title: Distributing autotool metafiles
body: <p><code>AM_MAINTAINER_MODE</code> has been criticized, and I believe the main objection is that it leads to incorrect builds if dependencies on meta-files are not detected.  Also, it is often argued that generated files do not belong in version control systems (I agree with that position).  I currently believe that if <code>configure</code> does not belong in the vcs, then <code>configure.ac</code> and <code>Makefile.am</code> do not belong in the tarball.  To that end, I've written a simple script to clean certain targets out of Makefile.in and added the following target to the top-level Makefile.am:</p>
  
  <pre><code>dist-hook:
      @rm $(distdir)/configure.ac
      @rm $(distdir)/aclocal.m4
      @find $(distdir) -name Makefile.am -exec rm {} \;
      @find $(distdir) -name Makefile.in -exec $(top_srcdir)/clean-Makefile {} \;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>This solution sidesteps the problematic issues that derive from <code>AM_MAINTAINER_MODE</code> because there are no meta-files to be modified.</p>
  
  <p>It strikes me that one of the biggest failings of autoconf is the misperception that every project built using it has a dependency on autoconf (this is not an autoconf failing, but a failing of marketing/education), and this misperception is largely the result of tarballs containing meta-files.</p>
  
  <p>Question:  Is there a better way to accomplish the desired goal of creating a tarball that does not contain autotool metafiles?  (The question of whether that goal is merely 'arguably undesirable' or 'truly evil' is too open for this forum!)</p>