Four years after the last update, the GNU M4 1.4.20 macro processor was released, used as a wrapper for forming the sendmail configuration and generating configure scripts in the Autoconf toolkit. M4 allows dynamically generating text based on templates, passing the input text through itself and substituting the result of executing the macros specified in this text. Both native and ready-made functions can be called from macros, for example, for including files, performing arithmetic operations, manipulating string data, and running system commands.
In the new version:
- The execution of "eval" statements has been noticeably accelerated.
- Compatibility with new C language standards has been ensured.
- Ported fixes from gnulib to address portability issues.
- The "syscmd" and "esyscmd" commands now handle command line expressions that begin with the "+" and "-" symbols.
- Implemented correct activation of binary mode when loading portable files on non-Unix platforms, on which binary files are processed differently than text files (for example, characters at the end of a line are replaced).
Source: opennet.ru
