ACLOCAL(1)							    ACLOCAL(1)



NAME
       aclocal - automatically generate aclocal.m4 from configure.in

SYNOPSIS
       aclocal	[  --acdir=DIR	]  [  --help  ] [ -I DIR ] [ --output=FILE ] [
       --verbose ] [ --version ]

DESCRIPTION
       Automake includes a number of Autoconf macros which can be used in your
       package; some of them are actually required by Automake in certain sit
       uations.  These macros must be defined in  your	aclocal.m4;  otherwise
       they will not be seen by autoconf.

       The  aclocal program will automatically generate aclocal.m4 files based
       on the contents of configure.in.  This provides a convenient way to get
       Automake-provided  macros,  without having to search around.  Also, the
       aclocal mechanism is extensible for use by other packages.

       At startup, aclocal scans all the .m4 files it can  find,  looking  for
       macro  definitions.  Then it scans configure.in.  Any mention of one of
       the macros found in the first step causes that macro, and any macros it
       in turn requires, to be put into aclocal.m4.

       The  contents  of  acinclude.m4,  if  it exists, are also automatically
       included in aclocal.m4.	This is useful for incorporating local	macros
       into configure.

       aclocal accepts the following options:

       --acdir=DIR
	      Look  for  the  macro  files  in DIR instead of the installation
	      directory.  This is typically used for debugging.

       --help Print a summary of the command line options and exit.

       -I DIR Add the directory DIR to the list of  directories  searched  for
	      .m4 files.

       --output=FILE
	      Cause the output to be put into FILE instead of aclocal.m4.

       --verbose
	      Print the names of the files it examines.

       --version
	      Print the version number of Automake and exit.


SEE ALSO
       automake(1), and the Texinfo documentation for automake

AUTHORS
       Automake was written primarily by David Mackenzie and Tom Tromey.  This
       manpage written by Ben Pfaff   for  the	Debian
       GNU/Linux automake package.



				   Automake			    ACLOCAL(1)