5.2 Other things Automake recognizes

Every time Automake is run it calls Autoconf to trace `configure.in'. This way it can recognize the use of certain macros and tailor the generated `Makefile.in' appropriately. Currently recognized macros and their effects are:

AC_CONFIG_HEADERS

Automake will generate rules to rebuild these headers. Older versions of Automake required the use of AM_CONFIG_HEADER (see section 5.6 Autoconf macros supplied with Automake); this is no longer the case today.

AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR

Automake will look for various helper scripts, such as `mkinstalldirs', in the directory named in this macro invocation. If not seen, the scripts are looked for in their `standard' locations (either the top source directory, or in the source directory corresponding to the current `Makefile.am', whichever is appropriate). See section `Finding `configure' Input' in The Autoconf Manual. FIXME: give complete list of things looked for in this directory

AC_CANONICAL_HOST

Automake will ensure that `config.guess' and `config.sub' exist. Also, the `Makefile' variables `host_alias' and `host_triplet' are introduced. See section `Getting the Canonical System Type' in The Autoconf Manual.

AC_CANONICAL_SYSTEM

This is similar to AC_CANONICAL_HOST, but also defines the `Makefile' variables `build_alias' and `target_alias'. See section `Getting the Canonical System Type' in The Autoconf Manual.

AC_LIBSOURCE

AC_LIBSOURCES

AC_LIBOBJ

Automake will automatically distribute any file listed in AC_LIBSOURCE or AC_LIBSOURCES.

Note that the AC_LIBOBJ macro calls AC_LIBSOURCE. So if an Autoconf macro is documented to call AC_LIBOBJ([file]), then `file.c' will be distributed automatically by Automake. This encompasses many macros like AC_FUNC_ALLOCA, AC_FUNC_MEMCMP, AC_REPLACE_FUNCS, and others.

By the way, direct assignments to LIBOBJS are no longer supported. You should always use AC_LIBOBJ for this purpose. See section `AC_LIBOBJ vs. LIBOBJS' in The Autoconf Manual.

AC_PROG_RANLIB

This is required if any libraries are built in the package. See section `Particular Program Checks' in The Autoconf Manual.

AC_PROG_CXX

This is required if any C++ source is included. See section `Particular Program Checks' in The Autoconf Manual.

AC_PROG_F77

This is required if any Fortran 77 source is included. This macro is distributed with Autoconf version 2.13 and later. See section `Particular Program Checks' in The Autoconf Manual.

AC_F77_LIBRARY_LDFLAGS

This is required for programs and shared libraries that are a mixture of languages that include Fortran 77 (see section 9.10.3 Mixing Fortran 77 With C and C++). See section Autoconf macros supplied with Automake.

AC_PROG_LIBTOOL

Automake will turn on processing for libtool (see section `Introduction' in The Libtool Manual).

AC_PROG_YACC

If a Yacc source file is seen, then you must either use this macro or define the variable `YACC' in `configure.in'. The former is preferred (see section `Particular Program Checks' in The Autoconf Manual).

AC_PROG_LEX

If a Lex source file is seen, then this macro must be used. See section `Particular Program Checks' in The Autoconf Manual.

AC_SUBST

The first argument is automatically defined as a variable in each generated `Makefile.in'. See section `Setting Output Variables' in The Autoconf Manual.

If the Autoconf manual says that a macro calls AC_SUBST for var, or defined the output variable var then var will be defined in each generated `Makefile.in'. E.g. AC_PATH_XTRA defines X_CFLAGS and X_LIBS, so you can use the variable in any `Makefile.am' if AC_PATH_XTRA is called.

AM_C_PROTOTYPES

This is required when using automatic de-ANSI-fication; see 9.13 Automatic de-ANSI-fication.

AM_GNU_GETTEXT

This macro is required for packages which use GNU gettext (see section 11.2 Gettext). It is distributed with gettext. If Automake sees this macro it ensures that the package meets some of gettext's requirements.

AM_MAINTAINER_MODE

This macro adds a `--enable-maintainer-mode' option to configure. If this is used, automake will cause `maintainer-only' rules to be turned off by default in the generated `Makefile.in's. This macro defines the `MAINTAINER_MODE' conditional, which you can use in your own `Makefile.am'.