Autotools

Do the expert programmers at /prog/ use the GNU Autotools?

Also, are the Autotools really the de facto tools to create software packages?

>>4,6
If you're using autotools, [tt]configure[/tt] takes a PREFIX argument which allows you to put your shit in the proper location in a platform-independent manner. If you write makefiles that don't respect PREFIX, it's additional work on the part of the maintainer (who, on FreeBSD at least, has to add a bunch of commands to the port's Makefile to caress your Makefile into compliance -- and it's a pain to maintain^tm).