M4 is absolutely ancient, one of those things you've probably only seen flashing by on your screen if you've found yourself running `make; make install`. I suppose it is a perfectly cromulent tool for SQL templating but you're right that you must be able to get more mileage out of something targeted like dbt/SQLMesh.
Having debugged my share of autoconf setups..I assumed it had to be a new M4 and not the ancient quirky GNU M4 thing because no one in their right mind would wish M4 (and related GNU autoconfig / autconf) on any other sentient beings.
It’d be like saying - “hey, I’m starting a new project and trying to pick between ed, sed, or awk. Whatcha think”? Def not.
