| GNU `m4' is an implementation of the traditional Unix macro |
| processor. It is mostly SVR4 compatible, although it has some |
| extensions (for example, handling more than 9 positional parameters |
| to macros). `m4' also has builtin functions for including files, |
| running shell commands, doing arithmetic, etc. Autoconf needs GNU |
| `m4' for generating `configure' scripts, but not for running them. |
| |
| GNU `m4' has been originally written by René Seindal, from Denmark. |
| |
| GNU `m4' has a web site at http://www.seindal.dk/rene/gnu/. |
| |
| If GNU `m4' is meant to serve GNU `autoconf', beware that `m4' |
| should be fully installed *prior to* configuring `autoconf' itself. |
| |
| In the subdirectories `tests' and `examples' you will find various m4 |
| files, ranging from trivial test files to rather advanced macros. If |
| you intend to use m4 seriously, you might find useful material down |
| there. |
| |
| See file `COPYING' for copying conditions. |
| See file `INSTALL' for compilation and installation instructions. |
| See file `ABOUT-NLS' for how to customize this program to your language. |
| See file `NEWS' for a list of major changes in the current release. |
| See file `AUTHORS' for the names of maintainers. |
| See file `THANKS' for a list of contributors. |
| |
| By using `./configure --with-gmp, you get multiple precision integral |
| and rational arithmetic using mpeval. The implementation depends on the |
| GNU gmp v2 library. |
| |
| By using `./configure --with-modules=`foo bar baz', you get an m4 with only |
| the named modules preloaded. The default modules (preloaded if you do not |
| use this option) are sufficient to do the job of GNU m4-1.4. Additional |
| modules may be desirable, or necessary if libltdl does not support your |
| host architecture. The implementation uses libltdl interface, details of |
| which are in the libtool manual. See file `modules/README' for a more |
| detailed description. |
| |
| By using `./configure --with-dmalloc', GNU m4 is linked with Gray |
| Watson's dmalloc package. It is a debugging option for finding memory |
| management problems. Gray Watson's dmalloc package is available at |
| ftp://ftp.letters.com/src/dmalloc/dmalloc.tar.gz. |
| |
| GNU M4 uses GNU Libtool in order to build shared libraries on a |
| variety of systems. While this is very nice for making usable |
| binaries, it can be a pain when trying to debug a program. For that |
| reason, compilation of shared libraries can be turned off by |
| specifying the `--disable-shared' option to `configure'. |
| |
| When compiling on cygwin (b20.1 at least), the cygwin getopt build |
| doesn't handle optional arguments properly. The best way to get around |
| this is to force the build to use the included getopt files like this, |
| `ac_cv_func_getopt_long=no ./configure`. |
| |
| Send bug reports, comments or ideas to `bug-m4@gnu.org'. A bug report |
| is an adequate description of the problem: your input, what you |
| expected, what you got, and why this is wrong. Diffs are welcome, but |
| they only describe a solution, from which the problem might be uneasy to |
| infer. Don't forget all relevant information about your operating |
| system, compiler, libraries, ... |
