Run automake to create config.sub without any Makefile.am

[Roger Pau Monné]

Hello!

I'm a new user of the GNU Autotools build system, and I need some help
from more experienced Autoconf fellows. I'm trying to create an
Autoconf script that generates a config.h and Config.mk to include to
my sources and Makefiles respectively, but I'm having some trouble
when trying to use Autoconf without using Automake. I have a
configure.ac script that goes more or less like this (I'm not posting
the full configure.ac, since I think that's not necessary):

AC_PREREQ([2.67])
AC_INIT([My program], [0.1], address@hidden)
AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR([main.c])
AC_CONFIG_FILES([Config.mk])
AC_CONFIG_HEADERS([config.h])
AC_PREFIX_DEFAULT([/usr])

AC_USE_SYSTEM_EXTENSIONS
AC_CANONICAL_HOST

m4_include(...)


AC_ARG_ENABLE([foo], AS_HELP_STRING([--disable-foo], [Disable feature foo]))

AS_IF([test "x$enable_foo" != "xno"], [
  dnl Do the stuff needed for enabling the feature
])

AC_ARG_VAR([bar], [Path to bar])

AC_PROG_SED
AC_PROG_CC
AC_PROG_INSTALL
AC_PROG_LN_S
AC_PROG_MAKE_SET
AC_PATH_PROG(...)
AC_CHECK_LIB(...)

AC_FUNC_ALLOCA
AC_CHECK_HEADERS(...)

# Checks for typedefs, structures, and compiler characteristics.
AC_HEADER_STDBOOL
AC_TYPE_UID_T
AC_C_INLINE
AC_TYPE_INT16_T
AC_TYPE_INT32_T
AC_TYPE_INT64_T
AC_TYPE_INT8_T
AC_TYPE_MODE_T
AC_TYPE_OFF_T
AC_TYPE_PID_T
AC_C_RESTRICT
AC_TYPE_SIZE_T
AC_TYPE_SSIZE_T
AC_CHECK_MEMBERS([struct stat.st_blksize])
AC_STRUCT_ST_BLOCKS
AC_CHECK_MEMBERS([struct stat.st_rdev])
AC_TYPE_UINT16_T
AC_TYPE_UINT32_T
AC_TYPE_UINT64_T
AC_TYPE_UINT8_T
AC_CHECK_TYPES([ptrdiff_t])

# Checks for library functions.
AC_FUNC_ERROR_AT_LINE
AC_FUNC_FORK
AC_FUNC_FSEEKO
AC_FUNC_LSTAT_FOLLOWS_SLASHED_SYMLINK
AC_HEADER_MAJOR
AC_FUNC_MALLOC
AC_FUNC_MKTIME
AC_FUNC_MMAP
AC_FUNC_REALLOC
AC_FUNC_STRNLEN
AC_FUNC_STRTOD
AC_CHECK_FUNCS(...)

AC_OUTPUT()

Since I don't use any Automake macros, I thought that I dind't need
Automake, and so I executed the following:

$ autoheader && autoconf

Everything runs fine, but when trying to execute configure script:

$ ./configure
checking for gcc... gcc
checking whether the C compiler works... yes
checking for C compiler default output file name... a.out
checking for suffix of executables...
checking whether we are cross compiling... no
checking for suffix of object files... o
checking whether we are using the GNU C compiler... yes
checking whether gcc accepts -g... yes
checking for gcc option to accept ISO C89... none needed
checking how to run the C preprocessor... gcc -E
checking for grep that handles long lines and -e... /bin/grep
checking for egrep... /bin/grep -E
checking for ANSI C header files... yes
checking for sys/types.h... yes
checking for sys/stat.h... yes
checking for stdlib.h... yes
checking for string.h... yes
checking for memory.h... yes
checking for strings.h... yes
checking for inttypes.h... yes
checking for stdint.h... yes
checking for unistd.h... yes
checking minix/config.h usability... no
checking minix/config.h presence... no
checking for minix/config.h... no
checking whether it is safe to define __EXTENSIONS__... yes
configure: error: cannot run /bin/bash ./config.sub

Now If I try to run Automake to create the missing files:

$ automake -a
configure.ac: no proper invocation of AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE was found.
configure.ac: You should verify that configure.ac invokes AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE,
configure.ac: that aclocal.m4 is present in the top-level directory,
configure.ac: and that aclocal.m4 was recently regenerated (using aclocal).
configure.ac:21: installing `./config.guess'
configure.ac:21: installing `./config.sub'
configure.ac:74: installing `./install-sh'
BUG.am: `install.sh' is an anachronism; use `install-sh' instead
automake: no `Makefile.am' found for any configure output

It creates the needed files, but exits with status 1. Is there anyway
to generate config.sub without relying on Automake, or is there anyway
to run Automake without it trying to parse Makefile.am?

Thanks, Roger.