ACLOCAL(1)

📦
version 1.18.1 · 5 versions
, in alpine 3.23, nixos 26.05, nixpkgs unstable, opensuse-leap 16.0

💅 ACLOCAL(1) — the glow-up edition ✨

okay bestie, so this is a page from the User Commands manual, and it's all about aclocal. buckle up, she's iconic 🎀

🌸 NAME 🌸

aclocal — the girl who generates aclocal.m4 by scanning configure.ac periodt 💖

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

aclocal [OPTION]...

that's it. that's the whole vibe. options go brrr 🦋

💜 DESCRIPTION 💜

so basically she generates 'aclocal.m4' by scanning 'configure.ac' or 'configure.in' — those are the two file names, exactly like that, no cap 🔥

👑 OPTIONS 👑

okay this is the part you actually came for, bestie. every single one, in order, no skipping 🙈

  • --automake-acdir=DIR — the directory holding the automake-provided m4 files ✨
  • --aclocal-path=PATH — a colon-separated list of directories to search for third-party local files 🦋
  • --system-acdir=DIR — the directory holding third-party system-wide files 💫
  • --diff[=COMMAND] — runs COMMAND [diff -u] on the M4 files that would be changed — and yeah, this implies --install and --dry-run, so she's doing the most 💅
  • --dry-run — pretend to update files, but do not actually update any file. delulu is the solulu 😭
  • --force — always update the output file, no questions asked 🔥
  • --help — prints this help, then exits. the classic 🫶
  • -I DIR — adds a directory to the search list for .m4 files 🎀
  • --install — copies third-party files to the first -I directory ✨
  • --output=FILE — puts the output in FILE (default is aclocal.m4) 💖
  • --print-ac-dir — prints the name of the directory holding system-wide third-party m4 files, then exits 🦋
  • --verbose — don't be silent. she will not be silenced 💀
  • --version — prints the version number, then exits 🎀
  • -W, --warnings=CATEGORY — reports the warnings falling in CATEGORY, defaults to $WARNINGS ⭐

⚠️ warning categories, bestie ⚠️

these are the categories, in exactly this order, iykyk 👑

  • cross — cross compilation issues 🌈
  • gnu — GNU coding standards (default in gnu and gnits modes) ✨
  • obsolete — obsolete features or constructions (default) 🕰️
  • override — user redefinitions of Automake rules or variables 💅
  • portability — portability issues (default in gnu and gnits modes) 🧳
  • portability-recursive — nested Make variables (default with -Wportability) 🪆
  • extra-portability — extra portability issues related to obscure tools 🧚
  • syntax — dubious syntactic constructs (default) 👀
  • unsupported — unsupported or incomplete features (default) 🚧

🎀 and -W also understands 🎀

  • all — turn on all the warnings 🔥
  • none — turn off all the warnings 🤫
  • no-CATEGORY — turn off warnings in CATEGORY 🙈
  • error — treat all enabled warnings as errors. she's serious now 💀

🦋 AUTHOR 🦋

Written by Tom Tromey <tromey@redhat.com>

and Alexandre Duret-Lutz <adl@gnu.org> 💖

🌸 REPORTING BUGS 🌸

Report bugs to <bug-automake@gnu.org>. ✨

GNU Automake home page: <https://www.gnu.org/software/automake/>. 🌈

General help using GNU software: <https://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>. 🫶

Copyright © 2025 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

License GPLv2+: GNU GPL version 2 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html>

This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. 🎀

There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law. like, none. zero. nada. 😭

⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

The full documentation for aclocal is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the info and aclocal programs are properly installed at your site, the command

info automake

should give you access to the complete manual. go off, king 👑💖

🎀 okay that's the whole page, bestie — and for the record, this cutie is from GNU automake 1.18.1, dated June 2025. slay, ACLOCAL(1), slay. 💅✨🦋

📦 where this page comes from