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* NEWS: M4 is now stored in git. * HACKING: Likewise. * README: Likewise. * bootstrap: Likewise. * commit: Delete, now that CVS commits are no longer necessary. Signed-off-by: Eric Blake <ebb9@byu.net>
58 lines
3.0 KiB
Plaintext
58 lines
3.0 KiB
Plaintext
GNU `m4' is an implementation of the traditional Unix macro
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processor. It is mostly SVR4 compatible, although it has some
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extensions (for example, handling more than 9 positional parameters
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to macros). `m4' also has built-in functions for including files,
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running shell commands, doing arithmetic, etc. Autoconf needs GNU
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`m4' for generating `configure' scripts, but not for running them.
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GNU `m4' was originally written by Rene' Seindal, from Denmark.
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This release is considered stable.
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If GNU `m4' is meant to serve GNU `autoconf', beware that `m4'
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should be fully installed *prior to* configuring `autoconf' itself.
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Likewise, if you intend on hacking GNU `m4' from git, the bootstrap
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process requires that you first install a released copy of GNU `m4'.
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If you are just trying to build `m4' from a released tarball, you
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should not normally need to run `./bootstrap' or `autoreconf'; just go
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ahead and start with `./configure'. If you are trying to build `m4'
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from git or CVS, more information can be found in the file HACKING,
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only found in a version control checkout.
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In the subdirectory `examples' you will find various m4 files, ranging
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from trivial test files to rather advanced macros. If you intend to
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use m4 seriously, you might find useful material down there.
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See file `BACKLOG' for a summary of pending mail and articles.
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See file `COPYING' for copying conditions. Note that M4 is distributed
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under the GNU Public License version 3 or later. Some files in the
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distribution are copied from the gnulib project, and hence bear the
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designation version 2 or later because they are unmodified from gnulib;
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however, if you modify these files using M4 rather than gnulib as the
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source, you must update the license to be GPLv3 or later.
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See file `INSTALL' for compilation and installation instructions.
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See file `NEWS' for a list of major changes in the current release.
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See file `THANKS' for a list of contributors.
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By using `./configure --enable-changeword', you get an experimental
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feature which allows for changing the syntax of what is a "word" in
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`m4'. This feature will not be present in m4 2.0, but will be
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replaced by other new features which provide similar capability, so
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do not count on it.
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Send bug reports to `bug-m4@gnu.org'. A bug report is an adequate
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description of the problem: your input, what you expected, what you got,
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and why this is wrong. Diffs are welcome, but they only describe a
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solution, from which the problem might be uneasy to infer.
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========================================================================
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Copyright (C) 2000, 2005, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
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Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
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under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or
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any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
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Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover
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Texts. A copy of the license is included in the ``GNU Free
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Documentation License'' file as part of this distribution.
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