspicious behavior.
- Support for pre-8.0 versions of the Intel C Compiler has been dropped.
This should cause no problem, since icc 8.0 has been released in
December 2003 -- almost nine years ago.
- Support for tcc (the Tiny C Compiler) has been improved, and is now
handled through a dedicated 'tcc' mode.
* The ylwrap script:
- ylwrap generates header guards with a single '_' for series of non