ax_set_version_info

This macro is the successor of AC_SET_RELEASEINFO_VERSIONINFO but it can be used in parallel because it uses all different variables.

check the $VERSION number and cut the two last digit-sequences off which will form a -version-info in a @VERSION_INFO@ ac_subst while the rest is going to the -release name in a @RELEASE_INFO@ ac_subst.

you should keep these two seperate - the release-name may contain alpha-characters and can be modified later with extra release-hints e.g. RELEASE_INFO="$RELEASE_INFO-debug" for a debug version of your lib. The $VERSION_INFO however should not be touched.

example: a VERSION="2.4.18" will be transformed into
    RELEASE_INFO = -release 2
    VERSION_INFO = -versioninfo 4:18
then use these two variables and push them to your libtool linker
    libtest_la_LIBADD = @RELEASE_INFO@ @VERSION_INFO@
and for a linux-target this will tell libtool to install the lib as
           libmy.so libmy.la libmy.a libmy-2.so.4 libmy-2.so.4.0.18
and executables will get link-resolve-infos for libmy-2.so.4 - therefore the patch-level is ignored during ldso linking, and ldso will use the one with the highest patchlevel. Using just "-release $(VERSION)" during libtool-linking would not do that - omitting the -version-info will libtool install libmy.so libmy.la libmy.a libmy-2.4.18.so and executables would get hardlinked with the 2.4.18 version of your lib.

This background does also explain the default dll name for a win32 target : libtool will choose to make up libmy-2-4.dll for this version spec.

this macro does also set the usual three parts of a version spec $MAJOR_VERSION.$MINOR_VERSION.$MICRO_VERSION but does not ac_subst for the plain AX_SET_VERSION_INFO macro. Use instead one of the numbered macros AX_SET_VERSION_INFO1 (use first number for release part) or that AX_SET_VERSION_INFO2 (use the first two numbers for release part).

You may add sublevel parts like "1.4.2-ac5" where the sublevel is just killed from these version/release substvars. That allows to grab the version off a .spec file like with AX_SPEC_PACKAGE_VERSION where the $VERSION is used to name a tarball or distpack like mylib-2.2.9pre4

Unlike earlier macros, you can use this one to break up different VERSIONs and put them into different variables, just hint with PREFIX-setting - i.e. _VERSION(2.4.5,TEST) will set variables named TEST_MAJOR_VERSION=2... and of course $TEST_RELEASE_INFO etc. (for the moment, it needs to be a literal prefix *sigh*)

AC_DEFUN([AX_SET_VERSION_INFO1],[dnl
AS_VAR_PUSHDEF([MAJOR],ifelse($2,,[MAJOR_VERSION],[$2_MAJOR_VERSION]))dnl
AS_VAR_PUSHDEF([MINOR],ifelse($2,,[MINOR_VERSION],[$2_MINOR_VERSION]))dnl
AS_VAR_PUSHDEF([MICRO],ifelse($2,,[MICRO_VERSION],[$2_MICRO_VERSION]))dnl
AS_VAR_PUSHDEF([PATCH],ifelse($2,,[PATCH_VERSION],[$2_PATCH_VERSION]))dnl
AS_VAR_PUSHDEF([LTREL],ifelse($2,,[RELEASE_INFO],[$2_RELEASE_INFO]))dnl
AS_VAR_PUSHDEF([LTVER],ifelse($2,,[VERSION_INFO],[$2_VERSION_INFO]))dnl
test ".$PACKAGE_VERSION" = "." && PACKAGE_VERSION="$VERSION"
AC_MSG_CHECKING(ifelse($2,,,[$2 ])out linker version info dnl
ifelse($1,,$PACKAGE_VERSION,$1) )
  MINOR=`echo ifelse( $1, , $PACKAGE_VERSION, $1 )`
  MAJOR=`echo "$MINOR" | sed -e 's/[[.]].*//'` 
  MINOR=`echo "$MINOR" | sed -e "s/^$MAJOR//" -e 's/^.//'` 
  MICRO="$MINOR"
  MINOR=`echo "$MICRO" | sed -e 's/[[.]].*//'`
  MICRO=`echo "$MICRO" | sed -e "s/^$MINOR//" -e 's/^.//'`
  PATCH="$MICRO"
  MICRO=`echo "$PATCH" | sed -e 's/[[^0-9]].*//'` 
  PATCH=`echo "$PATCH" | sed -e "s/^$MICRO//" -e 's/^[[-.]]//'`
  if test "_$MICRO" = "_" ; then MICRO="0" ; fi
  if test "_$MINOR" = "_" ; then MINOR="$MAJOR" ; MAJOR="0" ; fi
  MINOR=`echo "$MINOR" | sed -e 's/[[^0-9]].*//'`
  LTREL="-release $MAJOR"
  LTVER="-version-info $MINOR:$MICRO"
AC_MSG_RESULT([/$MAJOR/$MINOR:$MICRO (-$MAJOR.so.$MINOR.0.$MICRO)])
AC_SUBST(MAJOR)
AC_SUBST(MINOR)
AC_SUBST(MICRO)
AC_SUBST(PATCH)
AC_SUBST(LTREL)
AC_SUBST(LTVER)
AS_VAR_POPDEF([LTVER])dnl
AS_VAR_POPDEF([LTREL])dnl
AS_VAR_POPDEF([PATCH])dnl
AS_VAR_POPDEF([MICRO])dnl
AS_VAR_POPDEF([MINOR])dnl
AS_VAR_POPDEF([MAJOR])dnl
])

