GNU autoconf/automake in OpenSSH

[mouring at etoh.eviladmin.org]

> I make changes in open source tree to implement autoconf/automake.
> What's new ?
> - new acinclude.m4 ( based on old aclocal.m4 + new macros OSSH_EXPAND_PATHS and 
> OSSH_SHOW_OPTIONS
> - new configure option --with-askpass=PATH
> - updated acconfig.h ( based on old acconfig.h with removed USE_EXTERNAL_ASKPASS and new 
> ASKPASS_PATH + new config.h.top and config.h.bot )
> !!! in this file has two lines only with ^L for autoheader !!!
> - new empty files NEWS AUTHORS COPYING to make automake happy
Humor me. =)  How is automake improving our lives?

> - ssh.h is generated from configure from ssh.h.in ( all paths are substituted with @xxx@ )
> - files ssh_config sshd_config and all TROFFMAN files are generated from configure to.
> - removed version.h ( version number is in configure and #define in ssh.h )
This file will not be going anywhere unless you talk the OpenBSD group
into the change.

> - updated includes.h ( without version.h )
> - changed defines.h and ssh-add.c with new askpass option and #define
> - removed fixpaths ( sed command from configure generate correct file paths ). You might 
> backup it.
Have we verified that sed will work correctly on every platform for this
operation?  Hmmm?? Mainly on Solaris and other platforms that are known to
ship brain dead sed.

Humor me again... How does the all of theses changes 'improve'
portability of OpenSSH or the readablity of the autoconf?  And have you
verified that adding automake into the mix does not imply the requirement
of GNU Make?

- Ben