Fabian Groffen writes:

> How hard do you think it would be to detect that you are actually
> dealing with one of those?
>
That depends on how much the build process differs from the standard way
of doing things. And as you said if it does a good job in most cases perhaps
that's good enough.

> Why do you think a user knows?
>
Hmm, you have a good point there. If they already know then perhaps it would
be easier for them to write the ebuild by hand instead.
So a generator with minimal user input might be the way to go here.

> I challenge you to think of a way to unpack a tarball, analyse its
> files and then conclude it's aparently a autoconf-based package, so
> configure, make and make install will likely be the way to do it.
>
If you wan't to be my mentor then I'll gladly accept your challenge and
look forward working with you!

> This sounds more like making an example, not a use-case that describes
> how your technique should be used, and why it is really useful/much
> better than the current way of doing things.
>
Indeed. Now that I've thought about it perhaps your suggestion is the
way to go. :)