Thread: How to make tarball (.tgz) for app?

Originally Posted by Marcux

Hi brewbuck!
Please breaf me in!
So I do not need the configure script?
It is generated by autoconfig, how does it work, what does autoconfig generate?
I am about to finish a terminal program with no dependencies of other apps.
The way I have understood it I need a confígure script when I have dependencies of other apps, like for instance if I need a SQL-server I specify it in a configure script, am I right?
How do I write my makefile file? What is needed in it? Please point me in the right direction!

Many, many thanks for all the help!!

the configure executable is just for the makefiles to know where the libraries are located, if certain libraries are even installed, where to install the program, what features to include / exclude, etc... You don't need it, but if you're looking to distribute your code to others, you might want to look into a program that automatically configures the makefiles and stuff.

as for makefiles, they are pretty much standard gnu stuff. you can look into them here. all they do is automate the compiling process, including linking, removing old object files, installing files, etc..

You technically don't need either makefiles or autoconfigurations, but there's nothing bad about `make` that i can think of and it makes your life as a developer a hell of a lot easier. autoconf on the other hand... well, only use it if you have to.