He doesn't mention automake or libtool; he must be saving them for a separate rant :P Much of what he says is fair. Many decisions made way back when would be

He doesn't mention automake or libtool; he must be saving them for a separate rant :P Much of what he says is fair. Many decisions made way back when would be different now. But the autotools are well-documented, well-maintained, and they do work. The way forward (for the autotool-friendly audience anyway) is likely something like Tromey's quagmire -- http://code.google.com/p/quagmire/ http://code.google.com/p/quagmire/.