Just an idea. I use automake to make non-recursive build environments fairly routinely now. (Recursive-make-considered-bad ...)
Installation of headers in subdirectories is more complex than it could be (IMO). The nobase_ prefix allows utilising an existing directory tree, but a non-recursive build will almost always have a directory or two below the Makefile that aren't desired on install. While defining a new target to be $(includedir)/foo lets you work around this, it would be great to do something like: nobase_preserve_foo_HEADERS = ... and have it achieve the same result. Anyway, just some food for thought. Cheers, Rob