(This is also how the rest of GNOME CVS is set up these days.)

Hm.  Is this to be more in line with gnome, or is it somehow
considered "better" for some reason ? I'm pretty happy with how it is
right now, and prefer not to start hard-coding possible values.
(note that --with-autoconf and --with-automake allow you to select a
version to use)

It's more in line with gnome, and also better.

You should be hardcoding this, because you do require a particular
automake version. automake is renamed when it breaks incompatibly. So
when automake-1.7 appears it won't be compatible, and automake-1.4
already is not compatible, so you don't want the name "automake" which
means "any automake" any more than you would write 
"pkg-config --libs any-gtk" and accept either GTK 1.2 or 2.0.

See also http://pobox.com/~hp/parallel.html

The difference here is that to the best of my knowledge, autogen works
with ANY automake >= 1.5, not just 1.6. So we don't really require a
particular one, just a lower limit. autogen.sh also warns you if your
automake is not current enough.  If I hard-code 1.6, 1.5 users have to
needlessly upgrade.  

The difference between gtk+ 1.x and 2.x is a totally different issue,
they're different platforms ;)

I guess my question is - is this just something that helps automatic
build scripts from Gnome because it's hard to code in options, or do
you think it's a problem for users ?

Personally, I just run autogen.sh
--with-automake=/usr/bin/automake-1.5 only once, then use
./autoregen.sh after that every time, so for users, it's pretty
straightforward.  Nobody has mentioned this as being a problem (except
one of the build script maintainers, forgot who).

I don't mind fixing this, as long as it Still Works for the people who
are used to how it works now ;) Suggestions are welcome.

It's a problem for me at least, as I don't have "automake" pointing at
1.6, but I do have "automake-1.6"

One easy solution is the way say gconf does it - it tries the
hardcoded version first, then falls back to plain "automake"

You don't actually know your stuff works with all automake >= 1.5 btw;
you know it works with 1.5 and 1.6, but if automake is renamed again,
that will be because it's again incompatible...

Ok, I think I resolved this one to my satisfaction ;)
please try out cvs of gstreamer and gst-plugins and see if it detects
everything right.

It goes through automake, (your preference if specified on cmd line),
automake-1.6, automake-1.5, testing version of each, and will use the
first one that satisfies the >= 1.5 requirement.

Can you let me know if this is acceptable for you as well ?

Sounds fine to me, thanks.