GNU Autoconf, Automake, and Libtool

Gary V. Vaughan, Ben Elliston, Tom Tromey, and Ian Lance Taylor
 25 Chapters and five appendices in 390 Pages.

Contents

        Introduction

Chapters

        1    History
        2    How to Run Configure, and the most useful standard Makefile Targets
        3    Introducing `Makefiles'
        4    Using GNU Autotools to Manage a ``Minimal Project''
        5    Writing a Portable `configure.in'
        6    Introducing GNU Automake
        7    A small GNU Autotools Project
        8    Bootstrapping
        9    Introducing GNU Libtool
        10  Using GNU Libtool with `configure.in' and `Makefile.am'
        11  A Large GNU Autotools Project
        12  Rolling Distribution Tarballs
        13  Installing and Uninstalling Configured Packets
        14  Writing Portable C with GNU Autotools
        15  Writing Portable C++ with GNU Autotools
        16  Dynamic Loading
        17  Using GNU libltdl
        18  Advanced GNU Automake Usage
        19  A Complex GNU Autotools Project
          20  GNU M4
        21  Writing Portable Bourne Shell
        22  Writing New Macros for Autoconf
        23  Migrating an existing package to GNU Autotools
           24  Using GNU Autools with Cygnus Cygwin
        25  Cross Compilation with GNU Autotools

        Appendix A
        Installing GNU Autotools
        Appendix B:
        Platforms
        Appendix C
        Generated File Dependancies
        Appendix D
        Autoconf Macro Reference
        Appendix E
        Open Publication Licence

        Index
 

Synopsis

If you are that person who has made it through the rest and now you want to do it all as well as follow the yellow brick road then this one is for you.

Review

This particular New Riders volume is one of the best GNU reference books that I have seen.  It's everything that technical literature should be.  It's a bit like the best classical literature.

When I first looked at it I thought "mmm....  wonder what RMS would say about this".  That was about the time that I was organising an RMS talk in Sheffield.  Later on whilst reading the book I noticed that RMS has actually given it his blessing and the authors explain that without his help and the help of the Free Software Foundation the book would not have been finished.   The authors have a long and very respectable pedigree.  Should give you a few clues about how good it is ?

Chapter one gives a useful insight into how it used to be.  Probably provide one or two smiles for those people who lived through it.  The second chapter provides an extremely useful explanation of how to run Configure.  I have asked many people to explain that to me and none of them could explain even a few simple facts.  The chapters that follow on give quite a bit of useful info.  Kind of things most people would like to know but can't find.  The sixth chapter introduces GNU Automake and the next chapter goes on to extend this to a small Autotools project.  Similarly the chapter on Libtool is very helpful.  One of the later chapters is using GNU autotools with Cygwin.   I suppose that there may be people out there who may need to use this.  I'm not into cross dressing myself.

New Riders have successfully produced a new generation of Linux books that do actually make some of the others look a bit pale in comparison.  Those of you who like to support the Free Software Foundation might like to know that it says on the back cover that a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the book will be donated to the FSF.

The front cover of this particular book shows a picture of a gentleman displaying some goats which are standing on steps.  It reminds me of several old Monty Python sketches from the 1970s.  There isn't a colophon here but at least New Riders do try to breathe new life into boring and dry subjects.
 

Review by Richard Ibbotson