diff --git a/bin/dunecontrol b/bin/dunecontrol
index d175f798f14772e4af1bfcfbe6c95e02bd4eedb8..da7e566ec437587f4bf9e3ac6265f93128a39573 100755
--- a/bin/dunecontrol
+++ b/bin/dunecontrol
@@ -660,6 +660,8 @@ while test $# -gt 0; do
echo " for $name $version $maintainer"
echo " requires $requires"
cat > $fname <<EOF
+# dependencies.m4 generated by dunecontrol
+
m4_define([DUNE_AC_INIT],[
AC_INIT([$name], [$version], [$maintainer])
AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([foreign 1.5 tar-pax])
diff --git a/bin/duneproject b/bin/duneproject
index 9bb37461c71281029f69b765e31a8d3bb8670c4d..9f3b2dbef060d7a75d5475698fb22086aec79986 100755
--- a/bin/duneproject
+++ b/bin/duneproject
@@ -583,10 +583,23 @@ CC_DELIM
M4_MODULE=`echo $MODULE | tr '[a-z-]' '[A-Z_]'`
echo "- $PROJECT/m4/$MODULE.m4"
cat> "$PROJECT/m4/$MODULE.m4" << CC_DELIM
-# Additional checks needed to build the module
+dnl -*- autoconf -*-
+# Macros needed to find $MODULE and dependent libraries. They are called by
+# the macros in \${top_src_dir}/dependencies.m4, which is generated by
+# "dunecontrol autogen"
+
+# Additional checks needed to build $MODULE
+# This macro should be invoked by every module which depends on $MODULE, as
+# well as by $MODULE itself
AC_DEFUN([${M4_MODULE}_CHECKS])
-# Additional checks needed to find the module
-AC_DEFUN([${M4_MODULE}_CHECK_MODULE])
+
+# Additional checks needed to find $MODULE
+# This macro should be invoked by every module which depends on $MODULE, but
+# not by $MODULE itself
+AC_DEFUN([${M4_MODULE}_CHECK_MODULE],
+[
+ DUNE_CHECK_MODULES([$MODULE],[$NAME/$NAME.hh])
+])
CC_DELIM
diff --git a/m4/dune.m4 b/m4/dune.m4
index dac8ce473749227de71d9da2c4dcaafd134cd821..1af7e96c64b05f9b7a1c90fd99f6b0dc8d4b071d 100644
--- a/m4/dune.m4
+++ b/m4/dune.m4
@@ -41,14 +41,14 @@ m4_define([_dune_sub_version],"`echo $1 | $AWK -F. -v FIELD=$2 '{ print int($FIE
# VERSION Version of the module. May contain shell variables. Numbers
# seperated by ".".
#
-# In the following, module is NAME with any "-" replaced by "_" and MODULE is
-# the uppercase version of module.
+# In the following, {MODULE} is the uppercase version of {NAME} with any "-"
+# replaced by "_".
#
# configure/shell variables and preprocessor defines:
-# MODULE_VERSION (complete version, same as VERSION)
-# MODULE_VERSION_MAJOR (first component of VERSION)
-# MODULE_VERSION_MINOR (second component of VERSION)
-# MODULE_VERSION_REVISION (third component of VERSION)
+# {MODULE}_VERSION (complete version, same as {VERSION})
+# {MODULE}_VERSION_MAJOR (first component of {VERSION})
+# {MODULE}_VERSION_MINOR (second component of {VERSION})
+# {MODULE}_VERSION_REVISION (third component of {VERSION})
AC_DEFUN([DUNE_PARSE_MODULE_VERSION],[
AC_REQUIRE([AC_PROG_AWK])
@@ -75,64 +75,73 @@ AC_DEFUN([DUNE_PARSE_MODULE_VERSION],[
# DUNE_CHECK_MODULES(NAME, HEADER, SYMBOL)
#
+# Generic check for dune modules. This macro should not be used directly, but
+# in the modules m4/{module}.m4 in the {MODULE}_CHECK_MODULE macro. The
+# {MODULE}_CHECK_MODULE macro knows the parameters to call this
+# DUNE_CHECK_MODULES macro with, and it does not take any parameters itself,
+# so it may be used with AC_REQUIRE.
