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Autoconf

Autoconf is an extensible package of M4 macros that produce shell
scripts to automatically configure software source code packages.
These scripts can adapt the packages to many kinds of UNIX-like
systems without manual user intervention.  Autoconf creates a
configuration script for a package from a template file that lists the
operating system features that the package can use, in the form of M4
macro calls.

Producing configuration scripts using Autoconf requires GNU M4 and
Perl.  You should install GNU M4 (version 1.4.8 or later is required;
1.4.16 or later is recommended) and Perl (5.006 or later) before
configuring Autoconf, so that Autoconf's configure script can find
them.  The configuration scripts produced by Autoconf are
self-contained, so their users do not need to have Autoconf (or GNU
M4, Perl, etc.).

You can get GNU M4 here:

https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/m4/

The file INSTALL should be distributed with packages that use
Autoconf-generated configure scripts and Makefiles that conform to the
GNU coding standards.  The package's README can just give an overview
of the package, where to report bugs, and a pointer to INSTALL for
instructions on compilation and installation.  This removes the need
to maintain many similar sets of installation instructions.

Be sure to read BUGS and INSTALL.

Mail suggestions to autoconf@gnu.org, report bugs to
bug-autoconf@gnu.org, and submit patches to autoconf-patches@gnu.org.
All changes can be tracked at the read-only autoconf-commit@gnu.org.
Always include the Autoconf version number, which you can get by
running 'autoconf --version'.  Archives of bug-autoconf@gnu.org can be
found in <https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-autoconf/>, and
similarly for the other mailing lists.

Licensing
=========
Autoconf is released under the General Public License version 3 (GPLv3+).
Additionally, Autoconf includes a licensing exception in some of its
source files; see the respective copyright notices for how your
project is impacted by including scripts generated by Autoconf, and the
COPYING.EXCEPTION file for the exception in terms of the Additional
Permissions as described in section 7 of GPLv3.

For more licensing information, see
<https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html> and
<https://www.gnu.org/licenses/exceptions.html>.

For any copyright year range specified as YYYY-ZZZZ in this package
note that the range specifies every single year in that closed interval.

GNU Project notice
==================
Autoconf is part of the GNU Operating System, developed by the GNU Project.

If you are the author of an awesome program and want to join us in
writing Free (libre) Software, please consider making it an official
GNU program and become a GNU Maintainer.  Instructions on how to do
this are here:
  https://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation

Don't have a program to contribute?  Look at all the other ways to help:
  https://www.gnu.org/help/help.html

And to learn more about Free (libre) Software in general, please read
and share this page:
  https://gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html

We are looking forward to hacking with you!

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