AUTOHEADER(1)

📦
version 2.73 · 6 versions
, in alpine 3.24, arch rolling, nixos 26.05, nixpkgs unstable, ubuntu stonking

✨ AUTOHEADER — bestie's guide to the template header machine ✨

okay so. autoheader is the little icon that makes a template header for configure. that's the whole vibe. let's get into it 💖

🌸 NAME 🌸

autoheader — create a template header for configure

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

autoheader [OPTION]... [TEMPLATE-FILE]

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

so what it does is: it makes you a template file of C #define statements that configure is gonna use. iconic behavior, honestly.

to do that, it scans TEMPLATE-FILE — OR, if you didn't hand it one, it looks for configure.ac, and if that's not there either, it goes for configure.in. slay 🎀

✨ OPTIONS ✨

  • -h, --help — prints the help text, then dips out. bye 👋
  • -V, --version — prints the version number, then exits.
  • -v, --verbose — reports what it's doing, but verbosely. yapper mode 🗣️
  • -d, --debug — does NOT delete the temporary files. leaving the evidence fr 💀
  • -f, --force — treats every single file as obsolete. no mercy.
  • -R, --replace-handwritten — overwrites an existing template file that looks like it was not made by autoheader. careful bestie, this one's spicy 🌶️
  • -W, --warnings=CATEGORY — reports the warnings that fall under CATEGORY. and yes, you can pass a comma-separated list if you're feeling ambitious.

👑 Warning categories are: 👑

  • cross — cross compilation issues
  • gnu — GNU coding standards (this is the 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)

🌈 -W also understands: 🌈

  • all — turn on ALL the warnings
  • none — turn off ALL the warnings
  • no-CATEGORY — turn off the warnings in CATEGORY
  • error — treats every enabled warning as an error 🚨

🍓 Library directories: 🍓

  • -B, --prepend-include=DIR — prepends directory DIR to the search path
  • -I, --include=DIR — appends directory DIR to the search path

🫶 AUTHOR 🫶

written by Roland McGrath and Akim Demaille. legends only 👑

😭 REPORTING BUGS 😭

found a bug? spill it to bug-autoconf@gnu.org, or slide into Savannah: https://savannah.gnu.org/support/?group=autoconf.

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 it and redistribute it. and there is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law. periodt.

🌟 SEE ALSO 🌟

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

the full documentation for Autoconf lives in a Texinfo manual, bestie. to read it locally, run:

info autoconf

and you can also peek the Web version of the manual at https://gnu.org/software/autoconf/manual/.

okay that's the whole page, mwah 💋 this was GNU Autoconf 2.73, from March 2026, and it was giving AUTOHEADER(1) energy the entire time. go forth and template your headers 🦋✨

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