autoconf fails on Linux if help2man not installed, but no dependency on it

[barracuda156]

sh-5.1# port clean autoconf
Warning: configured user/group macports does not exist, will build as root
--->  Cleaning autoconf

sh-5.1# port -v install autoconf automake configure.compiler=clang
Warning: configured user/group macports does not exist, will build as root
--->  Computing dependencies for autoconf.
--->  Fetching distfiles for autoconf
--->  Verifying checksums for autoconf
--->  Checksumming autoconf-2.72.tar.xz
--->  Extracting autoconf
--->  Extracting autoconf-2.72.tar.xz
--->  Applying patches to autoconf
--->  Applying use-macports-tools.patch
patching file bin/autoreconf.in
patching file man/autoreconf.1
patching file tests/foreign.at
--->  Configuring autoconf
checking for a BSD-compatible install... /usr/bin/install -c
checking whether build environment is sane... yes
checking for a race-free mkdir -p... /bin/mkdir -p
checking for gawk... gawk
checking whether make sets $(MAKE)... yes
checking whether make supports nested variables... yes
checking build system type... riscv64-unknown-linux-gnu
checking host system type... riscv64-unknown-linux-gnu
configure: autobuild project... GNU Autoconf
configure: autobuild revision... 2.72
configure: autobuild hostname... pinetabv
configure: autobuild timestamp... 20240901T153449Z
checking for a shell whose -n mode is known to work... /bin/sh
checking for characters that cannot appear in file names... none
checking whether directories can have trailing spaces... yes
checking for expr... /usr/bin/expr
checking for GNU M4 that supports accurate traces... /opt/local/bin/gm4
checking whether /opt/local/bin/gm4 accepts --gnu... yes
checking how m4 supports trace files... --debugfile
checking for perl... /usr/bin/perl
checking whether /usr/bin/perl Fcntl::flock is implemented... yes
checking for emacs... no
checking for xemacs... no
checking for emacs... no
checking where .elc files should go... ${datadir}/emacs/site-lisp
checking for grep that handles long lines and -e... /bin/grep
checking for egrep... /bin/grep -E
checking for a sed that does not truncate output... /bin/sed
checking whether make is case sensitive... yes
checking that generated files are newer than configure... done
configure: creating ./config.status
config.status: creating tests/atlocal
config.status: creating Makefile
config.status: creating lib/version.m4
config.status: executing tests/atconfig commands

You are about to use an experimental version of Autoconf.  Be sure to
read the relevant mailing lists, most importantly <autoconf@gnu.org>.

Below you will find information on the status of this version of Autoconf.

* Status

                 /*------------------------------------.
                 | New features need further testing.  |
                 `------------------------------------*/

* Autotest parallel testsuite support is still a work in progress.
  There are known issues in job handling under dash and some ksh
  variants, where a parallel testsuite can hang or cause a 100%
  processor load.  In the current release, the overall autoconf
  testsuite only exercises parallel autotest under bash and zsh, or if
  you have defined TEST_PARALLEL_AUTOTEST in the environment.
  Meanwhile, Cygwin has known problems with named fifos that cause
  failures when attempting parallel tests in an autotest suite.  It is
  possible that other difficulties will be encountered, whether with
  shell or platform limitations; help is appreciated in improving
  parallel testsuite support.

