Autoconf, Automake, and Libtool: Introduction to Primaries

| ## 7.2 Introduction to Primaries Each type of object that Automake understands has a special root variable name associated with it. This root is called a primary. Many actual variable names put into ``Makefile.am'` are constructed by adding various prefixes to a primary. For instance, scripts--interpreted executable programs--are associated with the `SCRIPTS` primary. Here is how you would list scripts to be installed in the user's ``bindir'`:
    bin_SCRIPTS = magic-script
(Note that the mysterious ``bin_'` prefix will be discussed later.) The contents of a primary-derived variable are treated as targets in the resulting ``Makefile'`. For instance, in our example above, we could generate ``magic-script'` using `sed` by simply introducing it as a target:
    bin_SCRIPTS = magic-script

    magic-script: magic-script.in
    	sed -e 's/whatever//' < $(srcdir)/magic-script.in > magic-script
    	chmod +x magic-script

This document was generated by Gary V. Vaughan on February, 8 2006 using texi2html