Re: Where Do All These Macros Come From?
Paul Smith psm...@gnu.org writes: Other macros might have been created specifically for a given project; they will be contained in files in that project directory. Other macros might be defined by other 3rdparty software you are trying to work with (texinfo, various libraries, etc.) Those will be defined by those packages. ... a widely-used example of this is the PKG_CHECK_MODULES macro, which is defined by the pkg-config package. -miles -- Scriptures, n. The sacred books of our holy religion, as distinguished from the false and profane writings on which all other faiths are based.
Where Do All These Macros Come From?
-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- Hash: SHA512 Hello, folks! In learning automake I keep looking at example configure.ac files and in the tutorial someone says oh, you can just use this here macro. I look in the automake manual, though (https://www.gnu.org/software/automake/manual/automake.html#Macro-Index) and find the macro to not be found. One example is AC_CHECK_LIB that's automatically generated by autoscan...I see very little documentation on this macro. Is there a special syntax for configure.ac? This is never really explained in any tutorial. All I see is someone pulling a variable out from who-knows-where and a different tutorial doing the exact same thing pulls a different macro from who-know-where. Thanks. Hope my question is clear. I'm still sort of a newbie with automake. -BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE- iQEcBAEBCgAGBQJRn3hJAAoJEOT99oqiSuRNeygH/AgSIY3qtsem4IsA5Y4JfebQ wuSrgPy07FrkUx+4rAT6Ul+SRcOY0qttiv8nhPYaK/2y3pC9+mCFXnjdHBEoMGkZ CKcsfX64nHux6KUkirVEvmVZXxnEKUJzpcNBRkJQAnP2yuNuZKIIcjOVw8/y0YM0 odfeyAdFjcLl89AceR37PE0EsUatN2ISAU8XvwCkfqFiEMdGOP42eQOAyMm4GOIE 56tQv4oBflC0rv5XFbJkd5Z/OjTyySHSi9dQ68HJ0zRHT1x2hIc297yEGPZ/Ot5H fs28t5Xl64mOWMSrTphpMezNNJdSSMueUFVtq9zBNrkD4x0r0BUIfWWP2zCFBhc= =RkxA -END PGP SIGNATURE-
Re: Where Do All These Macros Come From?
On Fri, 2013-05-24 at 07:25 -0700, Jordan H. wrote: Hello, folks! In learning automake I keep looking at example configure.ac files and in the tutorial someone says oh, you can just use this here macro. I look in the automake manual, though (https://www.gnu.org/software/automake/manual/automake.html#Macro-Index) and find the macro to not be found. One example is AC_CHECK_LIB that's automatically generated by autoscan...I see very little documentation on this macro. Is there a special syntax for configure.ac? This is never really explained in any tutorial. All I see is someone pulling a variable out from who-knows-where and a different tutorial doing the exact same thing pulls a different macro from who-know-where. Thanks. Hope my question is clear. I'm still sort of a newbie with automake. Your problem is that your confusing automake and autoconf. Automake is the tool that manages makefiles: it turns a Makefile.am file into a Makefile.in file. Autoconf is the tool that manages configuration: it turns a configure.ac file into the configure script. When your user runs the configure script, one of the things it does is convert the Makefile.in file to a normal Makefile. As a general rule, the autoconf macros that begin with AM_ are automake macros. The macros that begin with AC_ are autoconf macros, and you need to read the autoconf documentation to learn about those.
Re: Where Do All These Macros Come From?
Right. I understand that much. My question is about autoconf (sorry about saying auto*make*). I see a lot of macros that tutorial authors use for which I don't see any documentation. Are they customized for that project? Where are they defined? I'm coming from a Makefile background (like most everyone). I'm used to having something like this: CXX=g++ CPPFLAGS=-g -std=c++0x all: some_target # blah blah blah... However, with autoconf I find macros are defined like this: SOME_MACRO([ BLAH BLAH BLAH ... ], [BLAH BLAH BLAH ... ]) Alright, cool. I can get used to this syntax. How does autoconf know what SOME_MACRO is and how to use it in generating a `configure` script? I found a list of configure.ac macros in the automake manual (the auto*conf* section) but I see a lot of macros that people use that are not on the list or nowhere previously defined. How is this possible? I'm sorry...I'm really confused here. On Fri 24 May 2013 07:28:17 AM PDT, Paul Smith wrote: On Fri, 2013-05-24 at 07:25 -0700, Jordan H. wrote: Hello, folks! In learning automake I keep looking at example configure.ac files and in the tutorial someone says oh, you can just use this here macro. I look in the automake manual, though (https://www.gnu.org/software/automake/manual/automake.html#Macro-Index) and find the macro to not be found. One example is AC_CHECK_LIB that's automatically generated by autoscan...I see very little documentation on this macro. Is there a special syntax for configure.ac? This is never really explained in any tutorial. All I see is someone pulling a variable out from who-knows-where and a different tutorial doing the exact same thing pulls a different macro from who-know-where. Thanks. Hope my question is clear. I'm still sort of a newbie with automake. Your problem is that your confusing automake and autoconf. Automake is the tool that manages makefiles: it turns a Makefile.am file into a Makefile.in file. Autoconf is the tool that manages configuration: it turns a configure.ac file into the configure script. When your user runs the configure script, one of the things it does is convert the Makefile.in file to a normal Makefile. As a general rule, the autoconf macros that begin with AM_ are automake macros. The macros that begin with AC_ are autoconf macros, and you need to read the autoconf documentation to learn about those.
Re: Where Do All These Macros Come From?
Alright, cool. I can get used to this syntax. How does autoconf know what SOME_MACRO is and how to use it in generating a `configure` script? I found a list of configure.ac macros in the automake manual (the auto*conf* section) but I see a lot of macros that people use that are not on the list or nowhere previously defined. How is this possible? I'm sorry...I'm really confused here. autoconf reads a file called aclocal.m4 for extra macro definitions. This is generated by the aclocal program which is part of automake.
Re: Where Do All These Macros Come From?
On Fri, 2013-05-24 at 08:26 -0700, Jordan H. wrote: Right. I understand that much. My question is about autoconf (sorry about saying auto*make*). I see a lot of macros that tutorial authors use for which I don't see any documentation. Well it depends on the macro. The one you mentioned by name in your email is AC_CHECK_LIB, and that's defined in the autoconf manual (along with all the other AC_ macros), which is why I suggested it: http://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf/manual/autoconf-2.69/html_node/Existing-Tests.html http://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf/manual/autoconf-2.69/html_node/Libraries.html#Libraries Those are the ones autoconf provides by default. Other macros might have been created specifically for a given project; they will be contained in files in that project directory. Other macros might be defined by other 3rdparty software you are trying to work with (texinfo, various libraries, etc.) Those will be defined by those packages.
