GNU Autoconf, Automake, and Libtool

Have you ever seen a package where, once built, you were expected to keep the build tree around forever, and always cd there before running the tool? You might have to cast your mind way, way back to the bad old days of 1988 to remember such a horrible thing.

The GNU Autotools provides a canned solution to this problem. While not without flaws, it does provide a reasonable and easy-to-use framework. In this chapter we discuss how the GNU Autotools installation model, how to convince automake to install files where you want them, and finally we conclude with some information about uninstalling, including a brief discussion of its flaws.