autotools transition report: need a flag day

[Loren James Rittle]

>> So, designate a day when I can start making changes, and I'll do it.

> If you are at zero failures on linux (as I suspect you are) then I'm
> game for this to go in. Does this sound ok to you? 

Phil: ACK.  Feel free to commit it to mainline and then remind us of
the exact version of autotools now supported (well, whatever you used)
and any new rules to best rebuild the entire (sub-)tree.  One
long-standing niggle was the inability to regenerate identical derived
files across different platforms (and the subtle autotools variations)
with the same input.  I'd like to check that I can rebuild and end up
with a zero or near zero line diff.

Regards,
Loren