--->  Building autoconf
make: Entering directory '/opt/local/var/macports/build/_home_svacchanda_powerpc-ports_devel_autoconf/autoconf/work/autoconf-2.72'
/usr/bin/make  all-am
make[1]: Entering directory '/opt/local/var/macports/build/_home_svacchanda_powerpc-ports_devel_autoconf/autoconf/work/autoconf-2.72'
rm -f bin/autoconf bin/autoconf.tmp
rm -f bin/autoheader bin/autoheader.tmp
rm -f bin/autom4te bin/autom4te.tmp
/bin/mkdir -p bin
rm -f bin/autoreconf bin/autoreconf.tmp
/bin/mkdir -p bin
/bin/mkdir -p bin
srcdir=''; \
  test -f ./bin/autoconf.in || srcdir=./; \
  sed -e 's|@SHELL[@]|/bin/sh|g' -e 's|@PERL[@]|/usr/bin/perl|g' -e 's|@PERL_FLOCK[@]|yes|g' -e 's|@bindir[@]|/opt/local/bin|g' -e 's|@pkgdatadir[@]|/opt/local/share/autoconf|g' -e 's|@prefix[@]|/opt/local|g' -e 's|@autoconf-name[@]|'`echo autoconf | sed 's,x,x,'`'|g' -e 's|@autoheader-name[@]|'`echo autoheader | sed 's,x,x,'`'|g' -e 's|@autom4te-name[@]|'`echo autom4te | sed 's,x,x,'`'|g' -e 's|@M4[@]|/opt/local/bin/gm4|g' -e 's|@M4_DEBUGFILE[@]|--debugfile|g' -e 's|@M4_GNU[@]|--gnu|g' -e 's|@AWK[@]|gawk|g' -e 's|@RELEASE_YEAR[@]|2023|g' -e 's|@VERSION[@]|2.72|g' -e 's|@PACKAGE_NAME[@]|GNU Autoconf|g' -e 's|@configure_input[@]|Generated from bin/autoconf.in; do not edit by hand.|g' ${srcdir}bin/autoconf.in >bin/autoconf.tmp
/bin/mkdir -p bin
srcdir=''; \
  test -f ./bin/autom4te.in || srcdir=./; \
  sed -e 's|@SHELL[@]|/bin/sh|g' -e 's|@PERL[@]|/usr/bin/perl|g' -e 's|@PERL_FLOCK[@]|yes|g' -e 's|@bindir[@]|/opt/local/bin|g' -e 's|@pkgdatadir[@]|/opt/local/share/autoconf|g' -e 's|@prefix[@]|/opt/local|g' -e 's|@autoconf-name[@]|'`echo autoconf | sed 's,x,x,'`'|g' -e 's|@autoheader-name[@]|'`echo autoheader | sed 's,x,x,'`'|g' -e 's|@autom4te-name[@]|'`echo autom4te | sed 's,x,x,'`'|g' -e 's|@M4[@]|/opt/local/bin/gm4|g' -e 's|@M4_DEBUGFILE[@]|--debugfile|g' -e 's|@M4_GNU[@]|--gnu|g' -e 's|@AWK[@]|gawk|g' -e 's|@RELEASE_YEAR[@]|2023|g' -e 's|@VERSION[@]|2.72|g' -e 's|@PACKAGE_NAME[@]|GNU Autoconf|g' -e 's|@configure_input[@]|Generated from bin/autom4te.in; do not edit by hand.|g' ${srcdir}bin/autom4te.in >bin/autom4te.tmp
srcdir=''; \
  test -f ./bin/autoreconf.in || srcdir=./; \
  sed -e 's|@SHELL[@]|/bin/sh|g' -e 's|@PERL[@]|/usr/bin/perl|g' -e 's|@PERL_FLOCK[@]|yes|g' -e 's|@bindir[@]|/opt/local/bin|g' -e 's|@pkgdatadir[@]|/opt/local/share/autoconf|g' -e 's|@prefix[@]|/opt/local|g' -e 's|@autoconf-name[@]|'`echo autoconf | sed 's,x,x,'`'|g' -e 's|@autoheader-name[@]|'`echo autoheader | sed 's,x,x,'`'|g' -e 's|@autom4te-name[@]|'`echo autom4te | sed 's,x,x,'`'|g' -e 's|@M4[@]|/opt/local/bin/gm4|g' -e 's|@M4_DEBUGFILE[@]|--debugfile|g' -e 's|@M4_GNU[@]|--gnu|g' -e 's|@AWK[@]|gawk|g' -e 's|@RELEASE_YEAR[@]|2023|g' -e 's|@VERSION[@]|2.72|g' -e 's|@PACKAGE_NAME[@]|GNU Autoconf|g' -e 's|@configure_input[@]|Generated from bin/autoreconf.in; do not edit by hand.|g' ${srcdir}bin/autoreconf.in >bin/autoreconf.tmp
srcdir=''; \
  test -f ./bin/autoheader.in || srcdir=./; \
