root/trunk/autotools-multiversion.txt

AUTHOR: Tushar Teredesai <tushar AT linuxfromscratch DOT org>

DATE: 2006-02-14

LICENSE: BSD

SYNOPSIS: Installing multiple autotool versions in parallel.

DESCRIPTION:
GNU's autotools comprises of three packages:
* autoconf: <http://www.gnu.org/gnu/autoconf/>
* automake: <http://www.gnu.org/gnu/automake/>
* libtool: <http://www.gnu.org/gnu/libtool/>
Details on how to use these packages can be found at their homepage. Also
refer to the autotools hint.

There are some misconceptions in the LFS community regarding autotools. Before
going into the installation details, we will first tackle these
misconceptions.
* Misconception: Autotools are a "core" part of a system.
  Counter argument: These tools are useless for most of the LFSers. They are
  only useful for folks who are maintaining an autotools based package.
  Someone compiling a package from source only needs autotools if they have a
  patch that requires the package to be re-autoconfed. Currently there is a
  grand total of 4 packages in BLFS and 0 packages in LFS that need autotools.
  And perhaps, that requirement can be removed if a patch is generated that
  patches the final files instead of the .in or .am files.
* Misconception: I only need the latest version of the tools.
  Counter argument: The various versions of autotools are not compatible with
  each other. That is why all the distributions install multiple versions of
  these packages in parallel. The various autotool versions are more like
  glib-1.x and glib-2.x series. If a package needs glib-1.x branch, you cannot
  just expect it to work with glib-2.x branch. The distributions install the
  following versions of packages:
  - autoconf: 2.13 2.59
  - automake: 1.4-p6 1.5 1.6.3 1.7.9 1.8.5 1.9.6
  - libtool: 1.5.20

This hint details a way to install these multiple versions in parallel and
allow you to choose which version to use. The general way to only install
versions that you need, when you need it.

ATTACHMENTS:
* http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/hints/downloads/attachments/autotools-multiversion/autoconf-wrapper
* http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/hints/downloads/attachments/autotools-multiversion/automake-wrapper
(Note: The following patches are optional but recommended)
* http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/patches/downloads/autoconf/autoconf-2.13-race.patch
* http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/patches/downloads/autoconf/autoconf-2.13-fedora_macro_fixes-1.patch
* http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/patches/downloads/automake/automake-1.4-p6-fedora_fixes.patch
* http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/patches/downloads/automake/automake-1.5-fedora_fixes.patch

PREREQUISITES:
None.

HINT:

The multiple versions will be installed by making use of the --program-suffix
argument to the configure script. Then a wrapper script is installed that will
use the appropriate version based on the value of an envar. If no variable is
declared, the latest version is used.

* Installation of autoconf-2.13:
    patch -Np1 -i ../autoconf-2.13-race.patch
    patch -Np1 -i ../autoconf-2.13-fedora_macro_fixes-1.patch
    ./configure --prefix=/usr --program-suffix=-2.13
    make acdatadir=/usr/share/autoconf-2.13
    make acdatadir=/usr/share/autoconf-2.13 install

* Installation of autoconf-2.59:
    ./configure --prefix=/usr --program-suffix=-2.59
    make pkgdatadir=/usr/share/autoconf-2.59
    make pkgdatadir=/usr/share/autoconf-2.59 install

* Installation of automake-1.4-p6:
    patch -Np1 -i ../automake-1.4-p6-fedora_fixes.patch
    ./configure --prefix=/usr --program-suffix=-1.4
    make
    make install
    rm -v -f /usr/bin/*-1.4-1.4

* Installation of automake-1.5:
    patch -Np1 -i ../automake-1.5-fedora_fixes.patch
    ./configure --prefix=/usr --program-suffix=-1.5
    make
    make install
    rm -v -f /usr/bin/*-1.5-1.5

* Installation of automake-1.6.3:
    ./configure --prefix=/usr --program-suffix=-1.6
    make
    make install
    rm -v -f /usr/bin/*-1.6-1.6

* Installation of automake=1.7.9:
    ./configure --prefix=/usr --program-suffix=-1.7
    make
    make install
    rm -v -f /usr/bin/*-1.7-1.7

* Installation of automake-1.8.5:
    ./configure --prefix=/usr --program-suffix=-1.8
    make
    make install
    rm -v -f /usr/bin/*-1.8-1.8

* Installation of automake-1.9.6:
    ./configure --prefix=/usr --program-suffix=-1.9
    make
    make install
    rm -v -f /usr/bin/*-1.9-1.9

* Installation of autoconf-wrapper:
    install -v autoconf-wrapper /usr/bin
    ln -v -sf autoconf-wrapper /usr/bin/autoconf
    ln -v -sf autoconf-wrapper /usr/bin/autoheader
    ln -v -sf autoconf-wrapper /usr/bin/autom4te
    ln -v -sf autoconf-wrapper /usr/bin/autoreconf
    ln -v -sf autoconf-wrapper /usr/bin/autoscan
    ln -v -sf autoconf-wrapper /usr/bin/autoupdate
    ln -v -sf autoconf-wrapper /usr/bin/ifnames

* Installation of automake-wrapper:
    install -v automake-wrapper /usr/bin
    ln -v -sf automake-wrapper /usr/bin/aclocal
    ln -v -sf automake-wrapper /usr/bin/automake

* Installation of libtool-1.5.20:
    ./configure --prefix=/usr
    make
    make install

* Using a specific version of autotools:
By default, autoconf-2.59 and automake-1.9 are used.

To use a particular version of autoconf, export the envar WANT_AUTOCONF.
Alternately, run the version specific executable.

To use a particular version of automake, export the evnar WANT_AUTOMAKE.
Alternately, run the version specific executable.

To identify which version you would need to regenerate the files, use the
following:
* For autoconf, check the file configure. It will have the version of autoconf
  that was used to generate the package.
* For automake, check the file Makefile.in. It will have the version of
  automake that was used to generate the package.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
  * Gentoo and Fedora maintainers.

CHANGELOG:
[2005-12-09]
  * Initial Version of the hint.
[2006-02-14]
  * Smrutee: Happy Valentine's Day.
  * Corrected patch download location. Thanks to Geoff Johnson.