6.6. Multiple Directories
So far, we have dealt only with single-directory projects. Automake can also handle projects with many directories. The variable 'SUBDIRS' is used to list the subdirectories that should be built. Here is an example from Automake itself:
SUBDIRS = . m4 tests
Automake does not need to know the list of subdirectories statically, so there is no 'EXTRA_SUBDIRS' variable. You might think that Automake would use 'SUBDIRS' to see which 'Makefile.am's to scan, but it actually gets this information from 'configure.in'. This means that if you have a subdirectory optionally built, you should still list it unconditionally in your call to AC_OUTPUT, and then arrange for it to be substituted (or not, as appropriate) at configure
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