AC_DEFUN([AX_SET_VERSION_INFO2],[dnl
AS_VAR_PUSHDEF([MAJOR],ifelse($2,,[MAJOR_VERSION],[$2_MAJOR_VERSION]))dnl
AS_VAR_PUSHDEF([MINOR],ifelse($2,,[MINOR_VERSION],[$2_MINOR_VERSION]))dnl
AS_VAR_PUSHDEF([MICRO],ifelse($2,,[MICRO_VERSION],[$2_MICRO_VERSION]))dnl
AS_VAR_PUSHDEF([PATCH],ifelse($2,,[PATCH_VERSION],[$2_PATCH_VERSION]))dnl
AS_VAR_PUSHDEF([LTREL],ifelse($2,,[RELEASE_INFO],[$2_RELEASE_INFO]))dnl
AS_VAR_PUSHDEF([LTVER],ifelse($2,,[VERSION_INFO],[$2_VERSION_INFO]))dnl
test ".$PACKAGE_VERSION" = "." && PACKAGE_VERSION="$VERSION"
AC_MSG_CHECKING(ifelse($2,,,[$2 ])out linker version info dnl
ifelse($1,,$PACKAGE_VERSION,$1) )
  MINOR=`echo ifelse( $1, , $PACKAGE_VERSION, $1 )`
  MAJOR=`echo "$MINOR" | sed -e 's/[[.]].*//'` 
  MINOR=`echo "$MINOR" | sed -e "s/^$MAJOR//" -e 's/^.//'` 
  MICRO="$MINOR"
  MINOR=`echo "$MICRO" | sed -e 's/[[.]].*//'`
  MICRO=`echo "$MICRO" | sed -e "s/^$MINOR//" -e 's/^.//'`
  PATCH="$MICRO"
  MICRO=`echo "$PATCH" | sed -e 's/[[^0-9]].*//'` 
  PATCH=`echo "$PATCH" | sed -e "s/^$MICRO//" -e 's/^[[-.]]//'`
  test "_$MICRO" != "_" || MICRO="0"
  if test "_$MINOR" != "_" ; then MINOR="$MAJOR" ; MAJOR="0" ; fi
  MINOR=`echo "$MINOR" | sed -e 's/[[^0-9]].*//'`
  LTREL="-release $MAJOR.$MINOR"
  LTVER="-version-info 0:$MICRO"
AC_MSG_RESULT([/$MAJOR/$MINOR:$MICRO (-$MAJOR.so.$MINOR.0.$MICRO)])
AC_SUBST(MAJOR)
AC_SUBST(MINOR)
AC_SUBST(MICRO)
AC_SUBST(PATCH)
AC_SUBST(LTREL)
AC_SUBST(LTVER)
AS_VAR_POPDEF([LTVER])dnl
AS_VAR_POPDEF([LTREL])dnl
AS_VAR_POPDEF([PATCH])dnl
AS_VAR_POPDEF([MICRO])dnl
AS_VAR_POPDEF([MINOR])dnl
AS_VAR_POPDEF([MAJOR])dnl
])

AC_DEFUN([AX_SET_VERSION_INFO],[dnl
AS_VAR_PUSHDEF([MAJOR],ifelse($2,,[MAJOR_VERSION],[$2_MAJOR_VERSION]))dnl
AS_VAR_PUSHDEF([MINOR],ifelse($2,,[MINOR_VERSION],[$2_MINOR_VERSION]))dnl
AS_VAR_PUSHDEF([MICRO],ifelse($2,,[MICRO_VERSION],[$2_MICRO_VERSION]))dnl
AS_VAR_PUSHDEF([PATCH],ifelse($2,,[PATCH_VERSION],[$2_PATCH_VERSION]))dnl
AS_VAR_PUSHDEF([LTREL],ifelse($2,,[RELEASE_INFO],[$2_RELEASE_INFO]))dnl
AS_VAR_PUSHDEF([LTVER],ifelse($2,,[VERSION_INFO],[$2_VERSION_INFO]))dnl
test ".$PACKAGE_VERSION" = "." && PACKAGE_VERSION="$VERSION"
AC_MSG_CHECKING(ifelse($2,,,[$2 ])out linker version info dnl
ifelse($1,,$PACKAGE_VERSION,$1) )
  MINOR=`echo ifelse( $1, , $PACKAGE_VERSION, $1 )`
  MAJOR=`echo "$MINOR" | sed -e 's/[[.]].*//'` 
  MINOR=`echo "$MINOR" | sed -e "s/^$MAJOR//" -e 's/^.//'` 
  MICRO="$MINOR"
  MINOR=`echo "$MICRO" | sed -e 's/[[.]].*//'`
  MICRO=`echo "$MICRO" | sed -e "s/^$MINOR//" -e 's/^.//'`
  PATCH="$MICRO"
  MICRO=`echo "$PATCH" | sed -e 's/[[^0-9]].*//'` 
  PATCH=`echo "$PATCH" | sed -e "s/^$MICRO//" -e 's/[[-.]]//'`
  if test "_$MICRO" = "_" ; then MICRO="0" ; fi
  if test "_$MINOR" = "_" ; then MINOR="$MAJOR" ; MAJOR="0" ; fi
  MINOR=`echo "$MINOR" | sed -e 's/[[^0-9]].*//'`
  LTREL="-release $MAJOR"
  LTVER="-version-info $MINOR:$MICRO"
AC_MSG_RESULT([/$MAJOR/$MINOR:$MICRO (-$MAJOR.so.$MINOR.0.$MICRO)])
AC_SUBST(LTREL)
AC_SUBST(LTVER)
AS_VAR_POPDEF([LTVER])dnl
AS_VAR_POPDEF([LTREL])dnl
AS_VAR_POPDEF([PATCH])dnl
AS_VAR_POPDEF([MICRO])dnl
AS_VAR_POPDEF([MINOR])dnl
AS_VAR_POPDEF([MAJOR])dnl
])