automake: Nested Packages

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1 2.2.13 Nested Packages
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1 Although nesting packages isn’t something we would recommend to someone
1 who is discovering the Autotools, it is a nice feature worthy of mention
1 in this small advertising tour.
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1    Autoconfiscated packages (that means packages whose build system have
1 been created by Autoconf and friends) can be nested to arbitrary depth.
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1    A typical setup is that package A will distribute one of the
1 libraries it needs in a subdirectory.  This library B is a complete
1 package with its own GNU Build System.  The ‘configure’ script of A will
1 run the ‘configure’ script of B as part of its execution, building and
1 installing A will also build and install B. Generating a distribution
1 for A will also include B.
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1    It is possible to gather several packages like this.  GCC is a heavy
1 user of this feature.  This gives installers a single package to
1 configure, build and install, while it allows developers to work on
1 subpackages independently.
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1    When configuring nested packages, the ‘configure’ options given to
1 the top-level ‘configure’ are passed recursively to nested ‘configure’s.
1 A package that does not understand an option will ignore it, assuming it
1 is meaningful to some other package.
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1    The command ‘configure --help=recursive’ can be used to display the
1 options supported by all the included packages.
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1    ⇒Subpackages, for an example setup.
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