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AUTORECONF
Section: User Commands (1)Updated: March 2026
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NAME
autoreconf - Update generated configuration filesSYNOPSIS
autoreconf [,OPTION/]... [,DIRECTORY/]...DESCRIPTION
Run 'autoconf' and, when needed, 'aclocal', 'autoheader', 'automake', 'autopoint' (formerly 'gettextize'), 'libtoolize', 'intltoolize', and 'gtkdocize' to regenerate the GNU Build System files in specified DIRECTORIES and their subdirectories (defaulting to '.').By default, it only remakes those files that are older than their sources. If you install new versions of the GNU Build System, you can make 'autoreconf' remake all of the files by giving it the '--force' option.
Operation modes:
- -h, --help
- print this help, then exit
- -V, --version
- print version number, then exit
- -v, --verbose
- verbosely report processing
- -d, --debug
- don't remove temporary files
- -f, --force
- consider all generated and standard files obsolete
- -R, --replace-handwritten
- replace files that *could* be generated but appear to have been written by hand (only config.h.in at present)
- -i, --install
- copy missing standard auxiliary files
- --no-recursive
- don't rebuild sub-packages
- -s, --symlink
- with -i, install symbolic links instead of copies
- -x, --exclude=,CMDS/
- don't run any of the commands in CMDS (comma-separated list)
- -m, --make
- when applicable, re-run ./configure && make
- -W, --warnings=,CATEGORY/
- report the warnings falling in CATEGORY (comma-separated list accepted)
Warning categories are:
- cross
- cross compilation issues
- gnu
- GNU coding standards (default in gnu and gnits modes)
- obsolete
- obsolete features or constructions (default)
- override
- user redefinitions of Automake rules or variables
- portability
- portability issues (default in gnu and gnits modes)
- portability-recursive
- nested Make variables (default with -Wportability)
- extra-portability
- extra portability issues related to obscure tools
- syntax
- dubious syntactic constructs (default)
- unsupported
- unsupported or incomplete features (default)
-W also understands:
- all
- turn on all the warnings
- none
- turn off all the warnings
- no-CATEGORY
- turn off warnings in CATEGORY
- error
- treat all enabled warnings as errors
Library directories:
- -B, --prepend-include=,DIR/
- prepend directory DIR to search path
- -I, --include=,DIR/
- append directory DIR to search path
The environment variables AUTOCONF, ACLOCAL, AUTOHEADER, AUTOM4TE, AUTOMAKE, AUTOPOINT, GTKDOCIZE, INTLTOOLIZE, LIBTOOLIZE, M4, MAKE, and WARNINGS are honored.
AUTHOR
Written by David J. MacKenzie and Akim Demaille.REPORTING BUGS
Report bugs to or via Savannah:COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2026 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+/Autoconf: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>, <https://gnu.org/licenses/exceptions.html>This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
SEE ALSO
autoconf(1), automake(1), autoreconf(1), autoupdate(1), autoheader(1), autoscan(1), config.guess(1), config.sub(1), ifnames(1), libtool(1).The full documentation for Autoconf is maintained as a Texinfo manual. To read the manual locally, use the command
- info autoconf
You can also consult the Web version of the manual at