automake-1.16: Headers
9.2 Header files
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Header files that must be installed are specified by the ‘HEADERS’
family of variables. Headers can be installed in ‘includedir’,
‘oldincludedir’, ‘pkgincludedir’ or any other directory you may have
defined (⇒Uniform). For instance,
include_HEADERS = foo.h bar/bar.h
will install the two files as ‘$(includedir)/foo.h’ and
‘$(includedir)/bar.h’.
The ‘nobase_’ prefix is also supported:
nobase_include_HEADERS = foo.h bar/bar.h
will install the two files as ‘$(includedir)/foo.h’ and
‘$(includedir)/bar/bar.h’ (⇒Alternative).
Usually, only header files that accompany installed libraries need to
be installed. Headers used by programs or convenience libraries are not
installed. The ‘noinst_HEADERS’ variable can be used for such headers.
However, when the header belongs to a single convenience library or
program, we recommend listing it in the program’s or library’s
‘_SOURCES’ variable (⇒Program Sources) instead of in
‘noinst_HEADERS’. This is clearer for the ‘Makefile.am’ reader.
‘noinst_HEADERS’ would be the right variable to use in a directory
containing only headers and no associated library or program.
All header files must be listed somewhere; in a ‘_SOURCES’ variable
or in a ‘_HEADERS’ variable. Missing ones will not appear in the
distribution.
For header files that are built and must not be distributed, use the
‘nodist_’ prefix as in ‘nodist_include_HEADERS’ or
‘nodist_prog_SOURCES’. If these generated headers are needed during the
build, you must also ensure they exist before they are used (⇒
Sources).
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