NAME

 autogen - The Automated Program Generator

SYNOPSIS

 autogen [-flags] [-flag [value]] [--option-name[[=| ]value]] [ <def-
 file> ]
 AutoGen creates text files from templates using external definitions.

DESCRIPTION

 AutoGen is designed for generating program files that contain repeti-
 tive text with varied substitutions. The goal is to simplify the main-
 tenance of programs that contain large amounts of repetitious text.
 This is especially valuable if there are several blocks of such text
 that must be kept synchronized.
 One common example is the problem of maintaining the code required for
 processing program options. Processing options requires a minimum of
 four different constructs be kept in proper order in different places
 in your program. You need at least: The flag character in the flag
 string, code to process the flag when it is encountered, a global state
 variable or two, and a line in the usage text. You will need more
 things besides this if you choose to implement long option names, con-
 figuration file processing, environment variables and so on.
 All of this can be done mechanically; with the proper templates and
 this program.

OPTIONS

 The following options select definitions, templates and scheme functions to
 use
 -L dir, --templ-dirs=dir
 Search for templates in DIR. This option may appear an unlim-
 ited number of times.
 Add a directory to the list of directories autogen searches when
 opening a template, either as the primary template or an
 included one. The last entry has the highest priority in the
 search list. That is to say, they are searched in reverse
 order.
 -T tpl-file, --override-tpl=tpl-file
 Use TPL-FILE for the template. This option may not be preset
 with environment variables or in initialization (rc) files.
 Definition files specify the standard template that is to be
 expanded. This option will override that name and expand a dif-
 ferent template.
 -l tpl-file, --lib-template=tpl-file
 Load AutoGen macros from TPL-FILE. This option may appear an
 unlimited number of times.
 DEFINE macros are saved from this template file for use in pro-
 cessing the main macro file. Template text aside from the
 DEFINE macros is is ignored.
 Do not use this. Instead, use the INCLUDE macro in your tem-
 plate.
 NOTE: THIS OPTION IS DEPRECATED
 --definitions=file, Fl -no-definitions
 Read definitions from FILE. The no-definitions form will dis-
 able the option. This option is enabled by default. This
 option may not be preset with environment variables or in ini-
 tialization (rc) files.
 Use this argument to specify the input definitions file with a
 command line option. If you do not specify this option, then
 there must be a command line argument that specifies the file,
 even if only to specify stdin with a hyphen (-). Specify, --no-
 definitions when you wish to process a template without any
 active AutoGen definitions.
 --shell=shell
 name or path name of shell to use.
 By default, when AutoGen is built, the configuration is probed
 for a reasonable Bourne-like shell to use for shell script pro-
 cessing. If a particular template needs an alternate shell, it
 must be specified with this option on the command line, with an
 environment variable (SHELL) or in the configuration/initializa-
 tion file.
 -m, --no-fmemopen
 Do not use in-mem streams.
 If the local C library supports "fopencookie(3GNU)", or
 "funopen(3BSD)" then AutoGen prefers to use in-memory stream
 buffer opens instead of anonymous files. This may lead to prob-
 lems if there is a shortage of virtual memory. If, for a par-
 ticular application, you run out of memory, then specify this
 option. This is unlikely in a modern 64-bit virtual memory
 environment.
 On platforms without these functions, the option is accepted but
 ignored. fmemopen(POSIX) is not adequate because its string
 buffer is not reallocatable. open_memstream(POSIX) is also not
 adequate because the stream is only opened for output. AutoGen
 needs a reallocatable buffer available for both reading and
 writing.
 --equate=char-list
 characters considered equivalent. The default char-list for
 this option is:
 _-^
 This option will alter the list of characters considered equiva-
 lent. The default are the three characters, "_-^". (The last
 is conventional on a Tandem/HP-NonStop, and I used to do a lot
 of work on Tandems.)
 The following options modify how output is handled
 -b name, --base-name=name
 Specify NAME as the base name for output. This option may not
 be preset with environment variables or in initialization (rc)
 files.
 A template may specify the exact name of the output file. Nor-
 mally, it does not. Instead, the name is composed of the base
 name of the definitions file with suffixes appended. This
 option will override the base name derived from the definitions
 file name. This is required if there is no definitions file and
 advisable if definitions are being read from stdin. If the def-
 initions are being read from standard in, the base name defaults
 to stdin. Any leading directory components in the name will be
 silently removed. If you wish the output file to appear in a
 particular directory, it is recommended that you "cd" into that
 directory first, or use directory names in the format specifica-
 tion for the output suffix lists, see: pseudo macro.
 --source-time, - Fl -no-source-time
 set mod times to latest source. The no-source-time form will
 disable the option.
 If you stamp your output files with the DNE macro output, then
 your output files will always be different, even if the content
 has not really changed. If you use this option, then the modi-
