Re: autom4te.cache?

[Stepan Kasal]

Hello,

On Sat, Aug 05, 2006 at 03:13:22PM +0100, Paulo J. Matos wrote:
> I'm getting a directory autom4te.cache in my tree with big files in

this is a cache produces by autom4te, the workhorse behind autoconf
and aclocal.  The usual solution is to ignore it, and add it to
.cvsignore

Some people do not like the cache, and suggest that you switch it off
by adding --no-cache to ~/.autom4te.cfg

Quoting from `info autom4te':

|    As another additional feature over `m4', `autom4te' caches its
| results.  GNU M4 is able to produce a regular output and traces at the
| same time.  Traces are heavily used in the GNU Build System:
| `autoheader' uses them to build `config.h.in', `autoreconf' to
| determine what GNU Build System components are used, `automake' to
| "parse" `configure.ac' etc.  To save the long runs of `m4', traces are
| cached while performing regular expansion, and conversely.  This cache
| is (actually, the caches are) stored in the directory `autom4te.cache'.
| _It can safely be removed_ at any moment (especially if for some
| reason `autom4te' considers it is trashed).
| 
| `--cache=DIRECTORY'
| `-C DIRECTORY'
|      Specify the name of the directory where the result should be
|      cached.  Passing an empty value disables caching.  Be sure to pass
|      a relative file name, as for the time being, global caches are not
|      supported.
| 
| `--no-cache'
|      Don't cache the results.
| 
| `--force'
| `-f'
|      If a cache is used, consider it obsolete (but update it anyway).

BTW, autom4te is part of the Autoconf, so if you have more questions,
please direct them to address@hidden

Have a nice day,
        Stepan