| name | software-autotools |
| description | Autotools (autoconf/automake/libtool) build system detection, bootstrap/configure/build/install flow via session_configure/session_build_install/session_build_annotated, PKG_CONFIG_PATH/CPPFLAGS/LDFLAGS dftracer injection, and per-system/per-dependency lesson tagging. Load this skill for any project with configure.ac/Makefile.am or a checked-in configure script. |
| metadata | {"type":"software"} |
Detection
configure.ac + Makefile.am at the source root (not yet bootstrapped) —
needs autoreconf -fi before ./configure exists.- A checked-in
configure script with no configure.ac — already
bootstrapped (common for release tarballs); do not run autoreconf.
AC_ARG_WITH/AC_ARG_ENABLE macros in configure.ac name the project's
own --with-*/--enable-* flags — read these before calling
session_configure with extra_configure_flags, since an unrecognized
flag usually errors loudly (unlike CMake/Meson's silent-ignore behavior).
Configure / build / install flow (via MCP tools)
session_configure(run_id, extra_configure_flags="--with-mpi --disable-shared ...")
session_build_install(run_id, jobs=<n>)
or for the annotated tree:
session_build_annotated(run_id)
session_configure bootstraps with autoreconf -fi only if configure.ac
exists and configure does not, then runs
./configure --prefix=<install> --disable-dependency-tracking <extra_configure_flags>.
--disable-dependency-tracking is always added — it avoids a common
config.status failure from stale .deps/ directories.- Both
session_configure and session_build_annotated proactively delete
any .deps/ directories found under source//annotated/ and build//
build_ann/ before configuring — a stale .deps/ from a previous
configure with different flags is a common autotools failure mode.
session_build_annotated injects dftracer discovery via environment
variables (not --with-dftracer=<prefix>, since that flag doesn't exist
generically across projects): PKG_CONFIG_PATH=<prefix>/lib/pkgconfig,
CPPFLAGS=-I<prefix>/include, LDFLAGS=-L<prefix>/lib -Wl,-rpath,<prefix>/lib.
This only works if the project's own configure.ac actually probes
PKG_CONFIG_PATH/CPPFLAGS/LDFLAGS (via PKG_CHECK_MODULES or plain
AC_CHECK_HEADER/AC_CHECK_LIB) — if it hard-codes include paths instead,
you'll need a project-specific patch (record that in the project's own
workload-<app>/software-<app> skill, not here).
Lessons are per-system and per-dependency, not universal
Autotools itself is portable, but which dependency-detection macro a
project's configure.ac uses (PKG_CHECK_MODULES vs AC_CHECK_LIB vs a
hand-rolled AC_ARG_WITH prefix flag), and which system paths get searched,
varies by system and dependency. Tag every lesson with the
(system, dependency) pair observed; cross-link the system-specific half
into system-<system> when it's about the site, not autotools itself.
Lessons
(none recorded yet for this repo's sessions beyond what's captured in
per-project workload-<app> skills. Record a NEW cross-project autotools
lesson here; keep a single project's configure.ac quirks in that project's
own skill.)
