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autoconf installs statistics

By maelvalais · VS Code Marketplace · Programming Languages

Syntax support for the Autoconf M4 and Automake files (Autotools)

View on VS Code Marketplace Fresh · Oct 19, 2026

autoconf has 132,932 recorded installs on VS Code Marketplace.

It ranks #2005 of 2,501 tracked VS Code Marketplace listings by installs.

It is rated 5.0 out of 5 from 3 ratings.

PluginStats has 4 daily observations since Oct 16, 2026; the latest is from Oct 19, 2026.

Installs
132,932
Official API · Oct 19, 2026
7-day growth
—
Insufficient history
30-day growth
—
Insufficient history
90-day growth
—
Insufficient history
Rank
#2005
Among tracked VS Code Marketplace listings

Rating: 5.00 / 5 from 3 ratings

About autoconf

Autotools syntax highlighting for VSCode

The extension is available on both vsce, and on ovsx.

This VSCode extension is a fork of the GitHub project [sublime_autotools][]. It includes syntax highlighting for Autoconf M4 (.m4, configure.ac...) and Automake files (e.g., Makefile.am). This extension uses the vscode's own Makefile syntax support for hghlighting makefile things in automake files. I chose to fork the [sublime project][sublime_autotools] in order to have an easy way of updating vscode_autotools (which is only a matter of git merge).

Note that the sublime fork also has a Makefile2 (an alternate grammar file for Makefiles) but the standard vscode's Makefile support works much better (actually, the sublime's one is kind of buggy).

See [DEVELOPMENT.md][] for more information on how to debug and improve vscode_autotools.

Changelog

v0.2.0 (5 March 2023)

Since ptomato/sublime_autotools has moved to a YAML-based grammar and that most of the bugs that were fixed in my fork have been ported back to ptomato/sublime_autotools, I decided to revert to ptomato/sublime_autotools's YAML grammar. This means that the grammar may change a bit. Please let me know if it does.

v0.1.0

• complete PKG macro family. Change proposed by jannick0 (initially proposed at )

v0.0.9

• Add [AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIRS] provided by automake which surprisingly exists together with autoconf's [AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR]. Change proposed by jannick0. • (internal) add the npm start -- --json feature that allows people more familiar with json to generate tmLanguage from the json file instead of the yaml one.

v0.0.7

• Autoconf M4 (configure.ac): fix \" not being properly escaped in a string. Note for now, that variables won't (for some reason) be highlighted in strings. I couldn't find why.

v0.0.6

• Automake: fix comments not being highlighted when it starts at the beginning of a line and is interleaved with a recipe.

v0.0.5

• Automake grammar: fixed bug with foo: $(VAR:%.h=%.h) • Makefile2: re-include it into the extension. The Automake grammar is actually working better using makefile2. • Many small improvements to Makefile2 and Automake, e.g., $(if a,b) properly colored. • Moved from JSON grammar files to YAML.

v0.0.4

• Use vscode's default Makefile syntax grammar file instead of the sublime's one (Makefile2). This is because Makefile2 was buggy and vscode's one works just fine.

v0.0.3

• Automake: fix a bug with assigments followed by a comment • added 'npm start'for rebuilding the tmLanguage files from the JSON-tmLanguage files. You may observe some changes in grammar because of this, please tell me if it is the case!

v0.0.2

• Fixed the VSCode-version of Makefile that was shadowed by Makefile2, thus making it impossible to select the VSCode-provided Makefile highlighting. • Fixed line comments (# instead of //) • Removed block comments (block comments are not available in makefiles) • added an icon, because we all kind of like nice icons (Twitter, CC 3.0 BY)

v0.0.1

• Initial release. I disabled the Makefile2 part that was developped in the upstream project ([sublime_autotools]) because the Makefile support of vscode seems better (but I didn't really dig much to understand why).

Note: For Autoconf M4 macros, the arguments may need to be highlighted in several different ways; some are shell code, some are plain text, and a few are C code. There are definitions for the builtin ones, but custom macros may not be highlighted correctly.

Description from the VS Code Marketplace listing.

  • Autoconf M4
  • automake
  • m4
  • makefile2

Charts

Images: 30d · 1y · all time · 1600×900 dark

Adoption over time

autoconf installs on VS Code Marketplace, last 90 days: 132,932 installs as of Oct 19, 2026.autoconfInstalls on VS Code Marketplace · Last 90 days132,932installs132.9K132.9K132.9K132.9K132.9K132.9KJul 21Aug 5Aug 20Sep 4Sep 19Oct 4Oct 19installsobservedarchived (Internet Archive)no observationsOct 16, 2026 – Oct 19, 2026 · 4 observations · Updated Oct…pluginstats.com
autoconf installs on VS Code Marketplace, last 90 days: 132,932 installs as of Oct 19, 2026.
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7/30/90-day growth

autoconf installs growth on VS Code Marketplace: 7-day growth unavailable, 30-day growth unavailable, 90-day growth unavailable.autoconfInstalls growth on VS Code Marketplace132,932installs now7-day growthinsufficient historyInsufficient history30-day growthinsufficient historyInsufficient history90-day growthinsufficient historyInsufficient historyGrowth vs. nearest observation to each baseline date · Updated Oct 19, 2026pluginstats.com
autoconf installs growth on VS Code Marketplace: 7-day growth unavailable, 30-day growth unavailable, 90-day growth unavailable.
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Ranking history

autoconf VS Code Marketplace ranking history: currently #2005 (by installs).autoconfVS Code Marketplace ranking · by installs · Last 90 days#2005current rank#2002#2003#2004#2005#2006#2007Jul 21Aug 5Aug 20Sep 4Sep 19Oct 4Oct 19rankOct 16, 2026 – Oct 19, 2026 · 4 observations · Updated Oct 19, 2026pluginstats.com
autoconf VS Code Marketplace ranking history: currently #2005 (by installs).
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Ratings over time

autoconf ratings on VS Code Marketplace, last 90 days: 3 ratings as of Oct 19, 2026.autoconfRatings on VS Code Marketplace · Last 90 days3ratings2.72.82.933.13.23.3Jul 21Aug 5Aug 20Sep 4Sep 19Oct 4Oct 19ratingsobservedarchived (Internet Archive)no observationsOct 16, 2026 – Oct 19, 2026 · 4 observations · Updated Oct…pluginstats.com
autoconf ratings on VS Code Marketplace, last 90 days: 3 ratings as of Oct 19, 2026.
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Listing placement

All VS Code Marketplace2,501 listings · 126 pages · 1,251 shown · page 101, #5 (overall #2,005)
All VS Code Marketplace: every listing in installs order
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Listing placement

Programming Languages792 listings · 40 pages · page 33, #11 (overall #651)
Programming Languages: every listing in installs order
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Filled points are observed values; hollow points come from Internet Archive snapshots of the listing page. Dashed segments span periods with no observations — values between points are not interpolated.

Each band is one page of 20. Installs on a log scale. Placement is projected from installs, so it can differ from the marketplace's own sort order. Hover a dot to see the listing.

Recent observations

Full history (4)
Recent installs observations for autoconf
Date (UTC)InstallsChange vs. previous
132,932+6
132,926+9
132,917+7
132,910—

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Data source

Install counts, average rating, and rating counts come from the public Visual Studio Marketplace gallery API. Installs are cumulative and exclude updates.

Listing: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=maelvalais.autoconf. First seen Oct 16, 2026; last successful collection Oct 19, 2026. See the methodology.