Cut the v1.2.5 release to fix GCC 11 build issues

Fix automake issue on mac.

For some reason the order here appears important on Mac (or perhaps
depending on autotools version?) and it failed to create
dependencies. Changing the order makes this work again.

Script to copy files for release.

Clear NEWS file, it's not been updated since forever.

IWYU: sstream

Explicitly include sstream in tets wherever it is used.

updated changelog, news, docs, and added tests for flag and name defines

patch that allows arg start strings to be pound defined to easily con…

…form to different platforms

bumped version number to 1.2.1

updated for 1.1.0

update