After gathering some feedback, after addressing reported issues, now I feel 
it's ready for public consumption. especially when static-libs is being used 
more and more often. It's purpose is to become standard eclass for autotools 
build systems.

Brief description:
autotools-utils.eclass is autotools.eclass (so libtool.eclass) and base.eclass 
(so eutils.eclass) wrapper providing all inherited features (it is guaranteed, 
no need to additionally inherit any of those) along with econf arguments as 
Bash array, out of source build with overridable build dir location, static 
archives handling, libtool files removal, enable/disable debug handling. It's 
modelled after cmake-utils and resembles it in many aspects for consistency.

Notable features:
- eautoreconf, eautomake, elibtoolize, eaclocal functions (from autotools)
- PATCHES and user patches support (from base)
- DOCS and HTML_DOCS arrays support (from base)
- myeconfargs - econf arguments as Bash array (usage like mycmakeargs in 
cmake-utils, if used, needs to be defined just before autotools-
utils_src_configure call)
- out of source build (enabled by default) with overridable build dir location
- static archives handling (static-libs in IUSE)
- automatic removal of unnecessary static archives (usually for plugins, 
determined by presence of shouldnotlink=yes libtool property)
- libtool files removal (static-libs in IUSE, determined by absence of 
shouldnotlink=yes libtool property)
- enable/disable-debug handing (debug in IUSE)
- remove_libtool_files function to help override libtool removal behaviour 
(you shouldn't need it, any usage or this function with parameter 'none' will 
be reported and punished :p)

Restrictions:
- only >= EAPI-2 supported (this is intentional as src_prepare phase is 
provided, EAPI-0,1 would mean providing src_unpack as well, which is 
unacceptable for build system eclasses)

Attached two example ebuilds.
Refer to eclass manual page for details or more extensive example usage.

-- 
regards
MM

# Copyright 1999-2010 Gentoo Foundation
# Distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License v2
# $Header: $

# @ECLASS: autotools-utils.eclass
# @MAINTAINER:
# Maciej Mrozowski <reavertm@g.o>
# @BLURB: common ebuild functions for autotools-based packages
# @DESCRIPTION:
# autotools-utils.eclass is autotools.eclass(5) and base.eclass(5) wrapper
# providing all inherited features along with econf arguments as Bash array,
# out of source build with overridable build dir location, static archives
# handling, libtool files removal, enable/disable debug handling.
#
# @EXAMPLE:
# Typical ebuild using autotools-utils.eclass:
#
# @CODE
# EAPI="2"
#
# inherit autotools-utils
#
# DESCRIPTION="Foo bar application"
# HOMEPAGE="http://example.org/foo/"
# SRC_URI="mirror://sourceforge/foo/${P}.tar.bz2"
#
# LICENSE="LGPL-2.1"
# KEYWORDS=""
# SLOT="0"
# IUSE="debug doc examples qt4 static-libs tiff"
#
# CDEPEND="
# 	media-libs/libpng:0
# 	qt4? (
# 		x11-libs/qt-core:4
# 		x11-libs/qt-gui:4
# 	)
# 	tiff? ( media-libs/tiff:0 )
# "
# RDEPEND="${CDEPEND}
# 	!media-gfx/bar
# "
# DEPEND="${CDEPEND}
# 	doc? ( app-doc/doxygen )
# "
#
# # bug 123456
# AUTOTOOLS_IN_SOURCE_BUILD=1
#
# DOCS=(AUTHORS ChangeLog README "Read me.txt" TODO)
#
# PATCHES=(
# 	"${FILESDIR}/${P}-gcc44.patch" # bug 123458
# 	"${FILESDIR}/${P}-as-needed.patch"
# 	"${FILESDIR}/${P}-unbundle_libpng.patch"
# )
#
# src_configure() {
# 	myeconfargs=(
# 		$(use_with qt4)
# 		$(use_enable threads multithreading)
# 		$(use_with tiff)
# 	)
# 	autotools-utils_src_configure
# }
#
# src_compile() {
# 	autotools-utils_src_compile
# 	use doc && autotools-utils_src_compile docs
# }
#
# src_install() {
# 	use doc && HTML_DOCS=("${AUTOTOOLS_BUILD_DIR}/apidocs/html/")
# 	autotools-utils_src_install
# 	if use examples; then
# 		dobin "${AUTOTOOLS_BUILD_DIR}"/foo_example{1,2,3} \\
# 			|| die 'dobin examples failed'
# 	fi
# }
#
# @CODE

# Keep variable names synced with cmake-utils and the other way around!

case ${EAPI:-0} in
	2|3|4) ;;
	*) DEPEND="EAPI-TOO-OLD" ;;
esac

inherit autotools base

EXPORT_FUNCTIONS src_prepare src_configure src_compile src_install src_test

# @ECLASS-VARIABLE: AUTOTOOLS_BUILD_DIR
# @DESCRIPTION:
# Build directory, location where all autotools generated files should be
# placed. For out of source builds it defaults to ${WORKDIR}/${P}_build.

