autom4te - Man Page

Generate files and scripts thanks to M4

Synopsis

autom4te [OPTION]... [FILES]

Description

Run GNU M4 on the FILES, avoiding useless runs.  Output the traces if tracing, the frozen file if freezing, otherwise the expansion of the FILES.

If some of the FILES are named 'FILE.m4f' they are considered to be M4 frozen files of all the previous files (which are therefore not loaded). If 'FILE.m4f' is not found, then 'FILE.m4' will be used, together with all the previous files.

Some files may be optional, i.e., will only be processed if found in the include path, but then must end in '.m4?';  the question mark is not part of the actual file name.

Operation modes

-h,  --help

print this help, then exit

-V,  --version

print version number, then exit

-v,  --verbose

verbosely report processing

-d,  --debug

don't remove temporary files

-o,  --output=FILE

save output in FILE (defaults to '-', stdout)

-f,  --force

don't rely on cached values

-W,  --warnings=CATEGORY

report the warnings falling in CATEGORY (comma-separated list accepted)

-l,  --language=LANG

specify the set of M4 macros to use

-C,  --cache=DIRECTORY

preserve results for future runs in DIRECTORY

--no-cache

disable the cache

-m,  --mode=OCTAL

change the non trace output file mode (0666)

-M,  --melt

don't use M4 frozen files

Languages include

'Autoconf'

create Autoconf configure scripts

'Autotest'

create Autotest test suites

'M4sh'

create M4sh shell scripts

'M4sugar'

create M4sugar output

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)

-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

The environment variables 'M4' and 'WARNINGS' are honored.

Library directories

-B,  --prepend-include=DIR

prepend directory DIR to search path

-I,  --include=DIR

append directory DIR to search path

Tracing

-t,  --trace=MACRO[:FORMAT]

report the MACRO invocations

-p,  --preselect=MACRO

prepare to trace MACRO in a future run

Freezing

-F,  --freeze

produce an M4 frozen state file for FILES

FORMAT defaults to '$f:$l:$n:$%', and can use the following escapes

$$

literal $

$f

file where macro was called

$l

line where macro was called

$d

nesting depth of macro call

$n

name of the macro

$NUM

argument NUM, unquoted and with newlines

$SEP@

all arguments, with newlines, quoted, and separated by SEP

$SEP*

all arguments, with newlines, unquoted, and separated by SEP

$SEP%

all arguments, without newlines, unquoted, and separated by SEP

SEP can be empty for the default (comma for @ and *, colon for %), a single character for that character, or {STRING} to use a string.

Author

Written by Akim Demaille.

Reporting Bugs

Report bugs to bug-autoconf@gnu.org, or via Savannah: https://savannah.gnu.org/support/?group=autoconf.

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 is maintained as a Texinfo manual. To read the manual locally, use the command

info autoconf

You can also consult the Web version of the manual at https://gnu.org/software/autoconf/manual/.

Info

December 2023 GNU Autoconf 2.72