A starter autogen.sh

I looked around quite a bit before jimmying together this autogen.sh for autoconfiscating a project at work:

#!/bin/sh
set -x
autoscan
libtoolize --automake --copy
aclocal
autoconf
autoheader
automake --foreign --add-missing --copy

The point of autoscan is to catch any new portability problems as they crop up.

To go with autogen.sh, here is a starter configure.in:

C_PREREQ(2.59)
AC_INIT([aproject], [0.0.0], [binkley@alumni.rice.edu])
AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR([config.h.in])
AC_CONFIG_HEADER([config.h])
AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE
AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile])
AC_OUTPUT

And Makefile.am:

lib_LTLIBRARIES = libsample.la
libsample_la_LDFLAGS = -version-info 0:0:0
libsample_la_SOURCES = sample.cc

It would have saved me considerable effort to begin with starter files such a these. Just plop them into the top-level of your project, and run ./autogen.sh. Correct for errors in the output and look at configure.scan for suggestion for updating configure.in. And update Makefile.am with a real list of your sources.

Rinse, lather, repeat.

UPDATE: With modern autotools installations, an even cleaner starter script:

#!/bin/sh
autoscan # show autotools lint
autoreconf --install "$@" # add -I dir for local M4 macros

NB — If you add -I m4 (for example) to pick up custom M4 macros in the m4/ directory of your project, remember to update Makefile.am as well and add to the top:

ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS = -I m4

Unfortunate duplicity, but necessary with current tools (autoconf 2.59 / automake 1.95). See this post for details.