some general help needed

[Matej Tyc]

Hello, 
I would like to find answers to some questions that developers had to
ask, but that are not answered in the right way.

1. I have a project and I would like to add autotools (eg. ./configure
--blablabla && make && make install) support. Of course, I have the
source code, an idea how to compile it, I know roughly what to write to
Makefile.am and configure.ac. 
But I don't know:
        a) What is some "standard root project directory layout" that doesn't
cause problems and that everybody likes? I have learned that it is good
to have /src directory, /build-aux dir, /m4 dir and maybe /bin dir, all
from different sources. Nothing "official" from experienced autotools
users that would say 'Don't put your object files to the root since it
becomes a terrible mess afterwards' (wxWidgets project behaves like
this)
        b) What is considered to be the smart way how to build documentation
for the project? How to include doc build to autools setup?
        c) How to deal with the fact that the project is multiplatform and the
build process is not mplatform independent? 

2. I have a library and I would like to make life easy for people that
will use it and choose autotools to manage their projects. What is the
standard/simple/portable/smart way how to do this? 
I have seen a very long macro (AM_PATH_LIB(...)) and some script
(lib-config) that hasn't always been working very well (problems with
cross-compilation, ...) How you do this, please?

What about an autotools wiki? Autotools are considered "arcane and hard
to use." But it is mainly due to lack of documentation that young
developers require, don't you think? 
Please, don't underestimate user-friendliness!

Regards,
Matej Tyc