How to quickly bootstrap an Autotools project

Table of Contents

The good old sh autogen.sh && configure && make install

It’s 2025… why would I do that? #

If you are asking yourself this, then… probably Autotools isn’t the right build system for your project 😁.

Let’s be honest; the GNU Build System aka Autotools is old, slow and quirky (but not as much its reputation suggests). Why then?

One word: portability. Autotools is still the choice when you need a build system that works across a wide range of operating systems and platforms, including - especially - obscure UNIX variants and unusual hardware architectures.

So, if none of the above applies (lucky you!), take a look at alternatives such as CMake, Bazel, Meson, Xmake, Build2 etc.

With that out of the way, let’s get started. We will use a very minimalistic autotools skeleton I use for all my projects:

Featured Project

msune/autotools-skeleton

Simple autotools template for quick project bootstrapping

Steps #

1. Clone the `autotools-skeleton` repository #

git clone https://github.com/msune/autotools-skeleton my_project
cd my-project
rm .git -rf

2. Verify #

mkdir build
sh autogen.sh
cd build && ../configure
make
sudo make install

You should now be able to run the test binary my_program (usually installed under /usr/local/bin).

Warning: Make sure you remove the binaries using sudo make uninstall.

3. Edit `configure.ac` #

Modify the AC_INIT() macro in configure.ac with the information of your project:

--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 m4_include([VERSION]) #Force reconf on VERSION change
-AC_INIT(MY_PROJECT, m4_esyscmd_s(cat VERSION), john@doe.com, MyProject, http://github.com/msune/autotools-skeleton)
+AC_INIT(COOL_PROJECT, m4_esyscmd_s(cat VERSION), bugs-project@cool.io, CoolProject, http://github.com/cool/project)

4. Add your code #

Add your code, track it (see .gitignore), and modify Makefile.ams and directories for your project structure.

This puff isn’t meant to be a full introduction to Autotools, but the project has examples on how to:

work with libtool libraries in subdirectories (noinst_lib), and set them as dependencies.
distribute binaries that depend on libtool libraries.
distribute libraries and headers.

Next #

Some useful links:

Keep on hacking!