Hi bb,
Do you simply want 17/16? I use times like this very often. Just use \time 17/16 and you will get barlines.
But I think you are algorithmically generating the notes and durations, in which case, why can't you also generate the /time commands for each section where you want a particular time signature?
My hand written pieces often change time sig every bar, and with any sort of signature you like - lilypond handles that just fine, and places barlines as expected. I use 15/16 commonly. Not a problem. And in fact I hide the time signatures (for reasons not relevant to this topic) so you can do that too if you want, and still have barlines.
This is a deeply nested thread so it's hard to read. Apologies if I have entirely missed the point!