Autotools improved

reference/conanfile/tools/cmake.rst

@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ conan.tools.cmake
 
 .. toctree::
    :maxdepth: 2
+
    cmake/cmakedeps
    cmake/cmaketoolchain
    cmake/cmake

reference/conanfile/tools/gnu.rst

@@ -9,5 +9,4 @@ conan.tools.gnu
 
    gnu/autotoolsdeps
    gnu/autotoolstoolchain
-   gnu/autotoolsgen
    gnu/autotools

reference/conanfile/tools/gnu/autotools.rst

@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+.. _conan_tools_gnu_build_helper:
+
 Autotools
 =========
 
@@ -24,7 +26,45 @@ The ``Autotools`` helper can be used like:
             autotools.configure()
             autotools.make()
 
+It will read the ``conanbuild.json`` file generated by the :ref:`AutotoolsToolchain<conan_tools_gnu_autotools_toolchain>`
+to know read the arguments for calling the configure and make scripts:
+
+- **configure_args**: Arguments to call the ``configure`` script.
+- **make_args**: Arguments to call the ``make`` script.
+
+
+Methods
+-------
+
+configure()
++++++++++++
+
+.. code-block:: python
+
+    def configure(self)
+
+Call the configure script.
+
+
+make()
+++++++
+
+.. code-block:: python
+
+    def make(self, target=None)
+
+Call the make program.
+
+Parameters:
+    - **target** (Optional, Defaulted to ``None``): Choose which target to build. This allows building of e.g., docs, shared libraries or
+      install for some AutoTools projects.
+
+
+install()
++++++++++
+
+.. code-block:: python
+
+    def install(self)
 
-The current support is limited:
-- It does not support cross-building or --target, --host, --build definitions
-- It does not handle install functionality
+This is just an "alias" of ``self.make(target="install")``

reference/conanfile/tools/gnu/autotoolsdeps.rst

@@ -50,3 +50,9 @@ This generator will define aggregated variables ``CPPFLAGS``, ``LIBS``, ``LDFLAG
 accumulate all dependencies information, including transitive dependencies, with flags like ``-I<path>``, ``-L<path>``, etc.
 
 At this moment, only the ``requires`` information is generated, the ``build_requires`` one is not managed by this generator yet.
+
+
+Attributes
+++++++++++
+
+At this moment, it is pending to expose attributes to let the user modify the behavior before calling ``generate()``

reference/conanfile/tools/gnu/autotoolstoolchain.rst

@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+.. _conan_tools_gnu_autotools_toolchain:
+
 AutotoolsToolchain
 ==================
 
@@ -9,7 +11,7 @@ AutotoolsToolchain
 The ``AutotoolsToolchain`` is the toolchain generator for Autotools. It will generate shell scripts containing
 environment variable definitions that the autotools build system can understand.
 
-The ``AutotooAutotoolsToolchainlsDeps`` generator can be used by name in conanfiles:
+The ``AutotooAutotoolsToolchain`` generator can be used by name in conanfiles:
 
 .. code-block:: python
     :caption: conanfile.py
@@ -48,3 +50,57 @@ The ``AutotoolsToolchain`` will generate after a ``conan install`` command the *
 
 This generator will define aggregated variables ``CPPFLAGS``, ``LDFLAGS``, ``CXXFLAGS``, ``CFLAGS`` that
 accumulate all dependencies information, including transitive dependencies, with flags like ``-stdlib=libstdc++``, ``-std=gnu14``, architecture flags, etc.
+
+This generator will also generate a file called ``conanbuild.json`` containing two keys:
+
+- **configure_args**: Arguments to call the ``configure`` script.
+- **make_args**: Arguments to call the ``make`` script.
+
+The :ref:`Autotools build helper<conan_tools_gnu_build_helper>` will use that ``conanbuild.json`` file to seamlessly call
+the configure and make script using these precalculated arguments.
+
+Attributes
+++++++++++
+
+You can change some attributes before calling the ``generate()`` method if you want to change some of the precalculated
+values:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+    from conans import ConanFile
+    from conan.tools.gnu import AutotoolsToolchain
+
+    class App(ConanFile):
+        settings = "os", "arch", "compiler", "build_type"
+
+        def generate(self):
+            tc = AutotoolsToolchain(self)
+            tc.configure_args.append("--my_argument")
+            tc.generate()
+
+
+* **configure_args** (Defaulted to ``[]``): Additional arguments to be passed to the configure script.
+* **make_args** (Defaulted to ``[]``): Additional arguments to be passed to he make script.
+* **defines** (Defaulted to ``[]``): Additional defines.
+* **cxxflags** (Defaulted to ``[]``): Additional cxxflags.
+* **cflags** (Defaulted to ``[]``): Additional cflags.
+* **ldflags** (Defaulted to ``[]``): Additional ldflags.
+* **default_configure_install_args** (Defaulted to ``False``): If True it will pass automatically the following flags to the configure script:
+
+   * ``--prefix``: With the self.package_folder value.
+   * ``--bindir=${prefix}/bin``
+   * ``--sbindir=${prefix}/bin``
+   * ``--libdir=${prefix}/lib``
+   * ``--includedir=${prefix}/include``
+   * ``--oldincludedir=${prefix}/includev``
+   * ``--datarootdir=${prefix}/share``
+
+* **ndebug**: "NDEBUG" if the ``settings.build_type`` != `Debug`.
+* **gcc_cxx11_abi**: "_GLIBCXX_USE_CXX11_ABI" if ``gcc/libstdc++``.
+* **libcxx**: Flag calculated from ``settings.compiler.libcxx``.
+* **fpic**: True/False from ``options.fpic`` if defined.
+* **cppstd**: Flag from ``settings.compiler.cppstd``
+* **arch_flag**: Flag from ``settings.arch``
+* **build_type_flags**: Flags from ``settings.build_type``
+* **apple_arch_flag**: Only when cross-building with Apple systems. Flags from ``settings.arch``.
+* **apple_isysroot_flag**: Only when cross-building with Apple systems. Path to the root sdk.