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Asked: 2026-06-08T10:41:29+00:00

In Makefile.in I see variable definition where an external variable name is enclosed between

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In Makefile.in I see variable definition where an external variable name is enclosed between two @ symbols

# @configure_input@

package = @PACKAGE_NAME@

Where those external variables come from? Also, I couldn’t find in GNU manual what does exactly enclosing a variable between two @ symbols mean? Is it something specific to Makefile.in?

Thank you.

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    It’s an autoconf thing.

    When ./configure finishes running, it generates and executes a file called config.status, which is a shell script that has the final value of the variable substitutions (anything declared with AC_SUBST).

    Anything that is declared in AC_CONFIG_FILES is processed by config.status, usually by turning foo.in into foo.

    When automake processes Makefile.am into Makefile.in, any AC_SUBST variable is automatically made available (using a declaration like FOO = @FOO@), unless it’s suppressed by a call to AM_SUBST_NOTMAKE.

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