MKDIR_P not getting substituted with current versions of Autotools.

[David Bruce]

The autotools-based build process now fails with my project, and I am having 
trouble figuring out why.  I am using a Debian system with the latest 
versions of automake (1.10) and autoconf (2.61).  I run into the problem when 
I run "make install", which fails with the following:

make[3]: Entering directory `/home/dbruce/tux4kids/tuxmath/build/src'
test -z "/usr/local/bin" || @MKDIR_P@ "/usr/local/bin"
/bin/sh: @MKDIR_P@: command not found

When I look at the Makefile for the relevant directory, it contains:
MKDIR_P = @MKDIR_P@

Whereas on an older build I have lying around it appropriately has:
MKDIR_P = /bin/mkdir -p

If I manually copy "MKDIR_P = /bin/mkdir -p" into the current project's 
Makefile, it works without errors.

The Makefile.in's for the two Makefiles are identical with regard to mkdir, 
AFAICT.

(I posted to the Autoconf list rather than the Automake list because the 
problem seems to be getting from Makefile.in to Makefile).

One other thing that may be relevant is that the non-working build generates a 
warning on "make clean" that automake 1.9 is not installed, while the older 
build does not generate this warning, even though it also uses automake 1.10.

From the "non-working" Makefile:

ACLOCAL = ${SHELL} /home/dbruce/tux4kids/tuxmath/trunk/missing --run 
aclocal-1.9
AMTAR = ${SHELL} /home/dbruce/tux4kids/tuxmath/trunk/missing --run tar
AUTOCONF = ${SHELL} /home/dbruce/tux4kids/tuxmath/trunk/missing --run autoconf
AUTOHEADER = ${SHELL} /home/dbruce/tux4kids/tuxmath/trunk/missing --run 
autoheader
AUTOMAKE = ${SHELL} /home/dbruce/tux4kids/tuxmath/trunk/missing --run 
automake-1.9

From the "working" Makefile:

ACLOCAL = ${SHELL} /home/dbruce/tuxmath_w_fonts-1.5.5/missing --run 
aclocal-1.10
AMTAR = ${SHELL} /home/dbruce/tuxmath_w_fonts-1.5.5/missing --run tar
AUTOCONF = ${SHELL} /home/dbruce/tuxmath_w_fonts-1.5.5/missing --run autoconf
AUTOHEADER = ${SHELL} /home/dbruce/tuxmath_w_fonts-1.5.5/missing --run 
autoheader
AUTOMAKE = ${SHELL} /home/dbruce/tuxmath_w_fonts-1.5.5/missing --run 
automake-1.10


So I wonder if my program is specifying the 1.9 version in some place that is 
causing a problem because I have 1.10?

Thanks greatly for any suggestions - I've been googling and reading fine 
manuals for several hours now to no avail.

-- 
David Bruce