Configure/Make Files

Posted by Microp on Fri 29 Mar 2002 11:22 PM — 2 posts, 13,439 views.

Microp USA Fri 29 Mar 2002 11:22 PM #0

In the configure file of DoT, could you explain what these files are for?

Please.. :)

In:
C:\DOT\..\dawnsrc1.69p\configure\..

aclocal.m4
config.cache
config
config.status
configure.in
makefile.in
makefile.original

I managed to compile DoT (in Cygwin), and for some reason I had to make a makefile (or configure file -something like that), and I didn't exactly understand it.

Nick Gammon Australia Forum Administrator Sat 30 Mar 2002 08:00 AM #1

Because DoT is designed to work on lots of different sorts of Unix, there is a program "configure" that makes a makefile. This might seem strange, but basically it customises a makefile for your particular environment (eg. Linux, OpenBSD, FreeBSD, Cygwin, Solaris, Sun).

Once the makefile has been produced, then you can just type "make" to make the program.

Many Unix programs are distributed this way.