AUTOCONF(1)

👑 NAME 👑

okay so bestie, meet autoconf — she's a User Command and her whole thing is Generate configuration scripts. that's it. that's the job. iconic behavior honestly 💅

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🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

autoconf [OPTION]... [TEMPLATE-FILE]

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✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

so here's the tea 🫖: autoconf generates a configuration script. from what, you ask? from a TEMPLATE-FILE if you give it one, or from 'configure.ac' if that one's hanging around, or else from 'configure.in'. yes she has a whole priority list, she's organized like that.

and where does the output go? 👀 if you passed a TEMPLATE-FILE, it goes to standard output. if you didn't, it goes into 'configure'. no cap.

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🔧 Operation modes:

• -h, --help — prints the help, then dips. bye 👋
• -V, --version — prints the version number, then exits.
• -v, --verbose — verbosely report processing. she will tell you EVERYTHING.
• -d, --debug — don't remove temporary files. leaving the mess behind on purpose, fr.
• -f, --force — consider all files obsolete.
• -o, --output=FILE — save output in FILE. (stdout is the default, just so you know.)
• -W, --warnings=CATEGORY — report the warnings falling in CATEGORY. and yes, a comma-separated list is accepted, she's flexible like that 💖

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⚠️ Warning categories are:

• 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)

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🦋 -W also understands:

• all — turn on all the warnings. ALL of them. go big or go home.
• none — turn off all the warnings. silence is golden ✨
• no-CATEGORY — turn off warnings in CATEGORY.
• error — treat all enabled warnings as errors. scary but effective 😭

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📚 Library directories:

• -B, --prepend-include=DIR — prepend directory DIR to search path.
• -I, --include=DIR — append directory DIR to search path.

(one goes in the front, one goes in the back. placement matters, iykyk 💅)

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🔍 Tracing:

• -t, --trace=MACRO[:FORMAT] — report the list of calls to MACRO.
• -i, --initialization — also trace Autoconf's initialization process.

🚨 real talk: in tracing mode, no configuration script is created. like, at all. don't come for her later.

and FORMAT defaults to '$f:$l:$n:$%' — and if you wanna know more about FORMAT, go read autom4te --help. she'll fill you in 🫶

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🧚 AUTHOR 🧚

Written by David J. MacKenzie and Akim Demaille. legends, honestly. 👑

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💌 REPORTING BUGS 💌

found a bug? not me being the one to tell you but — report it to bug-autoconf@gnu.org, or slide into the Savannah support page:

https://savannah.gnu.org/support/?group=autoconf

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📜 COPYRIGHT 📜

Copyright © 2026 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

License: GPLv3+/Autoconf: GNU GPL version 3 or later https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html https://gnu.org/licenses/exceptions.html

This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. and there is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law. (that last part is in all caps in the original and it's in all caps here too, because it MATTERS 🔥)

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🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

• autoconf(1)
• automake(1)
• autoreconf(1)
• autoupdate(1)
• autoheader(1)
• autoscan(1)
• config.guess(1)
• config.sub(1)
• ifnames(1)
• libtool(1)

and bestie, the full documentation for Autoconf is maintained as a Texinfo manual 📖 if you wanna read it locally, just run:

info autoconf

you can also check out the Web version of the manual right here:

https://gnu.org/software/autoconf/manual/

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okay that's the whole page!! this is GNU Autoconf 2.73, and she was written up in March 2026, filed under AUTOCONF(1) in the User Commands section 💖✨ go forth and configure, bestie 🦋