GNU Automake

GNU Automake is a super handy, totally free tool that makes life easier for anyone working with GNU/Linux. This open-source software runs in the command line and helps you automatically whip up Makefile.in files for your programs.

What Does GNU Automake Do?

This software works hand-in-hand with Autoconf, which is used on GNU/Linux to create configure scripts. The cool part? The Makefile.in files it generates follow all the GNU coding standards, so you're in good shape.

Why You Need It

If you're looking to compile programs from source packages on any GNU/Linux system, then GNU Automake is a must-have. It takes care of creating the Makefile needed to compile your program after Autoconf sets up the configuration file.

Getting Started with Installation

You can usually find GNU Automake available in the main software repositories of modern GNU/Linux distributions. But if you want to get the latest version, you can also compile it from its source package available for free on Softpedia.

Steps to Download and Install

To start off, just download the source package and save it onto your computer. Once that's done, extract its contents using any archive manager you like, and then open up your terminal emulator.

Navigating in Terminal

Next, head over to where you extracted those files using Terminal (for example: cd /home/softpedia/automake-1.15). Then run this command: ./configure && make. This will set everything up for compiling GNU Automake. Finally, install it system-wide by typing: sudo make install.

Exploring Command-Line Options

Just like any other command-line tool, GNU Automake comes loaded with various command-line options. To check them out quickly after you've installed it, just run: automake --help.

Tweaking Your Setup

You can do some neat stuff here! For example, enable or disable dependency tracking code, adjust strictness levels (like foreign or gnu), add missing standard files to your package or set where library files go. Plus, you can copy over missing files or force updates on standard ones!