On 02/07/2017 12:50 AM, Ying Chang wrote: > Hi, I am a biologist who doesn't know much about computers. I need to > install autoconf as it is one of the dependencies of a program that I want > to use. I downloaded the autoconf package with 'git clone git:// > git.sv.gnu.org/autoconf' . Building from git is NOT the recommended way to casually meet a prerequisite; git builds are intended primarily for development of autoconf itself, rather than using autoconf for other projects. The primary means of installing autoconf is by using a pre-built package (if you are using a distribution), or by using a tarball (ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/autoconf/), where 2.69 is the latest release (although I'm hoping to release 2.70 soon). > The README file says that I should read BUGS and > INSTALL. But there is no INSTALL file in the package. INSTALL exists in the tarballs (it is created as part of bootstrapping the git checkouit). When building from git, you first have to bootstrap the package, at which point the directions in HACKING are relevant. But note that the directions in HACKING state that you cannot bootstrap autoconf from git unless you have _first_ installed autoconf from a tarball (or distribution) - so you're right back to needing that tarball. And if you are not planning on developing autoconf itself, then why bother with bootstrapping git? -- Eric Blake eblake redhat com +1-919-301-3266 Libvirt virtualization library http://libvirt.org
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