9.2 Header files

Header files that must be installed are specified by the ‘HEADERS’ family of variables. Headers can be installed in includedir, oldincludedir, pkgincludedir or any other directory you may have defined (see The Uniform Naming Scheme). For instance

include_HEADERS = foo.h bar/bar.h

will install the two files as $(includedir)/foo.h and $(includedir)/bar.h.

The ‘nobase_’ prefix is also supported,

nobase_include_HEADERS = foo.h bar/bar.h

will install the two files as $(includedir)/foo.h and $(includedir)/bar/bar.h (see An Alternative Approach to Subdirectories).

Usually, only header files that accompany installed libraries need to be installed. Headers used by programs or convenience libraries are not installed. The noinst_HEADERS variable can be used for such headers. However when the header actually belongs to one convenient library or program, we recommend listing it in the program’s or library’s ‘_SOURCES’ variable (see Defining program sources) instead of in noinst_HEADERS. This is clearer for the Makefile.am reader. noinst_HEADERS would be the right variable to use in a directory containing only headers and no associated library or program.

All header files must be listed somewhere; in a ‘_SOURCES’ variable or in a ‘_HEADERS’ variable. Missing ones will not appear in the distribution.

For header files that are built and must not be distributed, use the ‘nodist_’ prefix as in nodist_include_HEADERS or nodist_prog_SOURCES. If these generated headers are needed during the build, you must also ensure they exist before they are used, see See Built sources.