Use of vpath to build objects in separate directories

[Brian Appel]

Hi.  I'm a beginning autoconf/automake user.

I know vpath can be used to cause object files to be written to a directory
tree separate from the original source.

In fact, if I run configure in my separate destination directory, it builds
Makefiles there and I can perform the make there.  However, suppose I want
to be able to initiate the make while in the source tree, instead of in the
object tree?

In the past on this project, this kind of a thing was accomplished using a
simple script which wrapped gnumake.  It would change directories from the
source tree to the corresponding object tree, copy the makefile if
necessary, and then run the make in the object tree (using vpath so that
make would find the source).  This was rather simple and allowed developers
to execute makes while editing files without having to remember to change
directories to where they wanted the object files to go (they would just
execute the make from the source directory).

Should I do the same thing now, or is there a better way to accomplish this
in the autoconf/automake paradigm?

====================================
Brian Appel - Integral Systems. Inc.
address@hidden 301-731-4233x1196