+#
# NAME Name of the module, lowercase with dashes (like "dune-common"). The
# value must be known when autoconf runs, so shell variables in the
# value are not permissible.
#
-# HEADER Header to check for. The check will really be for <dune/HEADER>, so
-# the header must reside within a directory called "dune".
+# HEADER Header to check for. The check will really be for <dune/{HEADER}>,
+# so the header must reside within a directory called "dune".
#
# SYMBOL Symbol to check for in the module's library. If this argument is
# empty or missing, it is assumed that the module does not provide a
# library. The value must be known when autoconf runs, so shell
-# variables in the value are not permissible. The name of the library
-# is assumed to be the same as the module name, with any occurance of
-# "-" removed. The path of the library is obtained from pkgconfig for
-# installed modules, or assumed to be the directory "lib" within the
-# modules root for non-installed modules.
+# variables in the value are not permissible. This value is actually
+# handed to AC_TRY_LINK unchanged as the FUNCTION-BODY argument, so it
+# may contain more complex stuff than a simple symbol.
+#
+# The name of the library is assumed to be the same as the module name,
+# with any occurance of "-" removed. The path of the library is
+# obtained from pkgconfig for installed modules, or assumed to be the
+# directory "lib" within the modules root for non-installed modules.
#
-# In the following, module is NAME with any "-" replaced by "_" and MODULE is
-# the uppercase version of module.
+# In the following, {module} is {NAME} with any "-" replaced by "_" and
+# {MODULE} is the uppercase version of {module}.
#
# configure options:
-# --with-NAME
+# --with-{NAME}
#
# configure/shell variables:
-# MODULE_CPPFLAGS
-# MODULE_ROOT
-# MODULE_LDFLAGS
-# MODULE_LIBS
-# HAVE_MODULE (1 or 0)
-# with_module ("yes" or "no")
+# {MODULE}_CPPFLAGS
+# {MODULE}_ROOT
+# {MODULE}_LDFLAGS
+# {MODULE}_LIBS
+# HAVE_{MODULE} (1 or 0)
+# with_{module} ("yes" or "no")
# DUNE_CPPFLAGS (adds the modules values here)
# DUNE_LDFLAGS (adds the modules values here)
# DUNE_LIBS (adds the modules values here)
# DUNE_PKG_CPPFLAGS (deprecated, adds the modules values here)
# DUNE_PKG_LDFLAGS (deprecated, adds the modules values here)
# DUNE_PKG_LIBS (deprecated, adds the modules values here)
-# MODULE_VERSION
-# MODULE_VERSION_MAJOR
-# MODULE_VERSION_MINOR
-# MODULE_VERSION_REVISION
+# {MODULE}_VERSION
+# {MODULE}_VERSION_MAJOR
+# {MODULE}_VERSION_MINOR
+# {MODULE}_VERSION_REVISION
#
# configure substitutions/makefile variables:
-# MODULE_CPPFLAGS
-# MODULE_LDFLAGS
-# MODULE_LIBS
-# MODULE_ROOT
+# {MODULE}_CPPFLAGS
+# {MODULE}_LDFLAGS
+# {MODULE}_LIBS
+# {MODULE}_ROOT
# DUNE_CPPFLAGS
# DUNE_LDFLAGS
# DUNE_LIBS
#
# preprocessor defines:
-# HAVE_MODULE (1 or undefined)
-# MODULE_VERSION
-# MODULE_VERSION_MAJOR
-# MODULE_VERSION_MINOR
-# MODULE_VERSION_REVISION
+# HAVE_{MODULE} (1 or undefined)
+# {MODULE}_VERSION
+# {MODULE}_VERSION_MAJOR
+# {MODULE}_VERSION_MINOR
+# {MODULE}_VERSION_REVISION
#
# automake conditionals:
-# HAVE_MODULE
+# HAVE_{MODULE}
AC_DEFUN([DUNE_CHECK_MODULES],[
AC_REQUIRE([AC_PROG_CXX])
AC_REQUIRE([AC_PROG_CXXCPP])