Automake sometimes requires helper programs so that the generated Makefile can do its work properly. There are a fairly large number of them, and we list them here.
These two files are used by the automatic de-ANSI-fication support (the section called “Automatic de-ANSI-fication”).
This is a wrapper for compilers which don't accept both -c and -o at the same time. It is only used when absolutely required. Such compilers are rare.
These programs compute the canonical triplets for the given build, host, or target architecture.
This program understands how to run a compiler so that it will generate not only the desired output but also dependency information which is then used by the automatic dependency tracking feature.
This program is used to byte-compile Emacs Lisp code.
This is a replacement for the install program which works on platforms where install is unavailable or unusable.
This script is used to generate a version.texi file. It examines a file and prints some date information about it.
This wraps a number of programs which are typically only required by maintainers. If the program in question doesn't exist, missing prints an informative warning and attempts to fix things so that the build can continue.
This works around the fact that mkdir -p is not portable.
This is used to byte-compile Python scripts.
Not a program, this file is required for make dvi to work when Texinfo sources are in the package.
This program wraps lex and yacc and ensures that, for instance, multiple yacc instances can be invoked in a single directory in parallel.