3 The Autodist is a source distribution management system that allows
4 powerful mechanisms to define what is included in and excluded from a
5 distribution, and what license the distribution is released under. It is
6 also used to create the actual distribution source packages. Autodist
7 allows distribution management in file, directory and file content level.
8 Different distributions may include different portions of files, for
9 example, excluding certain features from certain distributions. It is
10 always guaranteed that anything not defined for the distribution, is
11 removed automatically (files, file content, directories), thus ensuring
12 that nothing is accidentally included in the distribution.
14 Autodist is closely related to the Autoconf and Automake tools, and
15 complements the features Autoconf and Automake provides. It is especially
16 targeted into circumstances where multiple distributions are created from
17 one source tree. The Autoconf and Automake environment is mainly designed
18 for one application per one source tree situations. Autodist provides
19 mechanisms to create all kinds of distributions that can be created from
20 one source tree. To be able to use Autodist, the Autoconf and Automake
21 must be installed into the system.
23 The motivation behind Autodist stems from need to be able to create
24 multiple distributions from one large source tree in a precise and
25 controllable manner. The Autoconf and Automake provides mere basic
26 control what is included in and excluded from distributions and how the
27 distributions are created. They also do not provide mechanism to define
28 different licensing conditions for different distributions, or changing
29 the license automatically for different user or customer purposes. Many
30 large software projects, companies and corporations have commonly been
31 using Autoconf and Automake tools, but have had the need to create their
32 own ad-hoc mechanisms to control distribution creation. The Autodist
33 attempts to provide a tool that any size software project or company can
34 effectively use to manage their distributions.
36 Autodist is not a binary packaging system. It is specificly used to
37 create source distributions. A binary packaging system, however can be
38 hooked to the distribution creation process, if needed.
40 Read the INSTALL file on how to install the Autodist. Refer info pages
41 for Autodist documentation by giving 'info autodist'. Mail suggestions
42 and/or patches to autodist@silcnet.org, and bugs to
43 autodist-bugs@silcnet.org. Please, always include the Autodist version
44 number to your email. Give 'autodist --version' to get version.
46 Autodist was originally written for the SILC Project (Secure Internet Live
47 Conferencing), which needed controlled mechanism to create several
48 distinct distributions from one source tree.