Revert "Revert "modified build system to reduce reliance on pkg-config""

This reverts commit 300bc8364e892a535704e0c6f6c769b65ee0e8ec.
Revert "Revert "attempt to fix AS_VAR_COPY problem (missing on older autoconf)""

This reverts commit a8f1a7f7beed35249c1c1d916a6502745eb1fa75.
fixed problem with LAL*_VERSION not being AC_SUBST'd for .pc files