  sed -e 's|@SHELL[@]|/bin/sh|g' -e 's|@PERL[@]|/usr/bin/perl|g' -e 's|@PERL_FLOCK[@]|yes|g' -e 's|@bindir[@]|/opt/local/bin|g' -e 's|@pkgdatadir[@]|/opt/local/share/autoconf|g' -e 's|@prefix[@]|/opt/local|g' -e 's|@autoconf-name[@]|'`echo autoconf | sed 's,x,x,'`'|g' -e 's|@autoheader-name[@]|'`echo autoheader | sed 's,x,x,'`'|g' -e 's|@autom4te-name[@]|'`echo autom4te | sed 's,x,x,'`'|g' -e 's|@M4[@]|/opt/local/bin/gm4|g' -e 's|@M4_DEBUGFILE[@]|--debugfile|g' -e 's|@M4_GNU[@]|--gnu|g' -e 's|@AWK[@]|gawk|g' -e 's|@RELEASE_YEAR[@]|2023|g' -e 's|@VERSION[@]|2.72|g' -e 's|@PACKAGE_NAME[@]|GNU Autoconf|g' -e 's|@configure_input[@]|Generated from bin/autoheader.in; do not edit by hand.|g' ${srcdir}bin/autoheader.in >bin/autoheader.tmp
chmod +x bin/autoconf.tmp
chmod a-w bin/autoconf.tmp
chmod +x bin/autoreconf.tmp
mv bin/autoconf.tmp bin/autoconf
chmod a-w bin/autoreconf.tmp
rm -f bin/autoscan bin/autoscan.tmp
chmod +x bin/autoheader.tmp
mv bin/autoreconf.tmp bin/autoreconf
/bin/mkdir -p bin
chmod a-w bin/autoheader.tmp
chmod +x bin/autom4te.tmp
srcdir=''; \
  test -f ./bin/autoscan.in || srcdir=./; \
  sed -e 's|@SHELL[@]|/bin/sh|g' -e 's|@PERL[@]|/usr/bin/perl|g' -e 's|@PERL_FLOCK[@]|yes|g' -e 's|@bindir[@]|/opt/local/bin|g' -e 's|@pkgdatadir[@]|/opt/local/share/autoconf|g' -e 's|@prefix[@]|/opt/local|g' -e 's|@autoconf-name[@]|'`echo autoconf | sed 's,x,x,'`'|g' -e 's|@autoheader-name[@]|'`echo autoheader | sed 's,x,x,'`'|g' -e 's|@autom4te-name[@]|'`echo autom4te | sed 's,x,x,'`'|g' -e 's|@M4[@]|/opt/local/bin/gm4|g' -e 's|@M4_DEBUGFILE[@]|--debugfile|g' -e 's|@M4_GNU[@]|--gnu|g' -e 's|@AWK[@]|gawk|g' -e 's|@RELEASE_YEAR[@]|2023|g' -e 's|@VERSION[@]|2.72|g' -e 's|@PACKAGE_NAME[@]|GNU Autoconf|g' -e 's|@configure_input[@]|Generated from bin/autoscan.in; do not edit by hand.|g' ${srcdir}bin/autoscan.in >bin/autoscan.tmp
mv bin/autoheader.tmp bin/autoheader
rm -f bin/autoupdate bin/autoupdate.tmp
chmod a-w bin/autom4te.tmp
/bin/mkdir -p bin
mv bin/autom4te.tmp bin/autom4te
rm -f bin/ifnames bin/ifnames.tmp
srcdir=''; \
  test -f ./bin/autoupdate.in || srcdir=./; \
  sed -e 's|@SHELL[@]|/bin/sh|g' -e 's|@PERL[@]|/usr/bin/perl|g' -e 's|@PERL_FLOCK[@]|yes|g' -e 's|@bindir[@]|/opt/local/bin|g' -e 's|@pkgdatadir[@]|/opt/local/share/autoconf|g' -e 's|@prefix[@]|/opt/local|g' -e 's|@autoconf-name[@]|'`echo autoconf | sed 's,x,x,'`'|g' -e 's|@autoheader-name[@]|'`echo autoheader | sed 's,x,x,'`'|g' -e 's|@autom4te-name[@]|'`echo autom4te | sed 's,x,x,'`'|g' -e 's|@M4[@]|/opt/local/bin/gm4|g' -e 's|@M4_DEBUGFILE[@]|--debugfile|g' -e 's|@M4_GNU[@]|--gnu|g' -e 's|@AWK[@]|gawk|g' -e 's|@RELEASE_YEAR[@]|2023|g' -e 's|@VERSION[@]|2.72|g' -e 's|@PACKAGE_NAME[@]|GNU Autoconf|g' -e 's|@configure_input[@]|Generated from bin/autoupdate.in; do not edit by hand.|g' ${srcdir}bin/autoupdate.in >bin/autoupdate.tmp
rm -f lib/autom4te.cfg lib/autom4te.cfg-t
/bin/mkdir -p bin
/bin/mkdir -p lib
srcdir=''; \
  test -f ./bin/ifnames.in || srcdir=./; \
