Using autoconf/automake/libtool

[Graham Leggett <mi...@sharp.fm>]

Hi all,

Right now, for APR, we use autoconf and libtool, but then bake in our home grown Makefile templates instead of using automake to generate them.

What automake gives us is the "dist" target, as in doing this to roll a tarball:

make dist

Every time I see the 12 page long list of things we need to keep track of every time we make a release, and every time someone points out "you subtly changed X during the roll" my heart breaks a little. Worrying about what files should be in the tarball and what files shouldn't be is 100% the problem of automake and has been for many years, we're creating work for ourselves by not using it.

Do we have a technical reason for not using automake, or is it just because we've always done it this way?

Regards,
Graham
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