Automake

Automake is a GNU build system tool that generates Makefile.in templates from Makefile.am input files. It is part of the GNU Autotools suite and is designed to produce portable, automatically maintained makefiles for large, multi-file projects. Automake expresses build rules at a high level using predefined variables and simple constructs, reducing the need to write complex makefile syntax by hand. It relies on Autoconf to produce a configure script and is commonly used in combination with Libtool for portable libraries.

Makefile.am files specify programs and libraries with variables such as bin_PROGRAMS, lib_LIBRARIES, and include_HEADERS; data files and documentation can be listed with other install-related variables. Automake can automatically handle common tasks such as installation, packaging, and the generation of a make check workflow; it supports the standard make targets and can generate a parallel build environment. It can manage subdirectories with SUBDIRS and provides test support via the TESTS variable, enabling automated test execution when running make check.

To use Automake, a project typically includes a configure.ac with AC_INIT and AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE; then you run autoreconf or aclocal and automake to generate the configure script and Makefile.in files. The result is a portable Makefile that is configured for the host system by the configure script.

See also GNU Autotools, Autoconf, Libtool, and the Automake manual.