2.2 Prerequisites

2.2.1 tools

To run siliconBrain you need:

GNU make

Texinfo

emacs

bash

gawk

GNU m4

perl

glib-2.0

siliconBrainLib

2.2.2 skills

To use siliconBrain you should be familiar with:

Texinfo

The complete documentation is based on Texinfo. All html files or printed output or ascii text files are generated out of Texinfo files.

2.2.3 What we not use

2.2.3.1 autoconf, automake and libtool

We do not use autoconf, automake and libtool. The reason is, that siliconBrain is not used to create portable software. The approach of siliconBrain is, to use all the beautiful and advanced features of Linux and the GNU tools. When someone wants to use a siliconBrain package, she should switch to a GNU/Linux system. siliconBrain does not want to make compromises, just to be portable to other platforms.

So we do not intend to write portable sh scripts, or portable makefile's. Instead we use the full features of bash and GNU make. The same is true for all other programs we use, including the operating system itself.

It also is of great fun to use the GNU extensions. This would be reason enough.