[ < ] [ > ]   [ << ] [ Up ] [ >> ]         [Top] [Contents] [Index] [ ? ]

1.2 Tools

The GNU configure and build system is comprised of several different tools. Program developers must build and install all of these tools.

People who just want to build programs from distributed sources normally do not need any special tools beyond a Unix shell, a make program, and a C compiler.

autoconf
provides a general portability framework, based on testing the features of the host system at build time.
automake
a system for describing how to build a program, permitting the developer to write a simplified `Makefile'.
libtool
a standardized approach to building shared libraries.
gettext
provides a framework for translation of text messages into other languages; not really discussed in this document.
m4
autoconf requires the GNU version of m4; the standard Unix m4 does not suffice.
perl
automake requires perl.



This document was generated by system on December, 2 2004 using texi2html