  sed -e 's|@SHELL[@]|/bin/sh|g' -e 's|@PERL[@]|/usr/bin/perl|g' -e 's|@PERL_FLOCK[@]|yes|g' -e 's|@bindir[@]|/opt/local/bin|g' -e 's|@pkgdatadir[@]|/opt/local/share/autoconf|g' -e 's|@prefix[@]|/opt/local|g' -e 's|@autoconf-name[@]|'`echo autoconf | sed 's,x,x,'`'|g' -e 's|@autoheader-name[@]|'`echo autoheader | sed 's,x,x,'`'|g' -e 's|@autom4te-name[@]|'`echo autom4te | sed 's,x,x,'`'|g' -e 's|@M4[@]|/opt/local/bin/gm4|g' -e 's|@M4_DEBUGFILE[@]|--debugfile|g' -e 's|@M4_GNU[@]|--gnu|g' -e 's|@AWK[@]|gawk|g' -e 's|@RELEASE_YEAR[@]|2023|g' -e 's|@VERSION[@]|2.72|g' -e 's|@PACKAGE_NAME[@]|GNU Autoconf|g' -e 's|@configure_input[@]|Generated from bin/ifnames.in; do not edit by hand.|g' ${srcdir}bin/ifnames.in >bin/ifnames.tmp
sed -e 's|@SHELL[@]|/bin/sh|g' -e 's|@PERL[@]|/usr/bin/perl|g' -e 's|@PERL_FLOCK[@]|yes|g' -e 's|@bindir[@]|/opt/local/bin|g' -e 's|@pkgdatadir[@]|/opt/local/share/autoconf|g' -e 's|@prefix[@]|/opt/local|g' -e 's|@autoconf-name[@]|'`echo autoconf | sed 's,x,x,'`'|g' -e 's|@autoheader-name[@]|'`echo autoheader | sed 's,x,x,'`'|g' -e 's|@autom4te-name[@]|'`echo autom4te | sed 's,x,x,'`'|g' -e 's|@M4[@]|/opt/local/bin/gm4|g' -e 's|@M4_DEBUGFILE[@]|--debugfile|g' -e 's|@M4_GNU[@]|--gnu|g' -e 's|@AWK[@]|gawk|g' -e 's|@RELEASE_YEAR[@]|2023|g' -e 's|@VERSION[@]|2.72|g' -e 's|@PACKAGE_NAME[@]|GNU Autoconf|g' -e 's|@configure_input[@]|Generated from lib/autom4te.cfg.in; do not edit by hand.|g' ./lib/autom4te.in >lib/autom4te.cfg-t
chmod +x bin/autoscan.tmp
chmod +x bin/ifnames.tmp
chmod a-w lib/autom4te.cfg-t
chmod a-w bin/autoscan.tmp
chmod a-w bin/ifnames.tmp
mv -f lib/autom4te.cfg-t lib/autom4te.cfg
mv bin/autoscan.tmp bin/autoscan
mv bin/ifnames.tmp bin/ifnames
if test 'no' != no; then \
  am__dir=. am__subdir_includes=''; \
  case lib/emacs/autoconf-mode.elc in */*) \
    am__dir=`echo 'lib/emacs/autoconf-mode.elc' | sed 's,/[^/]*$,,'`; \
    am__subdir_includes="-L $am__dir -L ./$am__dir"; \
  esac; \
  test -d "$am__dir" || /bin/mkdir -p "$am__dir" || exit 1; \
  no --batch \
      \
    $am__subdir_includes -L . -L . \
    --eval '(if (boundp (quote byte-compile-dest-file-function)) (setq byte-compile-dest-file-function (lambda (_) "lib/emacs/autoconf-mode.elc")) (defun byte-compile-dest-file (_) "lib/emacs/autoconf-mode.elc") )' \
    -f batch-byte-compile 'lib/emacs/autoconf-mode.el'; \
else :; fi
if test 'no' != no; then \
  am__dir=. am__subdir_includes=''; \
  case lib/emacs/autotest-mode.elc in */*) \
    am__dir=`echo 'lib/emacs/autotest-mode.elc' | sed 's,/[^/]*$,,'`; \
    am__subdir_includes="-L $am__dir -L ./$am__dir"; \
  esac; \
  test -d "$am__dir" || /bin/mkdir -p "$am__dir" || exit 1; \
  no --batch \
      \
    $am__subdir_includes -L . -L . \
    --eval '(if (boundp (quote byte-compile-dest-file-function)) (setq byte-compile-dest-file-function (lambda (_) "lib/emacs/autotest-mode.elc")) (defun byte-compile-dest-file (_) "lib/emacs/autotest-mode.elc") )' \
    -f batch-byte-compile 'lib/emacs/autotest-mode.el'; \
else :; fi
chmod +x bin/autoupdate.tmp
/bin/mkdir -p lib/autoconf
chmod a-w bin/autoupdate.tmp
Updating man page man/autoreconf.1
/bin/mkdir -p man
lang=`echo 'lib/autoconf/autoconf' | sed 's,.*/,,'` \
