Autoconf/Autoheader - how to check for aRts library

[Richard Wild]

Hi all,

I have been trying to use Autoconf to generate a configure script for my 
little project. I have been mostly successful, but there remains one 
thing that I haven't worked out yet. The problem will be best 
illustrated if I post the Makefile.in file:

<quote>
CC=@CC@
INSTALL=@INSTALL@
CFLAGS=@CFLAGS@ `artsc-config --cflags`
LDFLAGS=@LDFLAGS@
CLIBS=@LIBS@ `artsc-config --libs`
INSTALLDIR=@prefix@

arctracker: arctracker.o initialise.o read_mod.o play_mod.o
        $(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS) $(CLIBS) -o arctracker arctracker.o 
initialise.o read_mod.o play_mod.o

arctracker.o: arctracker.h arctracker.c
        $(CC) $(CFLAGS) -c arctracker.c

initialise.o: arctracker.h initialise.c
        $(CC) $(CFLAGS) -c initialise.c

read_mod.o: arctracker.h read_mod.c
        $(CC) $(CFLAGS) -c read_mod.c

play_mod.o: arctracker.h log_lin_tab.h play_mod.c
        $(CC) $(CFLAGS) -c play_mod.c

clean:
        rm -f ./arctracker ./*.o 2>/dev/null

install: arctracker
        $(INSTALL) ./arctracker $(INSTALLDIR)/bin/arctracker

uninstall:
        rm -f /usr/local/bin/arctracker 2>/dev/null
</quote>

Please notice that I use "artsc-config --cflags" and "artsc-config 
--libs" to get the compiler switches for the aRts library. I think that 
this is necessary since the aRts library and header file are installed 
in unusual places.

There are two problems. Firstly, I only want to include those calls to 
artsc-config IF the aRts library is installed, otherwise the 
artsc-config program won't exist and the compile will fail, defeating 
the point of the configure script in the first place.  I want to build 
the application so that if aRts is not installed, the application will 
still compile but with the aRts output features left out.

Secondly, the configure script currently always thinks that aRts is not 
present, so it always builds the application with the aRts features 
disabled. This is again because the library is installed in a strange 
place. How do I get the configure script to look in the paths given by 
artsc-config?

Thanks.