Automake Fu'

This page collects useful bits of automake-fu' to help increase the quality of our software.

Generate Changelogs automatically

dist-hook:
        @if test -d "$(srcdir)/.bzr"; \
                then \
                        echo Creating ChangeLog && \
                        ( cd "$(top_srcdir)" && \
                                echo '# Generated by Makefile. Do not edit.'; echo; \
                                $(top_srcdir)/missing --run bzr log --gnu-changelog ) > ChangeLog.tmp \
                        && mv -f ChangeLog.tmp $(top_distdir)/ChangeLog \
                        || (rm -f ChangeLog.tmp; \
                                        echo Failed to generate ChangeLog >&2 ); \
        else \
                        echo Failed to generate ChangeLog >&2; \
                fi
        @if test -d "$(top_srcdir)/.bzr"; \
                then \
                        echo Creating AUTHORS && \
                                ( cd "$(top_srcdir)" && \
                                echo '# Generated by Makefile. Do not edit.'; echo; \
                                $(top_srcdir)/missing --run  bzr log --long --levels=0 | grep -e "^\s*author:" -e "^\s*committer:" | cut -d ":" -f 2 | cut -d "<" -f 1 | sort -u) > AUTHORS.tmp \
                                && mv -f AUTHORS.tmp $(top_distdir)/AUTHORS \
                                || (rm -f AUTHORS.tmp; \
                                        echo Failed to generate AUTHORS >&2 ); \
        else \
                        echo Failed to generate AUTHORS: not a branch >&2; \
        fi

Mentioned by Neil in this code review

Silent build with Automake 1.11 (with fallback support for older versions)

Add this to configure.ac, below AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE():

m4_ifdef([AM_SILENT_RULES], [AM_SILENT_RULES([yes])])

Examples request

• an example for adding and handling --enable/disable-foo
• an example for adding an "option-list" (e.g. ./configure --with-test=actions,monitor,dialog)