Re: Noobie question

[Ralf Wildenhues]

Hello Douglas,

* Douglas Phillipson wrote on Thu, Sep 21, 2006 at 05:55:50PM CEST:
> I'm not sure if this is an automake or autoconf question.  How do you 
> get the GNU build system to install a file in a specific location.  I.E. 
>  I want to install a config file in /etc when I do a make install.  I 
> understand that you use EXTRA_DIST for the build system to include an 
> additional file in a distribution, but how do I make it install this 
> file in /etc/ when doing "make install"?

You specify 
  sysconf_DATA = file

in your Makefile.am.  That way it gets installed into $sysconfdir, which
defaults to $prefix/etc.  Your user can now specify for example
  ./configure --prefix=/usr --sysconfdir=/etc

to install the file in /etc/file, and all other stuff below /usr.
(Mind you, overwriting files in a distribution can be dangerous! ;-)

If you want the file in a subdirectory of $sysconfdir, you can use for
example
  pkgsysconfdir = $(sysconfdir)/@PACKAGE@
  pkgsysconf_DATA = file

or, if you have a tree of files that should be installed with the same
structure, you can use something like
  nobase_sysconf_DATA = subdir1/file1 subdir2/file2 file3
  
Much more about all this in
  http://sources.redhat.com/automake/automake.html

Hope that helps.

Cheers,
Ralf