 fication time of the output files will change only if the input
 files change. This will help reduce unneeded builds.
 --writable, - Fl -not-writable
 Allow output files to be writable. The not-writable form will
 disable the option.
 This option will leave output files writable. Normally, output
 files are read-only.
 The following options are often useful while debugging new templates
 They specify limits that prevent the template from taking overly long
 or producing more output than expected.
 --loop-limit=lim
 Limit on increment loops. This option takes an integer number
 as its argument. The value of lim is constrained to being:
 exactly -1, or
 in the range 1 through 0x1000000
 The default lim for this option is:
 256
 This option prevents runaway loops. For example, if you acci-
 dentally specify, "FOR x (for-from 1) (for-to -1) (for-by 1)",
 it will take a long time to finish. If you do have more than
 256 entries in tables, you will need to specify a new limit with
 this option.
 -t seconds, --timeout=seconds
 Limit server shell operations to SECONDS. This option takes an
 integer number as its argument. The value of seconds is con-
 strained to being:
 in the range 0 through 3600
 AutoGen works with a shell server process. Most normal commands
 will complete in less than 10 seconds. If, however, your com-
 mands need more time than this, use this option.
 The valid range is 0 to 3600 seconds (1 hour). Zero will dis-
 able the server time limit.
 --trace=level
 tracing level of detail. This option takes a keyword as its
 argument. The argument sets an enumeration value that can be
 tested by comparing them against the option value macro. The
 available keywords are:
 nothing debug-message server-shell
 templates block-macros expressions
 everything
 or their numeric equivalent.
 The default level for this option is:
 nothing
 This option will cause AutoGen to display a trace of its tem-
 plate processing. There are six levels, each level including
 messages from the previous levels:
 nothing Does no tracing at all (default)
 debug-message Print messages from the "DEBUG" AutoGen macro
 (see: DEBUG).
 server-shell Traces all input and output to the server shell.
 This includes a shell "independent" initialization script about
 30 lines long. Its output is discarded and not inserted into
 any template.
 templates Traces the invocation of DEFINEd macros and INCLUDEs
 block-macros Traces all block macros. The above, plus IF, FOR,
 CASE and WHILE.
 expressions Displays the results of expression evaluations.
 everything Displays the invocation of every AutoGen macro, even
 TEXT macros (i.e. the text outside of macro quotes). Addition-
 ally, if you rebuild the ``expr.ini'' file with debugging
 enabled, then all calls to AutoGen defined scheme functions will
 also get logged:
 cd ${top_builddir}/agen5
 DEBUG_ENABLED=true bash bootstrap.dir expr.ini
 make CFLAGS='-g -DDEBUG_ENABLED=1'
 Be aware that you cannot rebuild this source in this way without
 first having installed the autogen executable in your search
 path. Because of this, "expr.ini" is in the distributed source
 list, and not in the dependencies.
 --trace-out=file
 tracing output file or filter.
 The output specified may be a file name, a file that is appended
 to, or, if the option argument begins with the pipe operator
 (|), a command that will receive the tracing output as standard
 in. For example, --traceout='| less' will run the trace output
 through the less program. Appending to a file is specified by
 preceding the file name with two greater-than characters (>>).
 --show-defs
 Show the definition tree. This option may not be preset with
 environment variables or in initialization (rc) files.
 This will print out the complete definition tree before process-
 ing the template.
 --used-defines
 Show the definitions used. This option may not be preset with
 environment variables or in initialization (rc) files.
 This will print out the names of definition values searched for
 during the processing of the template, whether actually found or
 not. There may be other referenced definitions in a template in
 portions of the template not evaluated. Some of the names
 listed may be computed names and others AutoGen macro arguments.
 This is not a means for producing a definitive, all-encompassing
 list of all and only the values used from a definition file.
 This is intended as an aid to template documentation only.
 -C, --core
 Leave a core dump on a failure exit.
 Many systems default to a zero sized core limit. If the system
 has the sys/resource.h header and if this option is supplied,
 then in the failure exit path, autogen will attempt to set the
 soft core limit to whatever the hard core limit is. If that
 does not work, then an administrator must raise the hard core
 size limit. in the definitions files and template files" They
 specify which outputs and parts of outputs to produce.
 -s suffix, --skip-suffix=suffix
 Skip the file with this SUFFIX. This option may appear an
 unlimited number of times. This option may not be preset with
 environment variables or in initialization (rc) files. This
 option must not appear in combination with any of the following
 options: select-suffix.
 Occasionally, it may not be desirable to produce all of the out-
 put files specified in the template. (For example, only the .h
 header file, but not the .c program text.) To do this specify
 --skip-suffix=c on the command line.
 -o suffix, --select-suffix=suffix
 specify this output suffix. This option may appear an unlimited
 number of times. This option may not be preset with environment
 variables or in initialization (rc) files.
