Automake 1.9b uploaded (beta for Automake 1.10)

[Alexandre Duret-Lutz]

Hi people,

Here is a first beta release of the next version of Automake (1.10).
The list of changes relative to Automake 1.9.6 are appended below.

If you have some time, please help us tracking down bugs by trying
this beta with your packages and reporting any issue you encounter.
Especially, please shout loud if your package works with 1.9.6 but
does not with 1.9b, for a reason not mentioned in the changes below.

** Please report bugs to <address@hidden>. **

You can find this beta here:

  ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/automake/automake-1.9b.tar.gz
  ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/automake/automake-1.9b.tar.gz.sig
  ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/automake/automake-1.9b.tar.bz2
  ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/automake/automake-1.9b.tar.bz2.sig
  ftp://sources.redhat.com/pub/automake/automake-1.9b.tar.gz
  ftp://sources.redhat.com/pub/automake/automake-1.9b.tar.gz.sig
  ftp://sources.redhat.com/pub/automake/automake-1.9b.tar.bz2
  ftp://sources.redhat.com/pub/automake/automake-1.9b.tar.bz2.sig

Here are the MD5 sums:

  6cb38a3b2475b32c8151e65a81b49822  automake-1.9b.tar.gz
  21551aac6d54d161250ddf63129c872b  automake-1.9b.tar.bz2

New in 1.9b (since 1.9.6):

* Version requirements:

  - Autoconf 2.60 or greater is required.

  - Perl 5.6 or greater is required.

* Changes to aclocal:

  - aclocal now also supports -Wmumble and -Wno-mumble options.

  - `dirlist' entries (for the aclocal search path) may use shell
    wildcards such as `*', `?', or `[...]'.

  - aclocal supports an --install option, that will cause system-wide
    third-party macros to be installed in the local directory
    specified with the first -I flag.  This option also uses #serial
    lines in M4 files to upgrade local macros.

    The new aclocal options --dry-run and --diff help to review changes
    before they are installed.

  - aclocal now outputs an autoconf version check in aclocal.m4 in
    projects using automake.

    For a few years, automake and aclocal have been calling autoconf
    (or its underlying engine autom4te) to accurately retrieve the
    data they need from configure.ac and its siblings.  Doing so can
    only work if all autotools use the same version of autoconf.  For
    instance a Makefile.in generated by automake for one version of
    autoconf may stop working if configure is regenerated with another
    version of autoconf, and vice versa.

    This new version check ensures that the whole build system has
    been generated using the same autoconf version.

* Support for new Autoconf macros:

  - The new AC_REQUIRE_AUX_FILE Autoconf macro is supported.

  - If `subdir-objects' is set, and AC_CONFIG_LIBOBJ_DIR is specified,
    $(LIBOBJS), $(LTLIBOBJS), $(ALLOCA), and $(LTALLOCA) can be used
    in different directories.

* Change to Libtool support:

  - Libtool generic flags (those that go before the --mode=MODE option)
    can be specified using AM_LIBTOOLFLAGS and target_LIBTOOLFLAGS.

* Yacc and Lex changes:

  - The rebuild rules for distributed Yacc and Lex output will avoid
    overwriting existing files if AM_MAINTAINER_MODE and maintainer-mode
    is not enabled.

  - ylwrap is now always used for lex and yacc source files,
    regardless of whether there is more than one source per-directory.

* Languages changes:

  - Preprocessed assembler (*.S) compilation now honnors CPPFLAGS,
    AM_CPPFLAGS and per-target _CPPFLAGS, and supports dependency
    tracking, unlike non-preprocessed assembler (*.s).

  - Improved support for Objective C:
    - Autoconf's new AC_PROG_OBJC will enable automatic dependency tracking.
    - A new section of the manual documents the support.

  - New support for Unified Parallel C:
    - AM_PROG_UPC looks for a UPC compiler.
    - A new section of the manual documents the support.

  - Per-target flags are now correctly handled in link rules.

    For instance maude_CFLAGS correctly overrides AM_CFLAGS; likewise
    for maude_LDFLAGS and AM_LDFLAGS.  Previous versions bogusly
    preferred AM_CFLAGS over maude_CFLAGS while linking, and they
    used both AM_LDFLAGS and maude_LDFLAGS on the same link command.

    The fix for compiler flags (i.e., using maude_CFLAGS instead of
    AM_CFLAGS) should not hurt any package since that is how _CFLAGS
    is expected to work (and actually works during compilation).

    However using maude_LDFLAGS "instead of" AM_LDFLAGS rather than
    "in addition to" breaks backward compatibility with older versions.
    If your package used both variables, as in

      AM_LDFLAGS = common flags
      bin_PROGRAMS = a b c
      a_LDFLAGS = more flags
      ...

    and assumed *_LDFLAGS would sum up, you should rewrite it as

      AM_LDFLAGS = common flags
      bin_PROGRAMS = a b c
      a_LDFLAGS = $(AM_LDFLAGS) more flags
      ...

    This new behavior of *_LDFLAGS is more coherent with other
    per-target variables, and the way *_LDFLAGS variables were
    considered internally.

* New installation targets:

  - New targets mandated by GNU Coding Standards:
      install-dvi
      install-html
      install-ps
      install-pdf
    By default they will only install Texinfo manuals.
    You can customize them with *-local variants:
      install-dvi-local
      install-html-local
      install-ps-local
      install-pdf-local

  - The undocumented recursive target `uninstall-info' no longer exists.
    (`uninstall' is in charge of removing all possible documentation
    flavors, including optional formats such as dvi, ps, or info even
    when `no-installinfo' is used.)

* Miscellaneous changes:

  - Automake no longer complains if input files for AC_CONFIG_FILES
    are specified using shell variables.

  - clean, distribution, or rebuild rules are normally disabled for
    inputs and outputs of AC_CONFIG_FILES, AC_CONFIG_HEADERS, and
    AC_CONFIG_LINK specified using shell variable.  However if these
    variables are used as ${VAR}, and AC_SUBSTed, then Automake will
    be able to output rules anyway.
    (See the Automake documentation for AC_CONFIG_FILES.)

  - $(EXEEXT) is automatically appended to filenames of TESTS
    that have been declared as programs in the same Makefile.
    This is mostly useful when some check_PROGRAMS are listed in TESTS.

  - `-Wportability' has finally been turned on by default for `gnu' and
    `gnits' strictness.  This means automake will complain about %-rules
    or $(GNU Make functions) unless you switch to `foreign' strictness or
    use `-Wno-portability'.

  - Automake now uses AC_PROG_MKDIR_P (new in Autoconf 2.60), and uses
    $(MKDIR_P) instead of $(mkdir_p) to create directories.  The
    $(mkdir_p) variable is still defined (to the same value as
    $(MKDIR_P)) but should be considered obsolete.  If you are using
    $(mkdir_p) in some of your rules, please plan to update them to
    $(MKDIR_P) at some point.

  - Automake installs an "Hello World!" example package in $(docdir).
    This example is used thorough the new "Autotools Introduction"
    chapter of the manual.

-- 
Alexandre Duret-Lutz

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