configure is in because not everybody has autoconf or automake installed - which other files are you talking about?
Well. I meant mainly autotools (Makefile.in etc.). I guess that not everybody is checking sources from SVN - and people who do should know of autotools or at least README files
- -dev packets or similar are needed anyway (unless someone is using Gentoo in which case (s)he have autotools anyway).
It just strike me as it is the first project which do so - and it is probably poluting bandwith, makes problems with merge etc.
But it is your project of course.