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Read a version number from a file in configure.ac

I define my project version number in a plain text file instead of configure.ac for some reasons. I would like to create a statement that would read the version number and store it during compilation time.

Right now my configure.ac looks like this:

AC_INIT([my program],[999.9.9])

I would like to have something like:

AC_INIT([my program],[ $(cat VERSION) ])

This wont work of course. What is the trick here? (I know I am loosing some portability - I don't care at the moment). Thanks!

Solution

  • Try:

    AC_INIT([my program], m4_esyscmd([tr -d '\n' < VERSION]))

    Edited with fixes suggested in the comments.

    I was also able to remove the non-portable tr invocation using:

    AC_INIT([my program], [m4_translit(m4_esyscmd([cat VERSION]),m4_newline)])

    which seems to work just as well, as does the solution suggested by Enrico in the comments below:

    AC_INIT([my program], [m4_esyscmd_s([cat VERSION])])