handling application data question

[Joey Runyans]

Hello,

I am quite new to the autotools and need help, not sure if this is an
autoconf or automake or something else question.

How does one handle application data with the autotools system?

More specifically, I have a test project with the following structure

test4
| - configure.ac
| - Makefile.am
+ src
| - Makefile.am
| - test4.cpp
| - ConfigPrefs.cpp
| - ConfigPrefs.h
+ config
| - test4.prefs

The folder also has all the other basic autotools stuff in it and
'autoreconf -i' was executed at the top level, I'm just leaving all that
stuff out for brevity. Obviously, the test4 app is suppose to read the
prefs file for runtime configurable options like background color and the
like.

I've got a basic configure.ac file with the following entries, which was
generated from 'autoscan' and renamed.

AC_PREREQ(2.59)
AC_INIT(test4, 0.1)

AC_CANONICAL_SYSTEM
AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE()

AC_PROG_CXX

AC_CONFIG_FILES(Makefile
src/Makefile)

AC_OUTPUT


The top level Makefile.am file is simply

SUBDIRS=src

and the src/Makefile.am is simply

bin_PROGRAMS = test4
test4_SOURCES = test4.cpp ConfigPrefs.cpp

in-source compilation and execution works fine, but how do I get an
out-of-source build to work? Well, it will build fine, but test execution
will generate a "Preference file not found" message because the config file
isn't being copied into the build directory. I would think this to be a
common thing, but I'm not finding the right help and/or not understanding
the help I am finding.

You advice and direction is appreciated.

[Peter Johansson]

Post by Joey Runyans
in-source compilation and execution works fine, but how do I get an
out-of-source build to work? Well, it will build fine, but test execution
will generate a "Preference file not found" message because the config file
isn't being copied into the build directory. I would think this to be a
common thing, but I'm not finding the right help and/or not understanding
the help I am finding.

Please don't cross-post. Maintainers will point you to automake list if
it's more of an automake question.

AC_CONFIG_LINKS mifght be useful for you
http://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf/manual/autoconf.html#Configuration-Links

Cheers,