As I got feedback from users, I incorporated many improvements, using
Emacs to search and replace, cut and paste, similar changes in each of
the scripts. As I adapted more GNU utilities packages to use
-@code{configure} scripts, updating them all by hand became burdensome.
+@code{configure} scripts, updating them all by hand became impractical.
Rich Murphey, the maintainer of the GNU graphics utilities, sent me mail
saying that the @code{configure} scripts were great, and asking if I had
-a program for generating them that I could send him. No, I thought, but
+a tool for generating them that I could send him. No, I thought, but
I should! So I started to work out how to generate them. And the
journey from the bondage of hand-written @file{configure} scripts to the
-promise of Autoconf began.
+ease of Autoconf began.
Cygnus @code{configure}, which was being developed at around that time,
is table driven; it is meant to deal mainly with a discrete number of
reads pieces of @file{configure.in} when run. But I didn't want to have
to distribute all of the feature tests with every package, so I settled
on having a different @code{configure} made from each
-@file{configure.in} by a preprocessor.
+@file{configure.in} by a preprocessor. That approach also offered more
+control and flexibility
I looked briefly into using Larry Wall's Metaconfig program, but I
decided not to for several reasons. The @code{Configure} scripts it
Pinard, who came up with the idea of making an @file{autoconf} shell
script to run @code{m4} and check for unresolved macro calls; Karl
Berry, who championed standardizing the @code{HAVE_@var{feature}} form
-for C preprocessor symbols; and Ian Taylor, who added support for
-creating a C header file as an alternative to putting @samp{-D} options
-in a @file{Makefile}, so he could use it in his UUCP package. The alpha
-testers cheerfully adjusted their files again and again as the names and
-calling conventions of the Autoconf macros changed from release to
-release. They all contributed many specific checks, great ideas, and
-bug fixes.
+for C preprocessor symbols; Rich Pixley, who suggested running the
+compiler instead of searching the file system to find include files and
+symbols, for more accurate results; and Ian Taylor, who added support
+for creating a C header file as an alternative to putting @samp{-D}
+options in a @file{Makefile}, so he could use Autoconf in his UUCP
+package. The alpha testers cheerfully adjusted their files again and
+again as the names and calling conventions of the Autoconf macros
+changed from release to release. They all contributed many specific
+checks, great ideas, and bug fixes.
@node Numbers, Deuteronomy, Leviticus, History
@section Numbers
in GNU @code{m4} as well. Eventually, we realized that we needed to use
some features that only GNU @code{m4} has. BSD @code{m4}, in
particular, has an impoverished set of builtin macros; the System V
-version is better, but still doesn't have everything we need.
+version is better, but still doesn't provide everything we need.
More development occurred as people put Autoconf under more stresses
(and to uses I hadn't anticipated). Karl Berry added checks for X11.
source tree, like Cygnus does) they were frustratingly slow. Mike
Haertel suggested adding site-specific initialization scripts. People
distributing software that had to unpack on MS-DOS asked for a way to
-override the @file{.in} extension on the file names. Jim Avera did an
-extensive examination of the problems with quoting in @code{AC_DEFINE};
-his insights led to significant improvements. Richard Stallman asked
-that compiler output be sent to @file{config.log} instead of
-@file{/dev/null}, to help people debug the Emacs @code{configure}
-script.
+override the @file{.in} extension on the file names, which produced file
+names like @file{config.h.in} containing two dots. Jim Avera did an
+extensive examination of the problems with quoting in @code{AC_DEFINE}
+and @code{AC_SUBST}; his insights led to significant improvements.
+Richard Stallman asked that compiler output be sent to @file{config.log}
+instead of @file{/dev/null}, to help people debug the Emacs
+@code{configure} script.
I made some other changes because of my dissatisfaction with the quality
of the program. I made the messages showing results of the checks less
ambiguous, always printing a result. I regularized the names of the
macros and cleaned up coding style inconsistencies. I added some
-useful auxiliary utilities that I had developed to help convert source
-code packages to use Autoconf. And I began a testsuite, because
-experience had shown that Autoconf has a pronounced tendency to regress
-when we change it.
+auxiliary utilities that I had developed to help convert source code
+packages to use Autoconf. And I began a testsuite, because experience
+had shown that Autoconf has a pronounced tendency to regress when we
+change it.
Again, several alpha testers gave invaluable feedback, especially
@ifinfo
@tex
Fran\c cois
@end tex
-Pinard, Rob Savoye, and Ken Raeburn.
+Pinard, Jim Meyering, Karl Berry, Rob Savoye, and Ken Raeburn.
Finally, version 2.0 was ready. And there was much rejoicing.
(And I have free time again. I think.)
