Types of Files

Automake knows that different types of files should be treated differently.

Data files (foo_DATA)

For the build infrastructure, these are the simplest files. Just install them without change.

Header files (foo_HEADERS)

Public header files.

Executable binaries (foo_PROGRAMS)

Usually built from a number of sources. Can be stripped. Should be installed as executables.

Scripts (foo_SCRIPTS)

Installed as executables. Can have their name transformed (the --program-transorm-name flag to configure). Cannot be stripped (so they are different from programs).

Manual pages (foo_MAN) and info pages (foo_TEXINFOS)

Installed into the appropriate directories. For example, automake knows that bar.3n goes in section 3 (despite the trailing n). For info documents, it knows to run install-info on the results to put them into the directory, and so forth.

Libraries (foo_LIBRARIES and foo_LTLIBRARIES)

Specifies that the files are static or shared libraries, possibly created with libtool (not covered in this tutorial).