GNU Automake

Free plan

What the maker publishes

Autoconf requirement

Automake requires projects to use GNU Autoconf. source

Distribution archives

Automake can generate gzipped tar files and other archive formats for distribution. source

Download channels

Stable releases are available from the GNU download server and mirrors, while development sources are available through Git on Savannah. source

Integrations

Automake works with Autoconf and documents building shared libraries using GNU Libtool. source

Intended users

Automake is intended to reduce Makefile maintenance for GNU package maintainers. source

Maintenance

The project page identifies Jim Meyering as Automake's maintainer and says new volunteers are needed. source

Notable constraint

Automake imposes project constraints, including assumptions about Autoconf use and restrictions on configure.ac contents. source

Perl requirement

Automake requires Perl to generate Makefile.in files, but the resulting distributions do not require Perl to build. source

Programs and libraries

Automake provides functionality for building programs, libraries, and shared libraries. source

Purpose

GNU Automake generates GNU Coding Standards compliant Makefile.in files from Makefile.am templates. source

Security notice

The GNU Automake page says versions 1.12.2 and 1.11.6 fix CVE-2012-3386 in make distcheck rules. source

Support

Automake provides public mailing lists for discussion, patches, and bug reports. source

Testing

Automake supports DejaGnu and generic script based test suites, including concurrent execution, TAP, and custom test drivers and runners. source

Checked against the maker's pages on 11 Oct 2026.