This is the legacy 1.4 version of automake. It is explictly for use with older software packages that are not buildable with the current automake. Automake is an experimental Makefile generator. It was inspired by the 4.4BSD make and include files, but aims to be portable and to conform to the GNU standards for Makefile variables and targets. Automake assumes the project uses autoconf. If you want automatic dependency tracking support, the use of GNU make is also required.