How is README.in used in autotools?

Question

I'm using acmkdir to initialize a new project and it created a README.in file and a README file.

Is README.in actually used by something to create the README? If not, what is its purpose? I'm hoping to understand all of the files created by acmkdir and these have me stumped.

Answer 1

The README.in file is the "souce file" for your README. On make your README.in will be processed for variables like @VERSION@ and the proper values for your build will be inserted.

You can see an example here.