What is "aclocal.m4"

louisb · 03-17-2005, 05:51 AM

What is "aclocal.m4"?

What does it do?

I seem to get every time I do a src rpm complie. Every time I try to run it I get a message about config.in required. I checked on google. There is a lot of talk about but know body give an explanation for a newbie.

Thanks

jtshaw · 03-17-2005, 08:19 AM

aclocal.m4 is a file that contains macros used by autoconf and autoconf. Here is a description, taken directly from the man page for aclocal:

Quote:

Automake includes a number of Autoconf macros which can be used in your
package; some of them are actually required by Automake in certain situations.
These macros must be defined in your aclocal.m4; otherwise
they will not be seen by autoconf.

The aclocal program will automatically generate aclocal.m4 files based
on the contents of configure.in. This provides a convenient way to get
Automake-provided macros, without having to search around. Also, the
aclocal mechanism is extensible for use by other packages.

At startup, aclocal scans all the .m4 files it can find, looking for
macro definitions. Then it scans configure.in. Any mention of one of
the macros found in the first step causes that macro, and any macros it
in turn requires, to be put into aclocal.m4.

The contents of acinclude.m4, if it exists, are also automatically
included in aclocal.m4. This is useful for incorporating local macros
into configure.