Re: Question about common_files

[Alexandre Duret-Lutz]

>>> "Lars" == Lars Hecking <address@hidden> writes:

[...]

 Lars> Question: how does automake know that these files are in
 Lars> the parent directory?  Does it always check the parent
 Lars> directory for such files?

 Lars> Not that I'm complaining about this, just want to know
 Lars> what's going on :)

The keyword is AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR.

[automake.info]

`AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR'
     Automake will look for various helper scripts, such as
     `install-sh', in the directory named in this macro invocation.
     (The full list of scripts is: `config.guess', `config.sub',
     `depcomp', `elisp-comp', `compile', `install-sh', `ltmain.sh',
     `mdate-sh', `missing', `mkinstalldirs', `py-compile',
     `texinfo.tex', and `ylwrap'.)  Not all scripts are always searched
     for; some scripts will only be sought if the generated
     `Makefile.in' requires them.

     If `AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR' is not given, the scripts are looked for in
     their `standard' locations.  For `mdate-sh', `texinfo.tex', and
     `ylwrap', the standard location is the source directory
     corresponding to the current `Makefile.am'.  For the rest, the
     standard location is the first one of `.', `..', or `../..'
     (relative to the top source directory) that provides any one of
     the helper scripts.  *Note Finding `configure' Input:
     (autoconf)Input.

     Required files from `AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR' are automatically
     distributed, even if there is no `Makefile.am' in this directory.

[autoconf.info]

 - Macro: AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR (DIR)
     Use the auxiliary build tools (e.g., `install-sh', `config.sub',
     `config.guess', Cygnus `configure', Automake and Libtool scripts
     etc.) that are in directory DIR.  These are auxiliary files used
     in configuration.  DIR can be either absolute or relative to
     `SRCDIR'.  The default is `SRCDIR' or `SRCDIR/..' or
     `SRCDIR/../..', whichever is the first that contains `install-sh'.
     The other files are not checked for, so that using
     `AC_PROG_INSTALL' does not automatically require distributing the
     other auxiliary files.  It checks for `install.sh' also, but that
     name is obsolete because some `make' have a rule that creates
     `install' from it if there is no `Makefile'.

     The auxiliary directory should not be named `aux' for portability
     to MS-DOS, because the filename `aux' is reserved under MS-DOS.

-- 
Alexandre Duret-Lutz