m4 - Macro processor ChangeLog

HOWTO


# GNU m4 1.4.20
# =============
# Slackware 14.0: m4 1.4.16
# Slackware 14.1, 14.2: m4 1.4.17
# Slackware 15.0: 1.4.19

# [M4-announce] m4-1.4.20 released [stable]
# Gitweb m4
# Savannah - GNU M4
# M4 documentation

# If you have any issues downloading it as done below, here are
# alternate options:
# http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/patch/ (automatic redirect)
# https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/patch/
# http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/patch/
# https://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html (GNU mirror list)
# https://cgit.git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/m4.git/snapshot/m4-1.4.20.tar.gz

# Get the tarball
cd
test -f installed/m4-1.4.20.tar.xz && mv installed/m4-1.4.20.tar.xz .
test ! -f m4-1.4.20.tar.xz &&
wget http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/m4/m4-1.4.20.tar.xz

# Verify tarball w/ sha256sum:
# (this came from the m4 release announcement and my gpg-verified tarball)
echo "e236ea3a1ccf5f6c270b1c4bb60726f371fa49459a8eaaebc90b216b328daf\
2b  m4-1.4.20.tar.xz" | sha256sum -c

# Verify tarball w/ gpg:
( gpg --list-keys 2527436A > /dev/null 2>&1 || gpg --recv-keys 2527436A ) &&
wget -nc http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/m4/m4-1.4.20.tar.xz.sig &&
  gpg --verify m4-1.4.20.tar.xz.sig && rm m4-1.4.20.tar.xz.sig

# Extract the source
mkdir -p -m 0700 ~/src
cd ~/src
find -maxdepth 1 -type d -name "m4-*" -exec rm -r {} \;
tar xJvf ~/m4-1.4.20.tar.xz
cd m4-1.4.20
test $UID = 0 && chown -R root:root .

# Read ./README and ./INSTALL
# If upgrading, also ./NEWS and/or ./ChangeLog

# If you will only be using m4 in English and want to save the extra space
# used by translations, add --disable-nls

# Configure the build
./configure --prefix=/usr --infodir=/usr/info --mandir=/usr/man

# Build it
make

# Test the build
make check

# Become root to install it
su

# Remove the Slackware package, if there is one
test -x /sbin/removepkg && /sbin/removepkg m4

# Remove files from old versions that still have ansi2knr
rm -f /usr/bin/ansi2knr /usr/man/man1/ansi2knr.1 \
/usr/share/man/man1/ansi2knr.1

# Install the new version
make install

# Become your non-root user again
exit

# Save the source for later
cd
mkdir -p -m 0700 installed
rm -f installed/m4-*.tar.*
mv m4-1.4.20.tar.xz installed/


# If you ever want to uninstall m4, this should do it:
cd
su
test -d src/m4-* && ( cd src/m4-* ; make uninstall )
find /usr/share/locale/*/LC_MESSAGES/ -type f -name m4.mo -exec rm {} \;
test -d /usr/share/m4 && rm -r /usr/share/m4
rm -f /usr/bin/m4 /usr/info/m4.info /usr/man/man1/m4.1 \
/usr/share/info/m4.info /usr/share/man/man1/m4.1
exit
find ~/src -maxdepth 1 -type d -name "m4-*" -exec rm -r {} \;
rm -f ~/installed/m4-*.tar.*

List of HOWTOs

Web page itself last updated: 2025-07-04 6:23pm (EDT -0400)
HOWTO last updated: 2025-07-05 7:26pm
Copyright © 2001-2025 Jason Englander. All Rights reserved.
[HTML5]