autoconf: Programming in M4sh

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1 9 Programming in M4sh
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1 M4sh, pronounced "mash", is aiming at producing portable Bourne shell
1 scripts.  This name was coined by Lars J. Aas, who notes that,
1 according to the Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913):
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1      Mash \Mash\, n.  [Akin to G. meisch, maisch, meische, maische,
1      mash, wash, and prob. to AS. miscian to mix.  See "Mix".]
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1        1. A mass of mixed ingredients reduced to a soft pulpy state by
1           beating or pressure...
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1        2. A mixture of meal or bran and water fed to animals.
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1        3. A mess; trouble.  [Obs.] -Beau. & Fl.
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1    M4sh reserves the M4 macro namespace `^_AS_' for internal use, and
1 the namespace `^AS_' for M4sh macros.  It also reserves the shell and
1 environment variable namespace `^as_', and the here-document delimiter
1 namespace `^_AS[A-Z]' in the output file.  You should not define your
1 own macros or output shell code that conflicts with these namespaces.
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Menu

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· Common Shell Constructs     Portability layer for common shell constructs
· Polymorphic Variables       Support for indirect variable names
· Initialization Macros       Macros to establish a sane shell environment
· File Descriptor Macros      File descriptor macros for input and output
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