  && if test $lang = autoconf; then \
       lang=autoconf-without-aclocal-m4; \
     else :; fi \
  && autom4te_perllibdir='.'/lib AUTOM4TE_CFG='lib/autom4te.cfg'         bin/autom4te -B ''lib -B '.'/lib         \
        --language=$lang \
        --freeze \
        --output=lib/autoconf/autoconf.m4f
/bin/mkdir -p lib/autoscan
mv bin/autoupdate.tmp bin/autoupdate
PATH="./man:$PATH"; \
PERL="/usr/bin/perl"; \
PACKAGE_NAME="GNU Autoconf"; \
VERSION="2.72"; \
RELEASE_YEAR="2023"; \
top_srcdir="."; \
channeldefs_pm="lib/Autom4te/ChannelDefs.pm"; \
export PATH PERL PACKAGE_NAME VERSION RELEASE_YEAR; \
export top_srcdir channeldefs_pm; \
/bin/sh '/opt/local/var/macports/build/_home_svacchanda_powerpc-ports_devel_autoconf/autoconf/work/autoconf-2.72/build-aux/missing' help2man \
    --include=./man/autoreconf.x \
    --include=./man/common.x \
    --source='GNU Autoconf 2.72' \
    --output=man/autoreconf.1.t autoreconf.w
echo '# Automatically Generated: do not edit this file' >lib/autoscan/autoscan.list
/bin/mkdir -p lib/autotest
sed '/^[#]/!q' ./lib/autoscan/autoscan.pre >>lib/autoscan/autoscan.list
lang=`echo 'lib/autotest/autotest' | sed 's,.*/,,'` \
  && if test $lang = autoconf; then \
       lang=autoconf-without-aclocal-m4; \
     else :; fi \
  && autom4te_perllibdir='.'/lib AUTOM4TE_CFG='lib/autom4te.cfg'         bin/autom4te -B ''lib -B '.'/lib         \
        --language=$lang \
        --freeze \
        --output=lib/autotest/autotest.m4f
/opt/local/var/macports/build/_home_svacchanda_powerpc-ports_devel_autoconf/autoconf/work/autoconf-2.72/build-aux/missing: line 81: help2man: command not found
( \
  sed -n '/^[^#]/p' ./lib/autoscan/autoscan.pre; \
  autom4te_perllibdir='.'/lib AUTOM4TE_CFG='lib/autom4te.cfg'         bin/autom4te -B ''lib -B '.'/lib         --cache '' -M -l autoconf-without-aclocal-m4 \
    -t'AN_OUTPUT:$1: $2         $3' \
) | LC_ALL=C sort >>lib/autoscan/autoscan.list
WARNING: 'help2man' is missing on your system.
         You should only need it if you modified a dependency of a man page.
         You may want to install the GNU Help2man package:
         <https://www.gnu.org/software/help2man/>
make[1]: *** [Makefile:2184: man/autoreconf.1] Error 127
make[1]: *** Waiting for unfinished jobs....
make[1]: Leaving directory '/opt/local/var/macports/build/_home_svacchanda_powerpc-ports_devel_autoconf/autoconf/work/autoconf-2.72'
make: *** [Makefile:923: all] Error 2
make: Leaving directory '/opt/local/var/macports/build/_home_svacchanda_powerpc-ports_devel_autoconf/autoconf/work/autoconf-2.72'
Command failed:  cd "/opt/local/var/macports/build/_home_svacchanda_powerpc-ports_devel_autoconf/autoconf/work/autoconf-2.72" && /usr/bin/make -j4 -w all 
Exit code: 2
Error: Failed to build autoconf: command execution failed
Error: See /opt/local/var/macports/logs/_home_svacchanda_powerpc-ports_devel_autoconf/autoconf/main.log for details.
Error: Follow https://guide.macports.org/#project.tickets if you believe there is a bug.
Error: Processing of port autoconf failed

