Problem with @SHELL@ substitution

[Stéphane Genaud]

Hi,

on a Irix 6.5 system, using automake 1.4, autoconf 2.12,
i have the SHELL variable undefined
after aclocal;autoconf;autoheader;automake;./configure
The generated Makefile looks like :
[......]
# even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
# PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

SHELL = @SHELL@

srcdir = @srcdir@
top_srcdir = @top_srcdir@
[......]

and running gmake leads to :

gmake: @SHELL@: Command not found
gmake: *** [config.status] Error 127

Has someone any idea of the reason why SHELL is  not assigned 
a value ? On Linux, the same configure assigns SHELL = /bin/sh
in the Makefile.

I have tried AC_SUBST(shell) but errors are reported to my src/Makefile.
Could someone tell me at what stage this variable should be assigned
its value ?

Thanks.
P.S: please, could you mail me your ideas to my address as well, as i
am not a permanent subscriber to this list.