Autotools

This document explains how to use the declarative build system, autotools, when packaging for openRuyi.

When you build the software you are packaging using commands such as configure, make, and make install, we recommend using BuildSystem: autotools to take advantage of its standardized build workflow and macro support.

Dependencies

To use the autotools build system, add the following BuildRequires. Since the build environment preinstalls gcc, you do not need to declare gcc explicitly.

BuildRequires:  autoconf
BuildRequires:  automake
BuildRequires:  libtool
BuildRequires:  make

Using autoreconf

We recommend running autoreconf -fiv before the configuration phase (%conf). This command regenerates the build scripts using the toolchain available in the build environment, producing a fresh configure script that aligns better with the current system environment.

Regenerating the build scripts helps prevent outdated, upstream-generated build scripts from causing build failures in newer, incompatible build environments.

%conf -p
autoreconf -fiv

More specifically, autoreconf is a high-level wrapper script in the GNU Autotools suite. It invokes other tools in the proper order—such as aclocal, libtoolize, autoconf, autoheader, and automake—to generate the final configure script and Makefile.in template files from configure.ac and Makefile.am in the source tree.

• -f, --force: Force regeneration of all files, even if they appear up to date. Forcing regeneration ensures that the tool regenerates all build scripts from scratch and maintains internal consistency.

• -i, --install: Automatically copy missing auxiliary scripts into the project directory. These auxiliary scripts include common helper scripts such as config.guess, config.sub, install-sh, and missing from your Autotools installation.

• -v, --verbose: Show detailed execution output.

When autoreconf is not needed

If the source tree does not contain a configure script, do not run autoreconf. In that case, you may still use the autotools build system. Compared with projects that provide a configure script, you only need to override the default autotools behavior by providing an empty configuration section (%conf).

%conf
# No configuration needed

Examples

Assume the original preparation section (%prep) looks like the following snippet:

%prep
%autosetup -p0 -n %{name}%{version}
cp {SOURCE1} .

Here, you unpack the source archive, apply patches first, and then copy Source1 into the current directory. After switching to the autotools build system, you can rewrite the preparation section as follows:

BuildOptin(prep): -p0 -n %{name}%{version}

# ...

%prep -a
cp {SOURCE1} .

You must move the arguments that originally followed %autosetup into BuildOption(prep), while you should move any commands after %autosetup into %prep -a as needed.

Likewise, assume the original build section (%build) is as follows:

%build
export CFLAGS="%{optflags} -fPIC -pie -std=gnu89"
autoreconf
%configure --with-tcl=%{_libdir} --with-tk=%{_libdir} --enable-shared \
        --with-tclinclude=%{_includedir}/tcl-private/generic
# remove rpath from libtool
sed -i 's|^hardcode_libdir_flag_spec=.*|hardcode_libdir_flag_spec=""|g' libtool
sed -i 's|^runpath_var=LD_RUN_PATH|runpath_var=DIE_RPATH_DIE|g' libtool
 
make SHLIB_LD="gcc -shared" %{?_smp_mflags} all pkglibdir=%_libdir/tcl/%name%version

After converting the build section to the autotools build system, you need to adjust the commands to reflect their proper locations. Since we are also adding an explicit configuration section (%conf), the final result becomes:

BuildOption(conf):  --with-tcl=%{_libdir}
BuildOption(conf):  --with-tk=no_tk
BuildOption(conf):  --with-tclinclude=%{_includedir}
BuildOption(conf):  --enable-shared
BuildOption(build):  CFLAGS="%{optflags} -fPIC -pie -std=gnu89"
BuildOption(build):  SHLIB_LD="gcc -shared"
BuildOption(build):  pkglibdir=%{_libdir}/tcl/%{name}%{version}

%conf -p
autoreconf -fiv

%conf -a
# remove rpath from libtool
sed -i 's|^hardcode_libdir_flag_spec=.*|hardcode_libdir_flag_spec=""|g' libtool
sed -i 's|^runpath_var=LD_RUN_PATH|runpath_var=DIE_RPATH_DIE|g' libtool

Assume the original install section (%install) is as follows:

%install
%make_install pkglibdir=%_libdir/tcl/%name%version
ln -s libexpect%{majorver}.so %{buildroot}%{_libdir}/libexpect.so
rm -f %{buildroot}%{_bindir}/{cryptdir,decryptdir}
rm -f %{buildroot}%{_mandir}/man1/{cryptdir,decryptdir}.1*
rm -f %{buildroot}%{_bindir}/autopasswd

You can rewrite the install section as:

BuildOption(install): pkglibdir=%{_libdir}/tcl/%{name}%{version}

%install -a
ln -s libexpect%{majorver}.so %{buildroot}%{_libdir}/libexpect.so
rm -f %{buildroot}%{_bindir}/{cryptdir,decryptdir}
rm -f %{buildroot}%{_mandir}/man1/{cryptdir,decryptdir}.1*
rm -f %{buildroot}%{_bindir}/autopasswd

Build system macros

The /usr/lib/rpm/macros.d/macros.buildsystem file defines the build system macros related to autotools.

For the configuration phase (%conf), we already add the following options by default:

• --disable-silent-rules

• --disable-rpath

• --docdir=%{_docdir}/%{name}