[news.eclipse.technology.linuxtools] Re: Using autoheader and libtoolize

[Lorenzo Bettini <bettini@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Jeff Johnston wrote:
> Lorenzo Bettini wrote:
>
> > Jeff Johnston wrote:
> > > Lorenzo Bettini wrote:
> > >
> > > > Jeff Johnston wrote:
> > > > > Matthias Jeschke wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > > Hi,
> > > > >
> > > > > > I'am currently working on a project that uses autotools and as 
> > > > > > I'am used to eclipse I want import this project as a C++ autotools 
> > > > > > project. Everything works fine, except that for building the 
> > > > > > project autoheader and libtoolize must be called to create the 
> > > > > > appropriate config.h.in etc.
> > > > >
> > > > > > What would be the best way to call autoheader and libtoolize from 
> > > > > > within eclipse? Is there a way to add these calls to autogen.sh?
> > > > >
> > > > > Matthias,
> > > > >
> > > > > The current Autotools plugin doesn't currently support direct 
> > > > > calling of autoheader and libtoolize as it does for autoconf, 
> > > > > automake, and aclocal, but as you have correctly guessed, you can 
> > > > > place these calls into an autogen.sh script which is run as part of 
> > > > > the Autotools configuration step.  Autotools expects that 
> > > > > autogen.sh is only run once and that configure will be created as 
> > > > > part of the autogen.sh invocation so it does not run autogen.sh if 
> > > > > configure already exists in the build directory.
> > > > >
> > > > > Feel free to open RFEs to add UI support to Autotools for calling 
> > > > > autoheader and libtoolize if you want to track the addition of 
> > > > > those features.
> > >
> > > > Hi
> > >
> > > > why does it use (and expect) autogen.sh, instead of relying on 
> > > > autoreconf?
> > >
> > > > cheers
> > > >     Lorenzo
> > >
> > > It does not "expect" autogen.sh, it simply looks for it as some 
> > > projects choose to not ship generated files and use autogen.sh to set 
> > > the project up initially.  autoreconf is only useful after you have 
> > > done an initial generation because it only remakes those files that 
> > > are older than their sources and it wouldn't know what options to use 
> > > unless the file had at least been generated once.
>
> > Mh, well that's not exactly true: you can bootstrap an autotools 
> > project by issuing
>
> > autoreconf -i
>
> > (with -s missing files will soft linked), and the automake manual says:
>
> > "Many packages come with a script called bootstrap.sh or autogen.sh, 
> > that will just call aclocal, libtoolize, gettextize or autopoint, 
> > autoconf, autoheader, and automake in the right order. Actually this 
> > is precisely what autoreconf can do for you. If your package has such 
> > a bootstrap.sh or autogen.sh script, consider using autoreconf. That 
> > should simplify its logic a lot (less things to maintain, yum!), it's 
> > even likely you will not need the script anymore, and more to the 
> > point you will not call aclocal directly anymore. "
>
> > just my two cents :-)
>
> To clarify, how do you know about options (e.g. if --cygnus is to be 
> used when calling automake or aclocal requires a -I ../.. to work as 
> needed) if none of the files have yet been generated?  This information 
> is stored after the first time it is run.  If all you need is vanilla 
> calls, then yes, there is no problem.
> I am in full agreement that autoreconf support should be added.

You can set it in your root Makefile.am, e.g.,

ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS = -I m4 -I gl/m4

and for automake arguments, you can set it in configure.ac, e.g.,:

AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([-Wall -Werror foreign])

I've been using autogen.sh before, but then I switched to autoreconf and 
always use that without problems :-)

cheers
	Lorenzo

--
Lorenzo Bettini, PhD in Computer Science, DI, Univ. Torino
ICQ# lbetto, 16080134     (GNU/Linux User # 158233)
HOME: http://www.lorenzobettini.it MUSIC: http://www.purplesucker.com
http://www.myspace.com/supertrouperabba
BLOGS: http://tronprog.blogspot.com  http://longlivemusic.blogspot.com
http://www.gnu.org/software/src-highlite
http://www.gnu.org/software/gengetopt
http://www.gnu.org/software/gengen http://doublecpp.sourceforge.net