>With the GNU autoconfig system, I keep wondering why it has to figure
>out all that stuff about my sytem for *every* package. Also, why can't
>I just specify a --prefix once somewhere instead of having to remember
>each time.  (And the default might be /usr/gnu /usr/local or
/usr/local/gnu at least).

You _can_ do that with configure.  If you set the environment variable
CONFIG_SITE, it reads that file for a list of variables to set.  You
can even specify a system-wide cache file so it will share the autoconf
cache between packages.  If you read the section marked "Setting Site
Defaults" in the autoconf manual, then it will go into more detail.

--Ken