- You should really, really, (really!) use autotools, will save you
from the paths nightmare across GNU/Linux distributions and
dependencies.
IIRC, we used to have an autotools setup, but the people maintaining it dropped it in favor of cmake.
One thing that needs to be understood is dave doesn’t maintain a makefile for your benefit. He maintains a makefile for his benefit, since it’s the tool he prefers after long experience. If someone else prefers to use make as well, then they’re in luck and can use it too, but it’s not being put in our source tree as a public service. Open-source differs from commercial software in that there is no “burden of debt towards the user” - in commercial software, you’re indebted to a user, and bend over backwards to please them, because they’re what keeps you in business. In open-source software, we don’t owe you anything - our software is like something we left in a box at the end of our sidewalk with a “FREE” sign on it. Maybe it’ll work for you, maybe not - but we’re not personally obligated to make it convenient.
If you want an autotools setup, you’ll need to maintain it yourself. We welcome people doing that, and putting it in our source tree, but dave has better things to do than maintain a build tool setup he doesn’t personally use.
