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Then you end up with "abstraction layer" like autoconf, and the "cure" is MUCH worse than the disease.

autoconf is operating within difficult constraints (only /bin/sh and make are assumed to be installed), and uses shell scripts that write shell scripts that write shell scripts.

A) autoconf is not similar at all to an API layer hiding hairiness in its domain

B) autoconf becoming terrible does not mean that portability abstractions are necessarily terrible

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