* Fortran 9x Support:: Compiling Fortran 9x sources
* Java Support:: Compiling Java sources
* Support for Other Languages:: Compiling other languages
-* ANSI:: Automatic de-ANSI-fication
+* ANSI:: Automatic de-ANSI-fication (obsolete)
* Dependencies:: Automatic dependency tracking
* EXEEXT:: Support for executable extensions
@table @code
@item ansi2knr.c
@itemx ansi2knr.1
-These two files are used by the automatic de-ANSI-fication support
+These two files are used by the obsolete de-ANSI-fication support
(@pxref{ANSI}).
@item compile
$(COMPILE) -DEXIT_CODE=1 -c true.c && mv true.o false.o
@end example
-Also, these explicit rules do not work if the de-ANSI-fication feature
+Also, these explicit rules do not work if the obsolete de-ANSI-fication feature
is used (@pxref{ANSI}). Supporting de-ANSI-fication requires a little
more work:
@code{AC_PATH_XTRA} is called.
@item AM_C_PROTOTYPES
-This is required when using automatic de-ANSI-fication; see @ref{ANSI}.
+This is required when using the obsolete de-ANSI-fication feature; see
+@ref{ANSI}.
@item AM_GNU_GETTEXT
This macro is required for packages that use GNU gettext
@subsection Public macros
@table @code
-@item AM_C_PROTOTYPES
-@acindex AM_C_PROTOTYPES
-@vindex ANSI2KNR
-@vindex U
-Check to see if function prototypes are understood by the compiler. If
-so, define @samp{PROTOTYPES} and set the output variables @code{U} and
-@code{ANSI2KNR} to the empty string. Otherwise, set @code{U} to
-@samp{_} and @code{ANSI2KNR} to @samp{./ansi2knr}. Automake uses these
-values to implement automatic de-ANSI-fication.
@item AM_ENABLE_MULTILIB
@acindex AM_ENABLE_MULTILIB
Autoconf Manual}).
@table @code
+@item AM_C_PROTOTYPES
+@acindex AM_C_PROTOTYPES
+@vindex ANSI2KNR
+@vindex U
+Check to see if function prototypes are understood by the compiler. If
+so, define @samp{PROTOTYPES} and set the output variables @code{U} and
+@code{ANSI2KNR} to the empty string. Otherwise, set @code{U} to
+@samp{_} and @code{ANSI2KNR} to @samp{./ansi2knr}. Automake uses these
+values to implement the obsolete de-ANSI-fication feature.
+
@item AM_CONFIG_HEADER
@acindex AM_CONFIG_HEADER
Automake will generate rules to automatically regenerate the config
* Fortran 9x Support:: Compiling Fortran 9x sources
* Java Support:: Compiling Java sources
* Support for Other Languages:: Compiling other languages
-* ANSI:: Automatic de-ANSI-fication
+* ANSI:: Automatic de-ANSI-fication (obsolete)
* Dependencies:: Automatic dependency tracking
* EXEEXT:: Support for executable extensions
@end menu
@cindex de-ANSI-fication, defined
-Although the GNU standards allow the use of ANSI C, this can have the
-effect of limiting portability of a package to some older compilers
-(notably the SunOS C compiler).
+The features described in this section are obsolete; you should not
+used any of them in new code, and they may be withdrawn in future
+Automake releases.
+
+When the C language was standardized in 1989, there was a long
+transition period where package developers needed to worry about
+porting to older systems that did not support ANSI C by default.
+These older systems are no longer in practical use and are no longer
+supported by their original suppliers, so developers need not worry
+about this problem any more.
-Automake allows you to work around this problem on such machines by
+Automake allows you to write packages that are portable to K&R C by
@dfn{de-ANSI-fying} each source file before the actual compilation takes
place.
page for details.
@acindex AM_C_PROTOTYPES
-Support for de-ANSI-fication requires the source files @file{ansi2knr.c}
+Support for the obsolete de-ANSI-fication feature
+requires the source files @file{ansi2knr.c}
and @file{ansi2knr.1} to be in the same package as the ANSI C source;
these files are distributed with Automake. Also, the package
@file{configure.ac} must call the macro @code{AM_C_PROTOTYPES}
@itemx @option{@var{path}/ansi2knr}
@cindex Option, @option{ansi2knr}
@opindex ansi2knr
-Turn on automatic de-ANSI-fication. @xref{ANSI}. If preceded by a
+Turn on the obsolete de-ANSI-fication feature. @xref{ANSI}. If preceded by a
path, the generated @file{Makefile.in} will look in the specified
directory to find the @file{ansi2knr} program. The path should be a
relative path to another directory in the same distribution (Automake