GNU autoconf, automake and libtool

This book is a tutorial for autoconf, automake and libtool, or the GNU autotools. The GNU manuals that accompany each tools adequately document each tool in isolation. Until now, there has not been a guide that has described how these tools work together. As these tools have evolved over the years, design decisions have been made by contributors who clearly understand the associated problems, but little documentation exists that captures why things are the way the are. Much of this reasoning is recorded in this book. While this is not a definitive reference to autoconf, automake or libtool, it will attempt to help you understand any macro you encounter and influence on how you approach software portability and package building. This job of revealing the mystery around the GNU Autotools is likely to raise the interest of a wide audience of software developers, system administrators and technical managers.