I am currently working on the pkgsrc/cross/binutils stuff. I have had
reason to change a Makefile. Well, an Makefile.am then. Just run automake
to regenerate all the other Makefile.* stuff.

Wrong.

The binutils are made with an older version of automake and autoconfig
in mind than what's current. So it does not work. I get errors like

azenomei.4:/home/tmp/cross/binutils/work.alpha/binutils-2.9.1/ld$
automake
configure.in: 40: `AM_PROG_INSTALL' is obsolete; use `AC_PROG_INSTALL'
configure.in: 41: `AM_CYGWIN32' is obsolete; use `AC_CYGWIN32'
configure.in: 45: automake requires `AM_PROG_LEX', not `AC_PROG_LEX'
configure.in: 46: `AC_DECL_YYTEXT' is covered by `AM_PROG_LEX'
aclocal.m4: 25: `AM_PROG_INSTALL' is obsolete; use `AC_PROG_INSTALL'
aclocal.m4: 403: `AM_CYGWIN32' is obsolete; use `AC_CYGWIN32'
aclocal.m4: 404: `AM_MINGW32' is obsolete; use `AC_MINGW32'
automake: Makefile.am: required file `./INSTALL' not found
automake: Makefile.am: required file `./COPYING' not found
automake: Makefile.am: required file `./AUTHORS' not found

This is only the beginning. Makefiles are littered with strange
constructs as @MAINTAINER_MODE_ON@ which I didn't ask for, but which do
break them. I edit those away and the result still does not work, and
they tend to crop up again from time to time.

Aaargh! Help! What do I do now? This is an unmaintainable disaster...

-Olaf.
--
___ Olaf 'Rhialto' Seibert - rhialto@polder.ubc.     -- If one tells the truth,
\X/ .kun.nl     -- one is sure, sooner or later, to be found out. (Oscar Wilde)