As I got feedback from users, I incorporated many improvements, using
Emacs to search and replace, cut and paste, similar changes in each of
the scripts. As I adapted more GNU utilities packages to use
-@code{configure} scripts, updating them all by hand became burdensome.
+@code{configure} scripts, updating them all by hand became impractical.
Rich Murphey, the maintainer of the GNU graphics utilities, sent me mail
saying that the @code{configure} scripts were great, and asking if I had
-a program for generating them that I could send him. No, I thought, but
+a tool for generating them that I could send him. No, I thought, but
I should! So I started to work out how to generate them. And the
journey from the bondage of hand-written @file{configure} scripts to the
-promise of Autoconf began.
+ease of Autoconf began.
Cygnus @code{configure}, which was being developed at around that time,
is table driven; it is meant to deal mainly with a discrete number of
reads pieces of @file{configure.in} when run. But I didn't want to have
to distribute all of the feature tests with every package, so I settled
on having a different @code{configure} made from each
-@file{configure.in} by a preprocessor.
+@file{configure.in} by a preprocessor. That approach also offered more
+control and flexibility
I looked briefly into using Larry Wall's Metaconfig program, but I
decided not to for several reasons. The @code{Configure} scripts it
Pinard, who came up with the idea of making an @file{autoconf} shell
script to run @code{m4} and check for unresolved macro calls; Karl
Berry, who championed standardizing the @code{HAVE_@var{feature}} form
-for C preprocessor symbols; and Ian Taylor, who added support for
-creating a C header file as an alternative to putting @samp{-D} options
-in a @file{Makefile}, so he could use it in his UUCP package. The alpha
-testers cheerfully adjusted their files again and again as the names and
-calling conventions of the Autoconf macros changed from release to
-release. They all contributed many specific checks, great ideas, and
-bug fixes.
+for C preprocessor symbols; Rich Pixley, who suggested running the
+compiler instead of searching the file system to find include files and
+symbols, for more accurate results; and Ian Taylor, who added support
+for creating a C header file as an alternative to putting @samp{-D}
+options in a @file{Makefile}, so he could use Autoconf in his UUCP
+package. The alpha testers cheerfully adjusted their files again and
+again as the names and calling conventions of the Autoconf macros
+changed from release to release. They all contributed many specific
+checks, great ideas, and bug fixes.
@node Numbers, Deuteronomy, Leviticus, History
@section Numbers
in GNU @code{m4} as well. Eventually, we realized that we needed to use
some features that only GNU @code{m4} has. BSD @code{m4}, in
particular, has an impoverished set of builtin macros; the System V
-version is better, but still doesn't have everything we need.
+version is better, but still doesn't provide everything we need.
More development occurred as people put Autoconf under more stresses
(and to uses I hadn't anticipated). Karl Berry added checks for X11.
source tree, like Cygnus does) they were frustratingly slow. Mike
Haertel suggested adding site-specific initialization scripts. People
distributing software that had to unpack on MS-DOS asked for a way to
-override the @file{.in} extension on the file names. Jim Avera did an
-extensive examination of the problems with quoting in @code{AC_DEFINE};
-his insights led to significant improvements. Richard Stallman asked
-that compiler output be sent to @file{config.log} instead of
-@file{/dev/null}, to help people debug the Emacs @code{configure}
-script.
+override the @file{.in} extension on the file names, which produced file
+names like @file{config.h.in} containing two dots. Jim Avera did an
+extensive examination of the problems with quoting in @code{AC_DEFINE}
+and @code{AC_SUBST}; his insights led to significant improvements.
+Richard Stallman asked that compiler output be sent to @file{config.log}
+instead of @file{/dev/null}, to help people debug the Emacs
+@code{configure} script.
I made some other changes because of my dissatisfaction with the quality
of the program. I made the messages showing results of the checks less
ambiguous, always printing a result. I regularized the names of the
macros and cleaned up coding style inconsistencies. I added some
-useful auxiliary utilities that I had developed to help convert source
-code packages to use Autoconf. And I began a testsuite, because
-experience had shown that Autoconf has a pronounced tendency to regress
-when we change it.
+auxiliary utilities that I had developed to help convert source code
+packages to use Autoconf. And I began a testsuite, because experience
+had shown that Autoconf has a pronounced tendency to regress when we
+change it.
Again, several alpha testers gave invaluable feedback, especially
@ifinfo
@tex
Fran\c cois
@end tex
-Pinard, Rob Savoye, and Ken Raeburn.
+Pinard, Jim Meyering, Karl Berry, Rob Savoye, and Ken Raeburn.
Finally, version 2.0 was ready. And there was much rejoicing.
(And I have free time again. I think.)
projects / thirdparty / autoconf.git / commitdiff
