info > AUTOM4TE

man perldoc info pydoc3 ri search

📘 NAME

autom4te - Generate files and scripts thanks to M4

🚀 Quick Reference

Use Case	Command	Description
Generate output from M4 files	autom4te [OPTION]... FILE.m4	Process FILE.m4 and output to stdout
Save output to file	autom4te -o OUTPUT FILE.m4	Write expansion to OUTPUT file
Use frozen state files	autom4te FILE.m4f	Load frozen file to skip re‑processing
Trace macro invocations	autom4te -t MACRO FILE.m4	Report each call to MACRO with format
Force re‑run ignoring cache	autom4te -f FILE.m4	Do not use cached results
Specify macro language	autom4te -l LANG FILE.m4	Use specified macro set (e.g., Autoconf)
Enable warnings	autom4te -W CATEGORY FILE.m4	Report warnings in CATEGORY
Include directory for .m4 files	autom4te -I DIR FILE.m4	Add DIR to search path for includes

📋 SYNOPSIS

autom4te [OPTION]... [FILES]

📝 DESCRIPTION

Run GNU M4 on the FILES, avoiding useless runs. Output the traces if tracing, the frozen file if freezing, otherwise the expansion of the FILES.

If some of the FILES are named 'FILE.m4f' they are considered to be M4 frozen files of all the previous files (which are therefore not loaded). If 'FILE.m4f' is not found, then 'FILE.m4' will be used, together with all the previous files.

Some files may be optional, i.e., will only be processed if found in the include path, but then must end in '.m4?'; the question mark is not part of the actual file name.

⚙️ Operation modes

• -h, --help — 📖 print this help, then exit
• -V, --version — ℹ️ print version number, then exit
• -v, --verbose — 🗣️ verbosely report processing
• -d, --debug — 🐛 don't remove temporary files
• -o, --output=FILE — 💾 save output in FILE (defaults to '-', stdout)
• -f, --force — 💪 don't rely on cached values
• -W, --warnings=CATEGORY — ⚠️ report the warnings falling in CATEGORY
• -l, --language=LANG — 🌐 specify the set of M4 macros to use
• -C, --cache=DIRECTORY — 🗃️ preserve results for future runs in DIRECTORY
• --no-cache — 🚫 disable the cache
• -m, --mode=OCTAL — 🔢 change the non trace output file mode (0666)
• -M, --melt — ❄️ don't use M4 frozen files

🌐 Languages include

• Autoconf — create Autoconf configure scripts
• Autotest — create Autotest test suites
• M4sh — create M4sh shell scripts
• M4sugar — create M4sugar output

⚠️ Warning categories

• cross — cross compilation issues
• gnu — GNU coding standards (default in gnu and gnits modes)
• obsolete — obsolete features or constructions (default)
• override — user redefinitions of Automake rules or variables
• portability — portability issues (default in gnu and gnits modes)
• portability-recursive — nested Make variables (default with -Wportability)
• extra-portability — extra portability issues related to obscure tools
• syntax — dubious syntactic constructs (default)
• unsupported — unsupported or incomplete features (default)
• all — all the warnings
• no-CATEGORY — turn off warnings in CATEGORY
• none — turn off all the warnings
• error — treat warnings as errors

The environment variables 'M4' and 'WARNINGS' are honored.

📂 Library directories

• -B, --prepend-include=DIR — 📁 prepend directory DIR to search path
• -I, --include=DIR — 📁 append directory DIR to search path

🔍 Tracing

• -t, --trace=MACRO[:FORMAT] — 🔍 report the MACRO invocations
• -p, --preselect=MACRO — 🎯 prepare to trace MACRO in a future run

FORMAT defaults to '$f:$l:$n:$%', and can use the following escapes:

• $$ — literal $
• $f — file where macro was called
• $l — line where macro was called
• $d — nesting depth of macro call
• $n — name of the macro
• $NUM — argument NUM, unquoted and with newlines
• $SEP@ — all arguments, with newlines, quoted, and separated by SEP
• $SEP* — all arguments, with newlines, unquoted, and separated by SEP
• $SEP% — all arguments, without newlines, unquoted, and separated by SEP

SEP can be empty for the default (comma for @ and *, colon for %), a single character for that character, or {STRING} to use a string.

❄️ Freezing

• -F, --freeze — ❄️ produce an M4 frozen state file for FILES

👤 AUTHOR

Written by Akim Demaille.

🐛 REPORTING BUGS

Report bugs to <bug-autoconf AT gnu.org>.
GNU Autoconf home page: <https://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf/>.
General help using GNU software: <https://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>.

©️ COPYRIGHT

Copyright © 2021 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+/Autoconf: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>, <https://gnu.org/licenses/exceptions.html>
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

🔗 SEE ALSO

autoconf(1), automake(1), autoreconf(1), autoupdate(1), autoheader(1), autoscan(1), config.guess(1), config.sub(1), ifnames(1), libtool(1).

The full documentation for autom4te is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the info and autom4te programs are properly installed at your site, the command

info autom4te

should give you access to the complete manual.

📘 NAME 🚀 Quick Reference 📋 SYNOPSIS 📝 DESCRIPTION 👤 AUTHOR 🐛 REPORTING BUGS ©️ COPYRIGHT 🔗 SEE ALSO