Autoconf 2.72 Released With C23 Support, New Year 2038 Safety Option

For those still relying on GNU Autoconf for generating configure scripts for building/installing/packaging software rather than more modern alternatives like CMake and Meson, Autoconf 2.72 is out today as a nice holiday treat.

Autoconf 2.72 is the first new stable release for this GNU project in nearly three years. Autoconf 2.72 brings support for the C23 C programming language standard, a new "--enable-year2038" option for forcing 64-bit time_t type on 32-bit platforms, removing support for pre-1989 C compilers, and a variety of bug fixes.

The new option for ensuring the time_t data type is Year 2038 safe allows for detecting on systems where time_t is a 32-bit signed integer by default and there is an alternative mode that is larger, in that case the larger mode will be enabled with this --enable-year2038 option.

There isn't too much in the way of rapid innovation for Autoconf these days but this time-tested system continues working out well for many projects. Those wanting to learn more about Friday's release of Autoconf 2.72 can do so via the GNU mailing list.