 If you wish to override the suffix specifications in the tem-
 plate, you can use one or more copies of this option. See the
 suffix specification in the @ref{pseudo macro} section of the
 info doc.
 -D value, --define=value
 name to add to definition list. This option may appear an
 unlimited number of times.
 The AutoGen define names are used for the following purposes:
 Sections of the AutoGen definitions may be enabled or disabled
 by using C-style #ifdef and #ifndef directives.
 When defining a value for a name, you may specify the index for
 a particular value. That index may be a literal value, a define
 option or a value #define-d in the definitions themselves.
 The name of a file may be prefixed with $NAME/. The $NAME part
 of the name string will be replaced with the define-d value for
 NAME.
 When AutoGen is finished loading the definitions, the defined
 values are exported to the environment with, putenv(3). These
 values can then be used in shell scripts with ${NAME@} refer-
 ences and in templates with (getenv "NAME").
 While processing a template, you may specify an index to
 retrieve a specific value. That index may also be a define-d
 value.
 It is entirely equivalent to place this name in the exported
 environment. Internally, that is what AutoGen actually does
 with this option.
 -U name-pat, --undefine=name-pat
 definition list removal pattern. This option may appear an
 unlimited number of times. This option may not be preset with
 environment variables or in initialization (rc) files.
 Similar to 'C', AutoGen uses #ifdef/#ifndef preprocessing direc-
 tives. This option will cause the matching names to be removed
 from the list of defined values.
 This option is used to automate dependency tracking
 -M type, --make-dep [type]
 emit make dependency file. This option may appear an unlimited
 number of times. This option may not be preset with environment
 variables or in initialization (rc) files.
 This option behaves fairly closely to the way the -M series of
 options work with the gcc compiler, except that instead of just
 emitting the predecessor dependencies, this also emits the suc-
 cessor dependencies (output target files). By default, the out-
 put dependency information will be placed in <base-name>.d, but
 may also be specified with -MF<file>. The time stamp on this
 file will be manipulated so that it will be one second older
 than the oldest primary output file.
 The target in this dependency file will normally be the depen-
 dency file name, but may also be overridden with -MT<targ-name>.
 AutoGen will not alter the contents of that file, but it may
 create it and it will adjust the modification time to match the
 start time.
 NB: these second letters are part of the option argument, so -MF
 <file> must have the space character quoted or omitted, and -M
 "F <file>" is acceptable because the F is part of the option
 argument.
 -M may be followed by any of the letters M, F, P, T, Q, D, or G.
 However, only F, Q, T and P are meaningful. All but F have
 somewhat different meanings. -MT<name> is interpreted as mean-
 ing <name> is a sentinel file that will depend on all inputs
 (templates and definition files) and all the output files will
 depend on this sentinel file. It is suitable for use as a real
 make target. Q is treated identically to T, except dollar char-
 acters ('$') are doubled. P causes a special clean (clobber)
 phoney rule to be inserted into the make file fragment. An
 empty rule is always created for building the list of targets.
 This is the recommended usage:
 -MFwhatever-you-like.dep -MTyour-sentinel-file -MP
 and then in your Makefile, make the autogen rule:
 -include whatever-you-like.dep
 clean_targets += clean-your-sentinel-file
 .sp
 your-sentinel-file:
 autogen -MT$@@ -MF$*.d .....
 .sp
 local-clean :
 rm -f $(clean_targets)
 The modification time on the dependency file is adjusted to be
 one second before the earliest time stamp of any other output
 file. Consequently, it is suitable for use as the sentinel file
 testifying to the fact the program was successfully run.
 (-include is the GNU make way of specifying "include it if it
 exists". Your make must support that feature or your bootstrap
 process must create the file.)
 All of this may also be specified using the DEPENDENCIES_OUTPUT
 or AUTOGEN_MAKE_DEP environment variables. If defined, depen-
 dency information will be output. If defined with white space
 free text that is something other than true, false, yes, no, 0
 or 1, then the string is taken to be an output file name. If it
 contains a string of white space characters, the first token is
 as above and the second token is taken to be the target (sen-
 tinel) file as -MT in the paragraphs above. DEPENDENCIES_OUTPUT
 will be ignored if there are multiple sequences of white space
 characters or if its contents are, specifically, false, no or 0.
 help, version and option handling
 -?, --help
 Display usage information and exit.
 -!, --more-help
 Pass the extended usage information through a pager.
 -> [cfgfile], --save-opts [=cfgfile]
 Save the option state to cfgfile. The default is the last con-
 figuration file listed in the OPTION PRESETS section, below.
 The command will exit after updating the config file.
 -< cfgfile, --load-opts=cfgfile, --no-load-opts
 Load options from cfgfile. The no-load-opts form will disable
 the loading of earlier config/rc/ini files. --no-load-opts is
 handled early, out of order.
 -v [{v|c|n --version [{v|c|n}]}]
 Output version of program and exit. The default mode is `v', a
 simple version. The `c' mode will print copyright information
 and `n' will print the full copyright notice.