# @ECLASS-VARIABLE: AUTOTOOLS_IN_SOURCE_BUILD
# @DESCRIPTION:
# Set to enable in-source build.

# @ECLASS-VARIABLE: ECONF_SOURCE
# @DESCRIPTION:
# Specify location of autotools' configure script. By default it uses ${S}.

# @ECLASS-VARIABLE: myeconfargs
# @DESCRIPTION:
# Optional econf arguments as Bash array. Should be defined before calling src_configure.
# @CODE
# src_configure() {
# 	myeconfargs=(
# 		--disable-readline
# 		--with-confdir="/etc/nasty foo confdir/"
# 		$(use_enable debug cnddebug)
# 		$(use_enable threads multithreading)
# 	)
# 	autotools-utils_src_configure
# }
# @CODE

# Determine using IN or OUT source build
_check_build_dir() {
	: ${ECONF_SOURCE:=${S}}
	if [[ -n ${AUTOTOOLS_IN_SOURCE_BUILD} ]]; then
		AUTOTOOLS_BUILD_DIR="${ECONF_SOURCE}"
	else
		: ${AUTOTOOLS_BUILD_DIR:=${WORKDIR}/${P}_build}
	fi
	echo ">>> Working in BUILD_DIR: \"$AUTOTOOLS_BUILD_DIR\""
}

# @FUNCTION: remove_libtool_files
# @USAGE: [all|none]
# @DESCRIPTION:
# Determines unnecessary libtool files (.la) and libtool static archives (.a)
# and removes them from installation image.
# To unconditionally remove all libtool files, pass 'all' as argument.
# To leave all libtool files alone, pass 'none' as argument.
# Unnecessary static archives are removed in any case.
#
# In most cases it's not necessary to manually invoke this function.
# See autotools-utils_src_install for reference.
remove_libtool_files() {
	debug-print-function ${FUNCNAME} "$@"

	local f
	for f in $(find "${D}" -type f -name '*.la'); do
		# Keep only .la files with shouldnotlink=yes - likely plugins
		local shouldnotlink=$(sed -ne '/^shouldnotlink=yes$/p' "${f}")
		if [[  "$1" == 'all' || -z ${shouldnotlink} ]]; then
			if [[ "$1" != 'none' ]]; then
				echo "Removing unnecessary ${f}"
				rm -f "${f}"
			fi
		fi
		# Remove static libs we're not supposed to link against
		if [[ -n ${shouldnotlink} ]]; then
			local remove=${f/%.la/.a}
			[[ "${f}" != "${remove}" ]] || die 'regex sanity check failed'
			echo "Removing unnecessary ${remove}"
			rm -f "${remove}"
		fi
	done
}

# @FUNCTION: autotools-utils_src_prepare
# @DESCRIPTION:
# The src_prepare function.
#
# Supporting PATCHES array and user patches. See base.eclass(5) for reference.
autotools-utils_src_prepare() {
	debug-print-function ${FUNCNAME} "$@"

	base_src_prepare
}

# @FUNCTION: autotools-utils_src_configure
# @DESCRIPTION:
# The src_configure function. For out of source build it creates build
# directory and runs econf there. Configuration parameters defined
# in myeconfargs are passed here to econf. Additionally following USE
# flags are known:
#
# IUSE="debug" passes --disable-debug/--enable-debug to econf respectively.
#
# IUSE="static-libs" passes --enable-shared and either --disable-static/--enable-static
# to econf respectively.
autotools-utils_src_configure() {
	debug-print-function ${FUNCNAME} "$@"

	# Common args
	local econfargs=()

	# Handle debug found in IUSE
	if has debug ${IUSE//+}; then
		econfargs+=($(use_enable debug))
	fi

	# Handle static-libs found in IUSE, disable them by default
	if has static-libs ${IUSE//+}; then
		econfargs+=(
			--enable-shared
			$(use_enable static-libs static)
		)
	fi

	# Append user args
	econfargs+=(${myeconfargs[@]})

	_check_build_dir
	mkdir -p "${AUTOTOOLS_BUILD_DIR}" || die "mkdir '${AUTOTOOLS_BUILD_DIR}' failed"
	pushd "${AUTOTOOLS_BUILD_DIR}" > /dev/null
	base_src_configure "${econfargs[@]}"
	popd > /dev/null
}

