configure.in or configure.ac?

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Asked 27/1, 2011 at 18:2 Answered 27/1, 2011 at 18:25

It seems that some autoconf projects use a configure.in file to generate a configure script, and some use configure.ac.

What is the difference/advantage between using one or the other?

Preconcert answered 27/1, 2011 at 18:2 Comment(0)

Its just a matter of style. Historically autoconf files were named configure.in. Now configure.ac is the preferred naming scheme. Its also discussed in the documentation.

Lippmann answered 27/1, 2011 at 18:4 Comment(3)

No, it's not just style. The name configure.in is deprecated. – Titanesque 27/1, 2011 at 18:43

Even the docs say preferred. I've never noticed a deprecation warning, but then again I think all my projects use .ac. – Lippmann 27/1, 2011 at 18:45

I just checked the docs and you are right. Not yet fully deprecated. I'm nearly certain I have seen deprecation warnings, but perhaps not in an official release. – Titanesque 27/1, 2011 at 19:12

New projects should use configure.ac. Old projects used configure.in; if it is inconvenient to switch to the new name, they can continue to use it, but the autoconf tools will generate a warning.

Disentwine answered 27/1, 2011 at 18:25 Comment(3)

The current version of autoconf (1.13.1 as of 2013-01-01) still supports configure.ac, but the release notes say "Automake 1.14 will drop support for the long-deprecated 'configure.in' name for the Autoconf input file. You are advised to start using the recommended name 'configure.ac' instead, ASAP." – Disentwine 25/1, 2013 at 8:30

Yup, now they have finally moved forward with deprecating it. – Lippmann 25/1, 2013 at 17:8

In my first comment, there's a typo — it should be 'still supports configure.in ...' as configure.ac is the future direction. – Disentwine 25/1, 2013 at 17:10

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