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(autoconf.info)Writing configure.ac

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Writing `configure.ac'
======================

   To produce a `configure' script for a software package, create a
file called `configure.ac' that contains invocations of the Autoconf
macros that test the system features your package needs or can use.
Autoconf macros already exist to check for many features; see Note:
Existing Tests, for their descriptions.  For most other features, you
can use Autoconf template macros to produce custom checks; see Note:
Writing Tests, for information about them.  For especially tricky or
specialized features, `configure.ac' might need to contain some
hand-crafted shell commands; see Note: Portable Shell.  The
`autoscan' program can give you a good start in writing `configure.ac'
(Note: autoscan Invocation, for more information).

   Previous versions of Autoconf promoted the name `configure.in',
which is somewhat ambiguous (the tool needed to produce this file is not
described by its extension), and introduces a slight confusion with
`config.h.in' and so on (for which `.in' means "to be processed by
`configure'").  Using `configure.ac' is now preferred.

Shell Script Compiler

Autoconf as solution of a problem

Autoconf Language

Programming in Autoconf

configure.ac Layout

Standard organization of configure.ac