Re: autoconf: how to create distribution so it can downloaded by the users

[Paul Smith]

On Thu, 2008-02-07 at 11:13 -0500, joe shoemaker wrote:
> Does autoconf really worry about distribution, or does this belong to
> Makefile.am where I just create dist target in Makefile.am?

Autoconf per se doesn't have much to do with making a distribution.

However, automake (the program that parses your Makefile.am) will
provide you with excellent, comprehensive targets for building
distribution files, and even a target that will build the distribution
file, then unpack it and build it again in a temporary location to be
sure it's correct.  You should absolutely use those and not write your
own.

Whether you need things like EXTRA_DIST depends on what you have in your
directory that you might want to appear in the distribution tarball.  We
can't know that so it's for you to decide.  All the "basics" are already
included, such as your source files, configure files, etc.

Try running the dist targets and see what happens.  Add files as needed.
Mix, rinse, repeat.

There are lots of online docs that help with this.

-- 
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 Paul D. Smith <address@hidden>                 http://make.mad-scientist.us
 "Please remain calm--I may be mad, but I am a professional."--Mad Scientist