4 ms·
The output of autoconf is generally just a file full of variables the Makefile includes You may just be using a terminology I don't recognize, but like 'kazina
by nkurz 10y ago
The output of autoconf is generally just a file full of variables the Makefile includes
You may just be using a terminology I don't recognize, but like 'kazinator', I think you are missing a step.
The Git project, whose autoconf recipe I've contributed to, is a good example of this.
Great, let's use that as a specific example: https://github.com/git/git/blob/master/configure.ac https://github.com/git/git/blob/master/configure.ac. Line 2 says "Process this file with autoconf to produce a configure script."
I interpret this as saying that autoconf takes configure.ac as input, and produces a runnable 'configure' script as output. But you are saying that "the output of autoconf is generally just file full of variables the Makefile includes". How can these both be true?
- avar 10y agoI was using "autoconf" to mean both the software itself and all its output, including the generated configure script. Confusingly, sorry about that, but for the purposes of discussing what software you need to generate the configure valuables you ultimately need when cloning from source control, it makes no difference.
- sqeaky 10y agoChains of discussion like this are why I like CMake. Much less confusion. Few confuse the output of CMake with things that ought to be committed.
- kazinator 10y agoI like something called GNU Make for the same reason. Few confuse the output of Make (namely your built program) with something that ought to be committed (like its source code or the Makefile).