It's not really an additional dependency, it replaces the dependecy on m4 and shell scripts with a dependency on Python. Nearly every Linux system has Python (I can't think of any who don't). SCons itself can be distributed with the program if we choose to, check their
download page, they have a "scons-local" package that is intended just for this. That way users do not necessarily have to have SCons installed to compile.edit: Ulitmately, though, the best way to figure out if it's good or not just try it out. About dependencies - remember, right now we are requiring that users have make and auotmake installed (and the right version! ugh), and if they want to regenerate the build they have to have autoconf and other stuff too.