[bluGill]

Nobody else knows how it works, which is why every configure script checks for a working fortran compiler. that is also why you can never be sure things like cross compiling work even though it can.

i use cmake - not a great system but at least it isn't hard and it always works. I've heard good things about a few others as well. There is no reason to use autotools.

[alextingle]

My configure scripts never checked for a FORTRAN compiler. I'm not going to claim that using autotools is a pleasant experience, but it's not that bad, and it's very well documented.

[bluGill]

The exception that proves the rule...