PureDocs seems reasonably unique in being a Python system that provides an external C library, the kind of thing that would probably be happiest with autoconf and make. Yes, I dislike autoconf, automake, and everything in between, but I'm writing an API doc-generation system, I don't want to maintain a build system.
But, I naturally want a unified build system for the entire kit and kaboodle. The C library should come with the Python system, and the Python system could come with the C library. This includes Python egg files, which can serve as the basis for other package files. So, anything I choose needs to integrate with the existing distutils/setuptools-based Python distribution system.