sh-5.1# port deps autoconf
Full Name: autoconf @2.72_0
Extract Dependencies: xz
Build Dependencies:   
Library Dependencies: m4

16. S. powerpc-ports is just a name of a fork, nothing of powerpc stuff is used here, it is on a separate tree.

[ryandesign (Ryan Carsten Schmidt)]

help2man is provided by by macOS so this problem was not noticed on macOS.

I thought the correct solution would be to declare depends_build bin:help2man:help2man so that the macOS copy of help2man could satisfy it. But I can't find any other ports doing that and no evidence that any ports ever did so which surprises me. All ports that depend on help2man do so as port:help2man which will unconditionally pull in help2man and its dependencies which may be undesirable for a port like autoconf that is foundational for the builds of many other ports. At present help2man and its recursive dependencies don't depend on autoconf but it's conceivable that in the future they might need to which would introduce a dependency cycle.

[jmroot (Joshua Root)]

As the message says, help2man shouldn't actually be needed since the release tarball includes pregenerated man pages.

[jmroot (Joshua Root)]

Replying to ryandesign:

help2man is provided by by macOS so this problem was not noticed on macOS.

Is it? I don't have it on my macOS 14 system.

[barracuda156]

It is strange why Linux (at least my Linux here) wants it. FreeBSD does not declare any dependency on help2man either, for example: ​https://github.com/freebsd/freebsd-ports/blob/06757954d9e3de9472361b4e8db6ffb991c8dcea/devel/autoconf/Makefile It should not be needed, but I still cannot build autoconf on Linux due to help2man (I finally got it building, but there is an error when autoconf build script invokes help2man).

[barracuda156]

This looks like an error I get with autoconf now: ​https://stackoverflow.com/questions/55716871/unable-to-build-gnu-automake-help2man-cant-get-help-info-from-automake-1

/bin/mkdir -p lib/autoscan
chmod +x bin/ifnames.tmp
echo '# Automatically Generated: do not edit this file' >lib/autoscan/autoscan.list
chmod a-w bin/ifnames.tmp
sed '/^[#]/!q' ./lib/autoscan/autoscan.pre >>lib/autoscan/autoscan.list
mv bin/ifnames.tmp bin/ifnames
( \
  sed -n '/^[^#]/p' ./lib/autoscan/autoscan.pre; \
  autom4te_perllibdir='.'/lib AUTOM4TE_CFG='lib/autom4te.cfg'         bin/autom4te -B ''lib -B '.'/lib         --cache '' -M -l autoconf-without-aclocal-m4 \
    -t'AN_OUTPUT:$1: $2         $3' \
) | LC_ALL=C sort >>lib/autoscan/autoscan.list
/bin/mkdir -p lib/autotest
lang=`echo 'lib/autotest/autotest' | sed 's,.*/,,'` \
  && if test $lang = autoconf; then \
       lang=autoconf-without-aclocal-m4; \
     else :; fi \
  && autom4te_perllibdir='.'/lib AUTOM4TE_CFG='lib/autom4te.cfg'         bin/autom4te -B ''lib -B '.'/lib         \
        --language=$lang \
        --freeze \
        --output=lib/autotest/autotest.m4f
help2man: can't get `--help' info from autoreconf.w
Try `--no-discard-stderr' if option outputs to stderr
make[1]: *** [Makefile:2184: man/autoreconf.1] Error 2
make[1]: *** Waiting for unfinished jobs....
make[1]: Leaving directory '/opt/local/var/macports/build/_home_svacchanda_powerpc-ports_devel_autoconf/autoconf/work/autoconf-2.72'
make: *** [Makefile:923: all] Error 2

[barracuda156]

Ok, I found a fix. Use MacPorts perl, not system one.

configure.perl      ${prefix}/bin/perl5

Now it builds fine:

sh-5.1# port -v installed autoconf
The following ports are currently installed:
  autoconf @2.72_0 (active) requested_variants='' platform='any any' archs='noarch' date='2024-09-04T11:58:37+0000'

[barracuda156]

Also same issue with libtool.