I was trying to update the preseq package to the latest version and found that the newer releases have updated their build system from a simple Makefile to Autotools. Is there any recommended way to make the build system depend on the version?

I can think of two methods:

1. Convert the package to use a custom build system and specify a different set of build steps depending on the version.
2. Do something wacky with metaclasses to choose the base class dynamically depending on the version.

Is there a middle road?