xpack-dev-tools
The xPack GNU M4
A standalone cross-platform (macOS/Linux) GNU M4 binary distribution, intended for reproducible builds.
The main target is Ubuntu 18, whose older version of this utility fails some builds.
In addition to the the binary archives and the package meta data, this project also includes the build scripts.
Overview
This open source project is hosted on GitHub as
xpack-dev-tools/m4-xpack
and provides the platform specific binaries for the
xPack GNU M4.
This distribution follows the official GNU M4 releases.
The binaries can be installed automatically as binary xPacks or manually as portable archives.
Release schedule
This distribution is generally one minor release behind the upstream releases. In practical terms, when the minor release number changes, it awaits a few more weeks to get the latest patch release.
User info
This section is intended as a shortcut for those who plan to use the GNU M4 binaries. For full details please read the xPack GNU M4 pages.
Easy install
The easiest way to install GNU M4 is using the binary xPack, available as
@xpack-dev-tools/m4
from the npmjs.com registry.
Prerequisites
A recent xpm, which is a portable Node.js command line application that complements npm with several extra features specific to C/C++ projects.
It is recommended to install/update to the latest version with:
npm install --location=global xpm@latestFor details please follow the instructions in the xPack install page.
Install
With the xpm tool available, installing
the latest version of the package and adding it as
a development dependency for a project is quite easy:
cd my-project
xpm init # Add a package.json if not already present
xpm install @xpack-dev-tools/m4@latest --verbose
ls -l xpacks/.binThis command will:
- install the latest available version, into the central xPacks store, if not already there
- add symbolic links to the central store
(or
.cmdforwarders on Windows) into the localxpacks/.binfolder.
The central xPacks store is a platform dependent
location in the home folder;
check the output of the xpm command for the actual
folder used on your platform.
This location is configurable via the environment variable
XPACKS_STORE_FOLDER; for more details please check the
xpm folders page.
It is also possible to install GNU M4 globally, in the user home folder:
xpm install --global @xpack-dev-tools/m4@latest --verboseAfter install, the package should create a structure like this (macOS files; only the first two depth levels are shown):
$ tree -L 2 /Users/ilg/Library/xPacks/\@xpack-dev-tools/m4/1.4.19-3.1/.content/
/Users/ilg/Library/xPacks/\@xpack-dev-tools/m4/1.4.19-3.1/.content/
├── README.md
├── bin
│ ├── gm4 -> m4
│ └── m4
├── distro-info
│ ├── CHANGELOG.md
│ ├── licenses
│ └── scripts
├── libexec
│ └── libiconv.2.dylib
└── share
└── info
8 directories, 5 filesNo other files are installed in any system folders or other locations.
Uninstall
The binaries are distributed as portable archives; thus they do not need to run a setup and do not require an uninstall; simply removing the folder is enough.
To remove the links created by xpm in the current project:
cd my-project
xpm uninstall @xpack-dev-tools/m4To completely remove the package from the central xPack store:
xpm uninstall --global @xpack-dev-tools/m4Manual install
For all platforms, the xPack GNU M4 binaries are released as portable archives that can be installed in any location.
The archives can be downloaded from the GitHub Releases page.
For more details please read the Install page.
Versioning
The version strings used by the GNU M4 project are two number strings
like 9.1, extended to 1.4.19 to look like semver;
to this string the xPack distribution adds a four number,
but since semver allows only three numbers, all additional ones can
be added only as pre-release strings, separated by a dash,
like 1.4.19-3. When published as a npm package, the version gets
a fifth number, like 1.4.19-3.1.
Since adherence of third party packages to semver is not guaranteed,
it is recommended to use semver expressions like ^1.4.19 and ~1.4.19
with caution, and prefer exact matches, like 1.4.19-3.1.
Maintainer info
For maintainer info, please see the README-MAINTAINER.
Support
The quick advice for getting support is to use the GitHub Discussions.
For more details please read the Support page.
License
Unless otherwise stated, the content is released under the terms of the MIT License, with all rights reserved to Liviu Ionescu.
The binary distributions include several open-source components; the
corresponding licenses are available in the installed
distro-info/licenses folder.
Download analytics
- GitHub
xpack-dev-tools/m4-xpackrepo- latest xPack release
- all xPack releases
- individual file counters (grouped per release)
- latest xPack release
- npmjs.com
@xpack-dev-tools/m4xPack- latest release, per month
- all releases
- latest release, per month
Credit to Shields IO for the badges and to Somsubhra/github-release-stats for the individual file counters.