automake-1.16: The Two Parts of Install
12.2 The Two Parts of Install
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Automake generates separate ‘install-data’ and ‘install-exec’ rules, in
case the installer is installing on multiple machines that share
directory structure—these targets allow the machine-independent parts to
be installed only once. ‘install-exec’ installs platform-dependent
files, and ‘install-data’ installs platform-independent files. The
‘install’ target depends on both of these targets. While Automake tries
to automatically segregate objects into the correct category, the
‘Makefile.am’ author is, in the end, responsible for making sure this is
done correctly.
Variables using the standard directory prefixes ‘data’, ‘info’,
‘man’, ‘include’, ‘oldinclude’, ‘pkgdata’, or ‘pkginclude’ are installed
by ‘install-data’.
Variables using the standard directory prefixes ‘bin’, ‘sbin’,
‘libexec’, ‘sysconf’, ‘localstate’, ‘lib’, or ‘pkglib’ are installed by
‘install-exec’.
For instance, ‘data_DATA’ files are installed by ‘install-data’,
while ‘bin_PROGRAMS’ files are installed by ‘install-exec’.
Any variable using a user-defined directory prefix with ‘exec’ in the
name (e.g., ‘myexecbin_PROGRAMS’) is installed by ‘install-exec’. All
other user-defined prefixes are installed by ‘install-data’.
Info Catalog
automake-1.16: Basics of Installation
automake-1.16: Install
automake-1.16: Extending Installation