AC_DEFINE failing - autoconf

Question

I am trying to configure a library with major minor and revision version numbers automagically inside autoconf/automake/autoheader....
Why do these symbol values cause following errors?
# Library Version Master Version DO NOT TOUCH
AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED([MAJORVERSION], [0], [Library major version])
AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED([MINORVERSION], [2], [Library minor version])
AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED([REVISION], [0], [Library revision version])
AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED([LIB_VER], [["$MAJORVERSION:$MINORVERSION:$REVISION"]], [Library complete version])
m4_esyscmd([echo $LIB_VER > .version])
autoreconf: running: /usr/bin/autoheader --force
configure.ac:30: warning: AC_DEFINE: not an identifier:
configure.ac:31: warning: AC_DEFINE: not an identifier:
configure.ac:32: warning: AC_DEFINE: not an identifier:
configure.ac:33: warning: AC_DEFINE: not an identifier:
autoheader: warning: missing template:
autoheader: Use AC_DEFINE([], [], [Description])
autoreconf: /usr/bin/autoheader failed with exit status: 1
Post fixing for spaces in the autoconf commands, this is the Makefile excerpt.
MAJORVERSION =
MAKEINFO = ${SHELL} /home/dave/src/libringbuffers-0.2.0/missing makeinfo
MANIFEST_TOOL = :
MINORVERSION =
MKDIR_P = /bin/mkdir -p
NM = /usr/bin/nm -B
NMEDIT =
OBJDUMP = objdump
...
PACKAGE_NAME = libringbuffers
PACKAGE_STRING = libringbuffers 0.2.0-2-gd984062
PACKAGE_TARNAME = libringbuffers
PACKAGE_URL =
PACKAGE_VERSION = 0.2.0-2-gd984062
...
REL_VER =
REVISION =
SED = /bin/sed
So that might have been problem one, but still not storing values...

Answer 1

I believe the problem you're having is caused by the extra space after AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED before the parenthesis.
Try replacing:
AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED ([MAJORVERSION], [0], [Library major version])
AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED ([MINORVERSION], [2], [Library minor version])
AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED ([REVISION], [0], [Library revision version])
AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED ([LIB_VER], [["$MAJORVERSION:$MINORVERSION:$REVISION"]], [Library complete version])
with:
AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED([MAJORVERSION], [0], [Library major version])
AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED([MINORVERSION], [2], [Library minor version])
AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED([REVISION], [0], [Library revision version])
AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED([LIB_VER], [["$MAJORVERSION:$MINORVERSION:$REVISION"]], [Library complete version])
Note: there should be no space after AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED

Answer 2

With the following in configure.ac:
AC_DEFUN([AX_DEFINE_SUBST], [
AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED([$1], [$2], [$3])
AC_SUBST([$1], ['$2'])
])
AX_DEFINE_SUBST([MAJORVERSION], [0], [Library major version])
AX_DEFINE_SUBST([MINORVERSION], [2], [Library minor version])
AX_DEFINE_SUBST([REVISION], [0], [Library revision version])
AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED([LIB_VER], [["$MAJORVERSION:$MINORVERSION:$REVISION"]], [Library complete version])
AC_CONFIG_HEADERS([config.h])
...
AC_OUTPUT
After running autoreconf && ./configure, I end up with the following declared in config.h:
/* Library complete version */
#define LIB_VER "0:2:0"
/* Library major version */
#define MAJORVERSION 0
/* Library minor version */
#define MINORVERSION 2
/* Library revision version */
#define REVISION 0
note: AX_DEFINE_SUBST hack taken from: How do I combine AC_SUBST and AC_DEFINE?