<s>
In	O
software	O
development	O
,	O
GNU	B-Application
Automake	I-Application
is	O
a	O
programming	B-Application
tool	I-Application
to	O
automate	O
parts	O
of	O
the	O
compilation	B-Language
process	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
eases	O
usual	O
compilation	B-Language
problems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
,	O
it	O
points	O
to	O
needed	O
dependencies	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Each	O
Makefile.am	O
contains	O
,	O
among	O
other	O
things	O
,	O
useful	O
variable	O
definitions	O
for	O
the	O
compiled	B-Language
software	I-Language
,	O
such	O
as	O
compiler	B-Language
and	O
linker	B-Application
flags	O
,	O
dependencies	B-Application
and	O
their	O
versions	O
,	O
etc	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
generated	O
"	O
Makefile.in"s	O
are	O
portable	O
and	O
compliant	O
with	O
the	O
Makefile	O
conventions	O
in	O
the	O
GNU	B-Operating_System
Coding	O
Standards	O
,	O
and	O
may	O
be	O
used	O
by	O
configure	B-Device
scripts	I-Device
to	O
generate	O
a	O
working	O
Makefile	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	B-Operating_System
Free	I-Operating_System
Software	I-Operating_System
Foundation	I-Operating_System
maintains	O
as	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
GNU	B-Operating_System
programs	O
,	O
and	O
as	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
GNU	B-Application
build	I-Application
system	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
used	O
to	O
build	O
several	O
GNU	B-Operating_System
applications	O
and	O
libraries	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
GTK	B-Application
,	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
non-GNU	O
software	O
such	O
as	O
XCircuit	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Automake	B-Application
aims	O
to	O
allow	O
the	O
programmer	O
to	O
write	O
a	O
makefile	O
in	O
a	O
higher-level	O
language	O
,	O
rather	O
than	O
having	O
to	O
write	O
the	O
whole	O
makefile	O
manually	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Automake	B-Application
also	O
takes	O
care	O
of	O
automatically	O
generating	O
the	O
dependency	B-Application
information	O
,	O
so	O
that	O
when	O
a	O
source	O
file	O
is	O
modified	O
,	O
the	O
next	O
invocation	O
of	O
the	O
make	O
command	O
will	O
know	O
which	O
source	O
files	O
need	O
to	O
be	O
recompiled	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
If	O
the	O
compiler	B-Language
allows	O
it	O
,	O
Automake	B-Application
tries	O
to	O
make	O
the	O
dependency	B-Application
system	O
dynamic	O
:	O
whenever	O
a	O
source	O
file	O
is	O
compiled	B-Language
,	O
that	O
file	O
's	O
dependencies	B-Application
are	O
updated	O
by	O
asking	O
the	O
compiler	B-Language
to	O
regenerate	O
the	O
file	O
's	O
dependency	B-Application
list	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
other	O
words	O
,	O
dependency	B-Application
tracking	O
is	O
a	O
side	O
effect	O
of	O
the	O
compilation	B-Language
process	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
attempts	O
to	O
avoid	O
the	O
problem	O
with	O
some	O
static	O
dependency	B-Application
systems	O
,	O
where	O
the	O
dependencies	B-Application
are	O
detected	O
only	O
once	O
when	O
the	O
programmer	O
starts	O
working	O
on	O
the	O
project	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Automake	B-Application
is	O
written	O
in	O
Perl	B-Language
and	O
must	O
be	O
used	O
with	O
GNU	B-Application
Autoconf	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Automake	B-Application
contains	O
the	O
following	O
commands	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
aclocal	B-Application
,	O
however	O
,	O
is	O
a	O
general-purpose	O
program	O
that	O
can	O
be	O
useful	O
to	O
autoconf	B-Application
users	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
GNU	B-Application
Compiler	I-Application
Collection	I-Application
(	O
GCC	B-Application
)	O
,	O
for	O
example	O
,	O
uses	O
aclocal	B-Application
even	O
though	O
its	O
makefile	O
is	O
hand	O
written	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Like	O
Autoconf	B-Application
,	O
Automake	B-Application
is	O
not	O
entirely	O
backward	B-General_Concept
compatible	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
,	O
a	O
project	O
created	O
with	O
automake	B-Application
1.13	O
will	O
not	O
necessarily	O
work	O
with	O
automake	B-Application
1.14	O
.	O
</s>
