Using help2man in autoconf/automake

[NeilBlue]

Hello,

I am trying to generate man pages with help2man using automake. Well I have managed to get it working with the following entry in Makefile.am:

info_TEXINFOS=coldcompress.texi
dist_man_MANS=coldcompress.1

coldcompress.1: ../src/coldcompress$(EXEEXT)
echo "$<"
help2man -o coldcompress.1 $<

This works though I can see a problem if the client machine does not have help2man or even if some of the texinfo tools are missing. Is there a better way to account for this using autoconf/automake?

Thanks
Neil

[bwkaz]

Put a specific check for help2man and/or the rest of the texinfo stuff in the configure.ac file would be how I'd do it. Something like AC_PROG(...) maybe -- put it right near the AC_PROG_CC checks and stuff.

[NeilBlue]

Here is what I have so far:

configure.ac
AC_CHECK_PROGS([HELP2MAN], [help2man])

Makefile.am
dist_man_MANS=coldcompress.1

coldcompress.1: ../src/coldcompress$(EXEEXT)
if ! test -z "$(HELP2MAN)" ; \
then \
$(HELP2MAN) -o coldcompress.1 $<; \
fi

problem is I want to make
dist_man_MANS=coldcompress.1 conditional on HELP2MAN being set?

[NeilBlue]

With some further enhancements I now have a macro:

acsite.m4:
# check for the presence of help2man
# if it is available then set MANPAGES to
# the list of man page files to create
#
# AC_PROG_HELP2MAN(list-of-man-pages)

AC_DEFUN([AC_PROG_HELP2MAN],
[{
AC_CHECK_PROGS([HELP2MAN], [help2man])
if ! test -z "$HELP2MAN"
then
AC_SUBST(MANPAGES, $1)
fi
}])

configure.ac:
AC_PROG_HELP2MAN([coldcompress.1])

Makefile.am:
dist_man_MANS=$(MANPAGES)
CLEANFILES=$(MANPAGES)

coldcompress.1: ../src/coldcompress$(EXEEXT)
$(HELP2MAN) -o $@ $<

Neil

[roelof]

Great ! Thank you so much ! I extended it a bit for using help2man only if it's installed:

acsite.m4:
# check for the presence of help2man
# if it is available then set MANPAGES to
# the list of man page files to create
#
# AC_PROG_HELP2MAN(list-of-man-pages)

AC_DEFUN([AC_PROG_HELP2MAN],
[{
AC_CHECK_PROGS([HELP2MAN], [help2man])
if ! test -z "$HELP2MAN"
then
AC_SUBST(MANPAGES, $1)
HAVE_HELP2MAN=true
fi
AM_CONDITIONAL([HAVE_HELP2MAN], [test x$HAVE_HELP2MAN = xtrue])
}])

configure.ac:
AC_PROG_HELP2MAN([coldcompress.1])

Makefile.am:
if HAVE_HELP2MAN
dist_man_MANS=$(MANPAGES)
CLEANFILES=$(MANPAGES)

coldcompress.1: ../src/coldcompress$(EXEEXT)
$(HELP2MAN) -o $@ $<
endif

(A tab key preceeds the line $(HELP2MAN) -o $@ $<)