AUTOCONF(1)

📦 version 2.13, in debian bookworm, ubuntu jammy, ubuntu noble, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

🌸 NAME 🌸

autoscan2.13 — bestie, this one literally helps you create a configure.in file for a software package 💖

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

autoscan2.13 [ --help ] [ --macrodir=dir ] [ --verbose ] [ --version ]

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

okay so picture this: you've got a software package, you need a configure.in, and you're sitting there like "where do I even start 😭". That's the exact moment autoscan2.13 was made for. The autoscan2.13 program can help you create a configure.in file for a software package. It goes through the source files in the directory tree rooted at a directory you hand it as a command line argument — or the current directory if you don't give it one — and it searches those source files for common portability problems. Then it creates a file called configure.scan, which is a preliminary configure.in for that package. iconic behaviour, honestly 🫶

but babes, do NOT just rename it and call it a day 💀 You should manually examine configure.scan before renaming it to configure.in; it will probably need some adjustments. That's not a bug, that's the vibe.

Occasionally autoscan2.13 outputs a macro in the wrong order relative to another macro, so that autoconf2.13 produces a warning; you need to move such macros manually. Also, if you want the package to use a configuration header file, you must add a call to AC_CONFIG_HEADER. You might also have to change or add some #if directives to your program in order to make it work with Autoconf (see ifnames2.13(1), for information about a program that can help with that job).

autoscan2.13 uses several data files, which are installed along with the distributed Autoconf macro files, to determine which macros to output when it finds particular symbols in a package's source files. These files all have the same format. Each line consists of a symbol, whitespace, and the Autoconf macro to output if that symbol is encountered. Lines starting with # are comments. iykyk ✨

Also, important: autoscan2.13 requires that a Perl interpreter is installed. no perl, no scan, that's just the rules 🐪💅

autoscan2.13 accepts the following options:

  • --help, -h — Print a summary of the command line options and exit. short, sweet, informative, we love a queen who knows when to leave 💖
  • --macrodir=DIR, -m DIR — Look for the installed macro files in directory DIR. You can also set the AC_MACRODIR environment variable to a directory; this option overrides the environment variable. so like, option > env var, every single time, no cap 👑
  • --verbose — Print the names of the files it examines and the potentially interesting symbols it finds in them. heads up bestie: this output can be voluminous — like, genuinely a lot. it's giving "firehose" 🚿
  • --version — Print the version number of Autoconf and exit. tiny, cute, one job, does it perfectly ⭐

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

the whole friend group, fr fr 🌈

🎀 AUTHORS 🎀

David MacKenzie, with help from Franc,ois Pinard, Karl Berry, Richard Pixley, Ian Lance Taylor, Roland McGrath, Noah Friedman, David D. Zuhn, and many others. This manpage written by Ben Pfaff <pfaffben@debian.org> for the Debian GNU/Linux autoconf2.13 package. absolute legends, every one of them 💜

and that's the whole page, bestie — brought to you by Autoconf from the General Commands Manual, mwah 💋 go forth and scan responsibly 🌸

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