Should I use automake/autoconf for distribution of a small ansi C app?

Question

I have a small ANSI C application which compiles cleanly under different tested compilers and platforms. It doesn't use any preprocessor switches or external dependencies and the makefile is simply something like:

myapp: *.c
    gcc *.c -Wall -o myapp

If I want to distribute this project in source form as portable as possible, should I wrap it using automake/autoconf? Will this actually increase portability or is it as portable as it gets as it is?

The only thing I can think is that it will automatically select the systems compiler but it will also add a lot of complexity. Is it worth it?

Answer 1

I doubt it's worth it. ANSI C without any OS-specific calls should be supported on every platform that has a working C compiler and adding automake/autoconf to this makes maintenance probably less pleasant than currently.

You can, however, use the $(CC) variable in your makefile to automatically use the system's compiler:

myapp: *.c
    $(CC) *.c $(CFLAGS) -o myapp

Answer 2

Although you may feel you'll gain little in terms of functionality, you may still wish to consider it for these reasons:

• Using autoconf is a very common way of distributing C code. Consequently, most people should be comfortable with building and installing using that, which makes it easier for the user.
• Once you've put in the effort of getting autoconf working with your project, it will make it substantially easier if and when you do want to make use of some of its additional functionality.

Answer 3

You don't need to specify a compilation rule, thus there is no need in $(CC), $(CFLAGS) and $(LDFLAGS), because make has an implicit rule to make an executable from C source.

Keep your Makefile simple:

all: myapp

myapp: *.c

clean:
    rm -f myapp

.PHONY: all clean

BTW it would be better to specify a list of source files because there is no guarantee that your sources will be the only C files in that directory