GNU Autoconf, Automake, and Libtool [Paperback]

Gary V. Vaughn (Author), Ben Ellison (Author), Tom Tromey (Author), Ian Lance Taylor (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1578701902 | ISBN-13: 978-1578701902 | Publication Date: October 16, 2000 | Edition: 1

If you are a developer and are looking to participate in the Open Source development growth area you will need to learn new Open Source tools. GNU autoconf, GNU automake and GNU libtool are key tools for Open Source application development. These tools are not easy to learn, so some of the leading authorities on these tools have agreed to work together on this book to teach developers how to boost their productivity and the portability of their application. This book place New Riders/MTP at the center of the Open Source development community. Autoconf, Automake and Libtool is an efficient discourse on the use of autoconf, automake and libtool aimed at reducing the steep learning curve normally associated with these tools. This is a study guide to the interactions between the tools, and how best to get them to cooperate. If you are a developer and have no GNU build environment expertise, this book will help you develop these tools completely and confidently.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The success of "open-source" software is dependent on programmers around the world being able to develop software that runs on many flavors of Unix and Linux. The GNU autoconf, automake, and libtool "autotools" are powerful tools that simplify writing software on different platforms. GNU Autoconf, Automake, and Libtool is a technically adept and expert guide to using these utilities effectively. Any C/C++ or script programmer who writes software under Unix/Linux will want to have a copy of this book to make better use of these powerful and sometimes obscurely documented tools.

This text is filled with the nuts-and-bolts details of running these three utilities, including command-line switches and the actual, generated files that automate the build process and help programmers port code between different environments. As such, this title will be appreciated by those at their workstations who want a hands-on guide to using the autotools.

There's a danger of missing the forest for the trees here, with all of this necessary detail, but the middle sections of this book pull back a little with several useful chapters on the bigger picture of code "portability." Chapters on both C and C++ portability explore language features that likely will cause trouble when code is moved between different versions of Unix (or even between Unix and Windows). A similar section also discusses the issues when developing portable shell scripts.

Readers will appreciate also sections that are devoted to actual source code that's built with the autotools. Starting out simply, the authors also provide examples of more complex source-code modules (including projects that make use of dynamic loading and cross-platform builds). The genius of the autotools utilities is certainly in the details of command-line switches, and the expert tips that are offered here. But it's good also to get a perspective on why you use these tools, and what they do for the working Unix developer.

By covering both the nitty-gritty and the higher level issues of "portability" in a broader sense, this title succeeds as both a hands-on reference and as a guide to understanding how to write more portable code generally. It'll be a virtual must-have for any serious Unix C/C++ programmer. Although it's not a book you necessarily read from cover to cover, it's chock-full of useful advice that can save considerable time for anyone who writes software for Unix and Linux. --Richard Dragan

Topics covered:

Introduction and history of Unix and configuration tools The configure tool Makefile and dependencies GNU autotools used for a simple program Porting options and configure.in Bootstrapping techniques Comprehensive introduction to the GNU libtool utility (building and linking options) Using libtool with configure.in andmakefile.am A larger GNU autotools project Distributing files in tarballs Installing and uninstalling packages Strategies and tips for writing portable C code with the GNU autotools (including data types, cross-Unix and Unix/Windows portability issues) Guide to C++ portability (includes issues with variable scoping, exceptions, template, and the Standard Template Library) Dynamic loading and the GNU libltdll tool Advanced automake tips A complex GNU autotools example (including dynamic linking) Introduction to M4 (the underlying language of the autotools) Script portability issues for the Bourne shell and its variants Cygnus's Cygwin and the GNU autotools Cross-compilation techniques Reference for installing the GNU autotools

Review

A useful resource for portability information, tips, and issues, it documents time-tested methods for solid coding which are rarely written down anywhere. -- Jason Molenda, Technical Yahoo, Yahoo!

These highly regarded experts in the use of Autoconf have provided information that is both authoritative and up to date. -- Ross Johnson, Software Services Manager, University of Canberra, Australia

This book stands a level above the software packages, giving the expertise of its authors in using this whole system to its fullest. -- David Mackenzie, Principle designer and author of Autoconf

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Sams; 1 edition (October 16, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1578701902
• ISBN-13: 978-1578701902
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,103,009 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars This book is too out of date to use., November 28, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: GNU Autoconf, Automake, and Libtool (Paperback)

First off, the book is very non-linear and very disorganized. The subject material is extremely difficult and non-linear, so this was probably a very difficult book to write, and I sympathize with the authors. I couldn't have done a better job.

However, as of Nov 2003, the versions of autoconf, automake and libtool that the book uses are very out of date and very deprecated. It's not a matter of "some things have changed", it's a matter of "they're completely different".

The main ideas and concepts remain the same, but as for the details... you will NOT be able to use autoconf / automake / libtool after reading the book. You'll be floundering in "did I do something wrong or is this just because I'm using a newer version?".

Do not buy this book until the authors update it. You will NOT learn the subject material and will be very sorry you spent the money.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you write software for Linux (unix)...., January 10, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: GNU Autoconf, Automake, and Libtool (Paperback)

...get this book! If you have ever downloaded some Linux / Unix source code and wanted to understand just what the "configure" script and makefiles do --- get this book!!

More to the point, if you want to distribute your source code and allow users to compile it on many different systems, this book offers you a step by step understanding of what needs to be done to make that happen.

I got this book because I was looking to 'cross-compile' some programs. (That is, compile a program on one machine but run it on another) Thanks to the intelligent layout - I was able to get the program compiled and going in a couple of hours.

One caveat, this is not for the 'newbie' or faint-at-heart. You will need to at least understand the concepts of compilers, linkers, libraries, etc. in order to comprehend this book. However, you don't have to be a programming-guru. I think that even administrators will get alot out of this book. Particularly, helping them understand how to set the options needed to get pesky software installed.

Overall, a *very* good book!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book, if you meet the prerequisites, June 12, 2001

By 

john christian (fremont, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: GNU Autoconf, Automake, and Libtool (Paperback)

I had originally bought this book so that I could maintain a GNU autotools based build system for a company I was doing CM for at the time. I was basically a kid, and didn't have any professional C development background, and after reading the first several chapters, I was thinking to myself "This book is unnecessairly hard to understand, I just want to know how to use autoconf, show me a listing of the macros, etc, not this other, preipheral sic shell stuff!"

Months later, and after doing some actual Linux C development myself (a command interpreter, no less), I came back to this book, and was able to get a lot more out of it. Just be aware that it is geared toward someone doing really involved open-source/GPL'd C development.

This book may have been better if each feature of the autotools were discussed in a more abstract way, without following the development of this sic shell. It is interesting, but that kind of orginisation forces you to read it from front to end to effectively understand it, which of course you SHOULD do, but it's at the expense of being a solid reference. It's no biggie, though, because the free GNU documentation fills that gap.