# @FUNCTION: autotools-utils_src_compile
# @DESCRIPTION:
# The autotools src_compile function, invokes emake in specified AUTOTOOLS_BUILD_DIR.
autotools-utils_src_compile() {
	debug-print-function ${FUNCNAME} "$@"

	_check_build_dir
	pushd "${AUTOTOOLS_BUILD_DIR}" > /dev/null
	base_src_compile "$@"
	popd > /dev/null
}

# @FUNCTION: autotools-utils_src_install
# @DESCRIPTION:
# The autotools src_install function. Runs emake install, unconditionally
# removes unnecessary static libs (based on shouldnotlink libtool property)
# and removes unnecessary libtool files when static-libs USE flag is defined
# and unset.
#
# DOCS and HTML_DOCS arrays are supported. See base.eclass(5) for reference.
autotools-utils_src_install() {
	debug-print-function ${FUNCNAME} "$@"

	_check_build_dir
	pushd "${AUTOTOOLS_BUILD_DIR}" > /dev/null
	base_src_install
	popd > /dev/null

	# Remove libtool files and unnecessary static libs
	local args
	has static-libs ${IUSE//+} && ! use static-libs || args='none'
	remove_libtool_files ${args}
}

# @FUNCTION: autotools-utils_src_test
# @DESCRIPTION:
# The autotools src_test function. Runs emake check in build directory.
autotools-utils_src_test() {
	debug-print-function ${FUNCNAME} "$@"

	_check_build_dir
	pushd "${AUTOTOOLS_BUILD_DIR}" > /dev/null
	# Run default src_test as defined in ebuild.sh
	default_src_test
	popd > /dev/null
}

# Copyright 1999-2010 Gentoo Foundation
# Distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License v2
# $Header: /var/cvsroot/gentoo-x86/media-libs/plib/plib-1.8.5.ebuild,v 1.6 2009/12/26 16:59:50 armin76 Exp $

EAPI=2

WANT_AUTOCONF=2.5
WANT_AUTOMAKE=1.9
inherit autotools-utils

DESCRIPTION="multimedia library used by many games"
HOMEPAGE="http://plib.sourceforge.net/"
SRC_URI="http://plib.sourceforge.net/dist/${P}.tar.gz"

LICENSE="LGPL-2"
SLOT="0"
KEYWORDS="~alpha ~amd64 ~hppa ~ppc ~sparc ~x86"
IUSE="static-libs"

RDEPEND="
	media-libs/libsdl
	virtual/glut
	virtual/opengl
"
DEPEND="${RDEPEND}"

PATCHES=(
	"${FILESDIR}/${P}-shared-libs.patch"
)

DOCS=(AUTHORS ChangeLog KNOWN_BUGS NOTICE README TODO-1.6 TODO-2.0 TODO_AFTER135)

src_prepare() {
	autotools-utils_src_prepare
	eautoreconf
}

# Copyright 1999-2010 Gentoo Foundation
# Distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License v2
# $Header: /var/cvsroot/gentoo-x86/net-libs/libgadu/libgadu-1.9.0-r1.ebuild,v 1.6 2010/07/08 17:41:24 ranger Exp $

EAPI="2"

MY_P="${P/_/-}"

inherit autotools-utils

DESCRIPTION="This library implements the client side of the Gadu-Gadu protocol"
HOMEPAGE="http://toxygen.net/libgadu/"
SRC_URI="http://toxygen.net/libgadu/files/${MY_P}.tar.gz"

LICENSE="LGPL-2.1"
KEYWORDS="alpha amd64 hppa ia64 ~mips ~ppc ppc64 sparc x86 ~x86-fbsd ~x86-freebsd ~amd64-linux ~x86-linux ~ppc-macos"
SLOT="0"
IUSE="doc ssl static-libs threads"

COMMON_DEPEND="
	ssl? ( >=dev-libs/openssl-0.9.6m )
"
DEPEND="${COMMON_DEPEND}
	doc? ( app-doc/doxygen )
"
RDEPEND="${COMMON_DEPEND}
	!=net-im/kadu-0.6.0.2
	!=net-im/kadu-0.6.0.1
"

S="${WORKDIR}/${MY_P}"

PATCHES=(
	"${FILESDIR}/${P}-memleak.patch"
)

AUTOTOOLS_IN_SOURCE_BUILD=1

DOCS=(AUTHORS ChangeLog NEWS README)

src_configure() {
	myeconfargs=(
		$(use_with ssl openssl)
		$(use_with threads pthread)
	)
	autotools-utils_src_configure
}

src_install() {
	use doc && HTML_DOCS=(docs/html/)
	autotools-utils_src_install
}