"stephan.zimmer" <stephan.zimmer@googlemail.com> writes:

> I would like to start my compilation in one directory deeper than the
> current. Unfortunately, a local variable specification as
>
> % -*- ... compile-directory: (concat default-directory ".."); ... -*-
>
> is not working. Does anyone has an idea (except adding "cd.." to the
> compile command)?
>
> Stephan

You might be interested in the following code. I wrote it some time ago,
so try not to cringe too much at the horrendous style, but I've been
using it since.

Basically, it looks upwards from where you start to try and find a
configure.ac, which signals the top of an autoconf/automake project. The
selection of filenames to stop at is in the top function. Do what you
will with the code - it's in the public domain as far as I'm concerned.

Rupert