OK, I think I found the problem. Being a stock RH6.2 box I have RPMs of
autoconf and automake installed. During the build both of these guys checked
for existing working copies of all their own programs, and of course found
the old ones from the RPMs. Forcefully uninstalling both packages has allowed
me to build working copies of both. I think this explains why it was looking
for files in the default location when it failed. Perhaps it's not such a good
idea to store the paths found at build time and use them in preference over
those found at runtime.
now the forces of openness
have a powerful and
unexpected new ally
http://ibm.com/linux/
