This is the README.OS2 file of autoconf 2.53b (release 2). There is no binary
release of this package because autoconf is a set of perl scripts.
You have to "compile" them yourself if you want to use them. If your system
is not able to do this then it's most likely also unable to use autoconf.


I. ***** REQUIREMENTS *****

A standard Unix like build environment:

- sh compatible shell (ksh, bash, ash, see also section IV. below)
- GNU file utilities (make sure that install.exe from the file utilities
  is in front of your PATH BEFORE X:\OS2\INSTALL\INSTALL.EXE. I recommend
  also to change the filename to ginstall.exe instead of install.exe
  to avoid confusion with X:\OS2\INSTALL\INSTALL.EXE)
- GNU shell utilities
- GNU text utilities
- gawk
- grep
- sed
- GNU make 3.79.1
- perl 5.005 or higher
- GNU texinfo (you can use 3.1 (gnuinfo.zip), but I recommend 4.0)

If you want to recreate the configuration files (developers only!)
you need also: GNU m4 1.4, autoconf 2.53, automake 1.6.2



II. ***** INSTALLATION *****

 a) * Developers only - All other people should really skip section II.a) *
    To recreate the configuration files enter:

    export EMXSHELL=ksh
    aclocal -I config
    automake
    autoconf


 b) Installation into x:/usr

    export ac_executable_extensions=".exe"
    ./configure --prefix=x:/usr
    make
    make install

    Add x:\usr\bin to your PATH
    Add x:/usr/man to your MANPATH
    Add x:/usr/info to your INFOPATH



III. ***** CHANGES TO THE "OFFICIAL" RELEASE *****

- This autoconf version adds the following features to all configure scripts:
  The configure script sets ac_executable_extensions for you if you haven't
  done this and changes backslashes into forward slashes in your PATH for the
  installation process.
- AC_CHECK_LIB modified so that it works with link386
- The diff-patches subdirectory contains all changes that have been made
  compared to the "official" autoconf 2.53b release that you can get
  currently from ftp://sources.redhat.com/pub/automake/autoconf-2.53b.tar.gz.
  This might change in the future. Please note that the "official" beta server
  ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/autoconf/ currently does not contain the latest autoconf
  beta release.
- Changes in autoconf 2.53b release 2: AC_CHECK_LIB fixed.


IV. ***** IMPORTANT NOTES *****

- If you use pdksh you have to update to 5.2.14 release 2. Older versions
  do not work! You can get this version at
  http://www.math.ohio-state.edu/~ilya/software/os2/pdksh-5.2.14-bin-2.zip
- If you keep up your environment and if you do not care about some link386
  warnings you can directly get any future autoconf release from the original
  sources at ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/autoconf/. No further OS/2 related patches
  are necesary for basic functionality.  

--
maintainer: andreas.buening@nexgo.de

