general-concepts/autotools/text.xml


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<?xml version="1.0"?>
<guide self="general-concepts/autotools/">
<chapter>
<title>The Basics of Autotools</title>

<body>
<todo>
This is too long for `General Concepts`_. It needs to be split up and
moved somewhere, either to a top-level of its own or into `Appendices`_.
</todo>

<p>
An understanding of GNU autotools (<c>automake</c>, <c>autoconf</c> etc.) can be useful
when working with ebuilds:
</p>

<ul>
  <li>
  Finding and correcting build issues is often easier if the build system is
  not seen simply as a scary black box.
  </li>
  <li>
  The autotools input files can help when determining a package's build-time
  dependencies.
  </li>
  <li>
  The risk of accidentally breaking something by patching the wrong file at the
  wrong time is greatly reduced if the relationship between the build system
  files is understood.
  </li>
</ul>
</body>

<section>
<title>Major Autotools Components</title>

<body>
<p>
Autotools is a collection of related packages which, when used together, remove
much of the difficulty involved in creating portable software. These tools,
together with a few relatively simple upstream-supplied input files, are used to
create the build system for a package.
</p>

<figure short="How autotools fits together" link="diagram.png">
A basic overview of how the main autotools components fit together.
</figure>

</body>
</section>

</chapter>
</guide>