That all seemed like a lot more work than we really needed. In fact, it was a lot more work; we could have simply called
gcc -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I.. -I../m4 main.c freeze.c stackovf.c
temp.c -L`cd ../m4/.libs && pwd` -lm4
which would have given us the same results, quicker than having to produce assembler sources, and then passing these on to the assembler, and so on.
In fact, we cheated from the start. M4 had to be built (so that the
libraries were all in place, produced from the m4/m4 and
m4/ltdl directories). All we did is go in and compile a few
sources and link them with these libraries. A few things to note:
gcc was used directly to build the sources, and
Is there an easier way?
Actually, there is, and it ties in to GNU Make, Autoconf,
Automake and Libtool. GNU Make enables us to place all
the information we need to build sources into neatly modularised
make files. It saves us the hassle of typing in long-winded
commands. Autoconf and automake enable us to configure and manage make
files in a very simple fashion. Libtool makes library creation and
management much simpler as well.