Automake provides a make dist
target. This automatically creates a .tar.gz
from your project. This archive is set up in such a way that the recipient can simply extract it and run the usual ./configure && make && make install
invocation.
It is generally not recommended to check the files generated by Autotools into your repository. This is because they are derived objects. You wouldn't check in your .o
files!
Usually, it is a good idea to provide a autogen.sh
script that carries out any actions required to re-create the Autotools build infrastructure in a new version control system checkout. Often, it can be as simple as:
#!/bin/sh
autoreconf -i
Then set it chmod +x
, and the instructions for compiling from a clean checkout can be ./autogen.sh && ./configure && make
.