OPTION PRESETS

 Any option that is not marked as not presettable may be preset by load-
 ing values from configuration ("RC" or ".INI") file(s) and values from
 environment variables named:
 AUTOGEN_<option-name> or AUTOGEN
 The environmental presets take precedence (are processed later than)
 the configuration files. The homerc files are "$HOME", and ".". If
 any of these are directories, then the file .autogenrc is searched for
 within those directories.

ENVIRONMENT

 See OPTION PRESETS for configuration environment variables.

FILES

 See OPTION PRESETS for configuration files.

EXAMPLES

 Here is how the man page is produced:
 autogen -Tagman-cmd.tpl -MFman-dep -MTstamp-man opts.def
 This command produced this man page from the AutoGen option definition
 file. It overrides the template specified in opts.def (normally
 options.tpl) and uses agman-cmd.tpl. It also sets the make file depen-
 dency output to man-dep and the sentinel file (time stamp file) to
 man-stamp. The base of the file name is derived from the defined
 prog-name.
 The texi invocation document is produced via:
 autogen -Tagtexi-cmd.tpl -MFtexi-dep -MTtexi-stamp opts.def

EXIT STATUS

 One of the following exit values will be returned:
 0 (EXIT_SUCCESS)
 Successful program execution.
 1 (EXIT_OPTION_ERROR)
 The command options were misconfigured.
 2 (EXIT_BAD_TEMPLATE)
 An error was encountered processing the template.
 3 (EXIT_BAD_DEFINITIONS)
 The definitions could not be deciphered.
 4 (EXIT_LOAD_ERROR)
 An error was encountered during the load phase.
 5 (EXIT_FS_ERROR)
 a file system error stopped the program.
 6 (EXIT_NO_MEM)
 Insufficient memory to operate.
 128 (EXIT_SIGNAL)
 autogen exited due to catching a signal. If your template
 includes string formatting, a number argument to a "%s" format-
 ting element will trigger a segmentation fault. Autogen will
 catch the seg fault signal and exit with AUTOGEN_EXIT_SIGNAL(5).
 Alternatively, AutoGen may have been interrupted with a kill(2)
 signal. Subtract 128 from the actual exit code to detect the
 signal number.
 66 (EX_NOINPUT)
 A specified configuration file could not be loaded.
 70 (EX_SOFTWARE)
 libopts had an internal operational error. Please report it to
 autogen-users@lists.sourceforge.net. Thank you.

AUTHORS

 Bruce Korb

COPYRIGHT

 Copyright (C) 1992-2014 Bruce Korb all rights reserved. This program
 is released under the terms of the GNU General Public License, version
 3 or later.

BUGS

 Please send bug reports to: autogen-users@lists.sourceforge.net

NOTES

 This manual page was AutoGen-erated from the autogen option defini-
 tions.

GNU AutoGen (5.18.4) 30 Aug 2014 autogen(1)