aclocal

aclocal

The aclocal command in Linux is used to generate the aclocal.m4 file, which is used by the autoconf command to configure software. The aclocal command is part of the autoconf suite of tools.

Here are some examples of how to use the aclocal command:

# To generate the `aclocal.m4` file:
aclocal

# To specify a directory to search for macros:
aclocal -I /usr/local/share/aclocal

# To enable warnings:
aclocal -W

help

Usage: aclocal [OPTION]...

Generate 'aclocal.m4' by scanning 'configure.ac' or 'configure.in'

Options:
      --automake-acdir=DIR  directory holding automake-provided m4 files
      --system-acdir=DIR    directory holding third-party system-wide files
      --diff[=COMMAND]      run COMMAND [diff -u] on M4 files that would be
                            changed (implies --install and --dry-run)
      --dry-run             pretend to, but do not actually update any file
      --force               always update output file
      --help                print this help, then exit
  -I DIR                    add directory to search list for .m4 files
      --install             copy third-party files to the first -I directory
      --output=FILE         put output in FILE (default aclocal.m4)
      --print-ac-dir        print name of directory holding system-wide
                              third-party m4 files, then exit
      --verbose             don't be silent
      --version             print version number, then exit
  -W, --warnings=CATEGORY   report the warnings falling in CATEGORY

breakdown

-I, --includes=DIR: This option specifies a directory to search for macros.
-W, --warnings: This option enables warnings.
-h, --help: This option shows this help message.
-V, --version: This option prints version information.