Suspected bug with Autoconf built configures and SunOS 4.1.3_U1

[Paul Frommeyer]

My apologies in advance for troubling the autoconf list, since this 
may not be entirely the right place for this issue. Then again, it
could prove to be spot on so I'm risking adding to the noise ratio.

I encountered this same problem with the autoconf-generated
configure scripts in Bison 1.35 and FreeType 2.1.2. Specifically,
configure will not run without "No such file or directory" errors.
It produces these errors for basic requests for help and version information,
which is what leads me to suspect something is up on the autoconf end
of things:

/local/src/freetype-2.1.2/builds/unix%./configure --help
./configure: /tmp/sh268572: No such file or directory
./configure: /tmp/sh268573: No such file or directory
./configure: /tmp/sh268574: No such file or directory
./configure: /tmp/sh268575: No such file or directory

/local/src/freetype-2.1.2/builds/unix%./configure --version
./configure: /tmp/sh272216: No such file or directory

/local/src/bison-1.35%./configure --help
./configure: /tmp/sh286550: No such file or directory
./configure: /tmp/sh286551: No such file or directory
./configure: /tmp/sh286552: No such file or directory
./configure: /tmp/sh286553: No such file or directory
/local/src/bison-1.35%./configure --version
./configure: /tmp/sh27934: No such file or directory

I would normally follow up with the software developers, except for 3 points:

1) I encountered these same problems with two completely different packages.
2) I lack the brainpower to determine with certainty that these problems
        are autoconf, rather than package, related, and want to enlist
        some expert help in determing this.
3) On the other hand, my experience with numerous package installs on SunOS, 
        most with smoothly successful uses of pre-2002 autoconf configure 
        scripts, leads me to suspect autoconf rather than operator error

Attempted debugging of the configure script reveals the production
of the errors at here document cat commands. I'm not aware of any problems
with SunOS sh here document usage-- perhaps I'm about to be educated.
I also couldn't find any mention of this problem in the GNU list
archives, hence this message.

Any pointers as to workarounds would be most appreciated; while using SunOS is
certainly a recidivist practice, I know I'm not the only one out here 
who is going to run into this problem if it's autoconf related and is
slowly seeping into multiple projects.

Many thanks,
        Paul

Paul "Corwin" Frommeyer                                        address@hidden
Webmaster, Paul's Fone Company                                   www.palas.com
    Internet Engineers: Connectivity, Firewalls, Cisco routers a specialty
              "Dependencies, dependencies, all is dependencies!"