GNU `m4' is an implementation of the traditional Unix macro
processor.  It is mostly SVR4 compatible, although it has some
extensions (for example, handling more than 9 positional parameters
to macros).  `m4' also has builtin functions for including files,
running shell commands, doing arithmetic, etc.  Autoconf needs GNU
`m4' for generating `configure' scripts, but not for running them.

GNU `m4' was originally written by Rene' Seindal, from Denmark.

GNU `m4' has a web site at http://www.gnu.org/software/m4/.

This repository has several branches.  The one you have checked out
does not have any code.  Instead, you will want to check out one of:
- branch-1.4: Latest stable release, most up-to-date
- branch-1.6: Some improvements to 1.4, but not yet finalized and released
- branch-2.0: Many new experimental features, hasn't been worked on in years

For any copyright year range specified as YYYY-ZZZZ in this package
note that the range includes years in that closed interval; a more
precise determination of copyrightable changes can be obtained from
inspecting version control logs.

========================================================================

Copyright (C) 2000-2021 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or
any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover
Texts.  A copy of the license is included in the ``GNU Free
Documentation License'' file as part of this distribution.