< software , tool > The GNU project 's tool that configures a source code distribution to compile and run on a different platform.
Among open source hackers , a mere running binary of a program is not considered a full release; what's interesting is a source tree that can be built into binaries using standard tools. Since the mid-1990s, autoconf, automake , and libtools have been the standard way to make a distribution portable so that it can be built on multiple operating systems without change.
(2002-09-20)